52
TheIslamicateContext
importantpositionsuntiltheoverthrow
of
KingFfirfiq
in1371/
1952.130
Slave
soldiers
fought
acrossthe
widthandbreadthofIslam-
dom.
Perhapsfour-fifthsofallMuslim
dynastiesmade
regular
useof
them.Afewcases
fromthecornersof
Islamdom
(par-
ticularlythose areas not
represented
by
the
major dynasties
listed
above)
mayhelp
to
illustratethis.
Sub-Saharan
African Muslim
dynasties
probably
made the
greatest
useofslave
soldiers,afactwhich
reflectsthe
especially
important
place
ofslaves
in theireconomiesand
sociallives.
Slaveshad
ubiquitous
military
and
politicalrolesin
manydy-
nasties;
TM
some
ofthebetter-studiedinclude
DarFur,
13
the
Sudanese
Mahdiya,
13a
Bornu,
TM
theFulani
emirates,
135
and
the
Ton-Dyon.
136
Military
slavery
existedinmost
parts
oftheArabian
penin-
sula,but
particularlyinthe
region
with
themost
highly
devel-
oped
political institutions--the Yemen. For
example,
a5th/
1
lth-century
dynastythere,
the
Najahids,emerged
froma
mili-
taryslave
corps.137
Oneofthe
very
lastincidentsofslave
soldiery
was
reportedinMeccaatthe
beginning
ofthis
century?
s
In
India,
military
slavesinthenorth
came
mostly
fromCen-
tral
Asia,whilethosein
thesouthandeastderivedfrom
Africa.
For
example, MilikAmbar,who
ruled asizable
part
ofthe
130.G.
Baer,StudiesintheSocial
History
of
Modern
Egypt(Chicago,1969),pp.
161-67,
220-23.
131.A.G.B.Fisher
andH.
J.
Fisher,
Slavery
andMuslim
Society
in
Africa
(Gar-
den
City,N.Y.,1971),
pp.154-70.
132.
R.
S.
O’Fahey,"Slavery
and
theSlaveTradeinDar
Fur,"Journal
ofAfri-
can
History
14
(1973):29-43;R.S.
O’Fahey
andJ.
L.
Spaulding,Kingdoms
of
the
Sudan
(London,1974),
pp.
151-54.
133.P.M.
Holt,
The
MahdistStateintheSudan
1881-1898,2ded.
(Oxford,
1970),
pp.
43,63,
207;idem,"Bizinkir"inEl2.
134.
L.Brenner,The
Shehus
of
Kukawa(Oxford,
1973),pp.46,89,95-104,
115,118.
135.
J.
P.
Smaldone,
Warfare
inthe
SokotoCaliphate
(Cambridge,Eng.,1977).
136.L.
Tauxier,HistoiredesBambara
(Paris,1942),
pp.
80-90.
137.Z.
Riyfid,
"Dawlat
.Habasha
fi’l-Yaman,"
al-Majalla at-Ta’rkhygz
aLM#riya 8 (1959):101-30.
138..
A.
ar-Ray.hinf,MulkaLCArab
(Beirut,1924),
p.
226.