Slaves
inWar:TheHistoricalRecord 35
campanda
slave
stayed
behind--hewas
thought
tobeadeserter.
Hewroteadecreeof
protection
(amen)andsentittothecityby
arrow.
Whenwereturned
to
fight,
the
enemy
leftitscastleand
said,
"Thisisyourdecree
of
protection."
Wewroteaboutthisto
[Caliph]
cUmarandhewrotetous:
"A
Muslimslave
isa
Muslim,
sohis
pro-
tectionisasanyother’s.His
decreeisvalid."Thus,wecarriedout
itsterms.
52
In
conclusion,any
slavecould
help
inwarfare
(though
thelit-
eraturementionsnosuchuseoffemaleslaves.
53
Evenwhenun-
skilled
andofdubious
royalty,
slaves
providedsupport
behind
the
lines,
reinforcementsonthesidelines,and
emergencyhelp
onthefrontlines;ifnottrusted,
they
couldbecoerced.Yet,
however
helpfulordinary
slavescouldbeinbattle,they
had
lim-
itedfunctions;they
neverconstitutedthe
mainstay
ofan
army.
Forthat
they
had
to
betrained
professional
soldiers--inother
words,
military
slaves.
Military
Slaves
While
ordinary
slaves
fought
hereandtherearoundthe
globe,
without
anyparticularpattern,military
slaves
rarelyappeared
outsideIslamdomandveryfrequently
withinit.Letuslookat
somenon-Musliminstances
ofslave soldiersandthensketch
theirwiderole
among
Muslims.
52.
FB,p.
391;Khalffa,
p.
133,andT,1:2568havealmostidenticalaccounts.
ThisincidentbecamecelebratedinIslamiclawas
the
basisfor generalruling
onthevalidity
ofaslave’s
amnesty:Umm,
7:319;Abfi
CUbayd,pp.
242-43;as-
Sarakhsi,pp.255-56.
C.
Huart,"Gondshpfir,"
inEl2,dismissesthisanecdote
asa"romanticfiction."
53.Only
minor
exceptions
can.befound;in
Ethiopia,
forinstance,slave-
womenmighthelpcarry
asoldier’s
equipment
(M.Perham,TheGovernment
of
Ethiopia
[London,1948],p.162),
and
in
ancientIndia,
prostitute
slavesserved
theirmastersas
spies(R.
R.Sharma,
"Slavery
intheMauryanPeriod,c. 300
B.C.-c. 200
B.C.,’J0urnal
of
theEconomicandSocialHistory
of
theOrient 21 (1978):
191).
MuslimslaveAmazonswerehardlymorecommon.Oneexample
comes
fromthe
Mughalimperial
household,where"armedwomenguards"kept
watch
overtheinside
of
the
haremand"themost
trustworthy
ofthemwere
placed
near
theemperor’ssleepingapartments"(Qureshi,p.
56).