TheIslamicateContext
Besides
highquality,
amasterseeks
potential
loyalty
in his
military
slaves.
Ordinary
slavescanbecoerced
into
doing
their
jobs
(evenincludingsomemilitary assignments),
but
military
slaveshavetobeconvinced.Sincethesemen
nearlyalways
as-
sume
greatresponsibilities
and
acquire
considerablefreedomof
action,
personal
bondsbetween
themasterandhisslavematter
greatly.A
masterensures
strong
relations
byacquiring
slaves
both
young
and
foreign.
Children
being
farmore
impressiona-
blethanadults,themaster
spares
noeffortin
acquiringyouthful
recruits.He
acceptsboys
asoldasseventeen
but
prefers
them
abouttwelve;at
that
age
they
arestill
highly
amenabletotrain-
ing
butare
already
skilled in the martial arts oftheir own
peoples.
Thetransferaloftheseskillstothemaster’s
army
con-
stitutesoneofthemainbenefitsof
military
slavery.Incontrast,
a
masterseeks
ordinary
slaves
among
youngadults,
when
they
are
atthe
peak
oftheireconomic
productivity.
Aslaveownerrecruitsaliensbecausetheir
foreignorigin
also
increasestheir
susceptibility
to
being
molded;
theownercan
isolatea
foreignerbyeliminatingany
tiesoutsidehisimmediate
householdand
byforcing
himto
dependentirely
onthesmall
worldofthe
master
andhisfellowslaves.To
complete
thisisola-
tion,most
military
slavesarriveonthescene
ignorant
ofthelan-
guage
ofthe
country
inwhichtheywill
serve,
s
Ofthesenumerous
qualities
desired
in
amilitaryslave,youth
is
unquestionably
themost
important.
Noble
origins,highpoten-
tial,and
beingforeign
all
help,
but
youth
mattersmost,because
this
quality
alonesufficestoensurethesuccessofthenext
stage,
the
trainingprogram.
7.D.Ayalon,"PreliminaryRemarks
ontheMamlk
Military
Institutionin
Islam,"p.56,
n.1.
8.Whena
dynasty
andits
subjectsspeak
differentlanguages,militaryslaves
may
knowthe
language
ofthe
dynasty,
buttheyoughtnottoknowthat
ofthe
populace(e.g.
theMamluksof
Egypt).Oddly,
the
language
andreligion
ofa
militaryslavearequite
the
opposite
ofthoseofan
ordinary
slave.
Military
slaves
areoftenallowedtoretaintheir
foreigntongue
butare
practicallycompelled
to
converttoIslam.
Ordinary
slavesinIslamdom,onthe
contrary,
mustlearntheir
master’s
language
butarefreetoremainnon-Muslims,especiallyiftheybelieve
ina
scriptuaryreligion.