4 TheIslamicateContext
of
militaryslavery
asawhole.To
explore
its
myriad
variations
and
developments
wouldobstructavisionofthecoreinstitution;
thus
part
Iremovesslavesoldiersfromall
temporaland
spatial
contexts.Theresult,anideal
type,highlights
central
traitsthat
variationswouldotherwiseobscure.
Second,not
everythinggoes
backtoIslam.Earlier
European
scholarstendedtoattribute
anything
inexplicable
toIslam.The
exotic,regrettable,
or
merelypuzzling(harems,
eunuchs,"fa-
talism")
allwere
explained
inthis
way;religionprovided
the
key
toan
unchangingtypology.Again,
timeand
spacedropped
out;
the enormous
diversity
ofMuslim lifeacross
many
erasand
landsmatteredlessthanthebeliefinAllah.Of
course,
suchex-
planationsusuallyprovedillusory,
formostoccurrencesinMus-
lim
history
weretheresultsof
specifictemporal
or
spatial
fea-
tures
(a
mountain
range,
an
advancein
militarytechnology,
a
newtrade
route,
oranevil
king),
notofIslam.
I
happilyrecognize
thisfact.
My
interestliesnotin
tieing
ev-
erything
toIslam,butin
establishing
thatitdoes
explain
someas-
pects
oflife
among
Muslims.Certainfeaturesofthe
political
and
militaryorder--militaryslavery
in
particular--can
be under-
stood
only
inthe
light
ofIslam;the
attempt
to
explain
it
as,say,
a
fourteenth-century
oranIranian
phenomenon
would leadto
profoundly
wrong
conclusions.