SlavesinWar:TheHistoricalRecord 53
Deccaninthe
years
1009-35/1601-26,wasaslaveofAfrican
origin.
139
Itisnotclearwhether
militaryslavery
existedeast
of
Bengal;
Ihavefound
onlywisps
ofevidence,suchasthe
fact
that
"throughoutMalaysia,
thenumberof
troops
whicha[Mus-
lim]
rajah
couldcommand
wasbotha
symbol
andanactualin-
dication
ofhiswealthand
power."
140
Incontrasttotheerratic
employment
of
slavesassoldiers
by
non-Muslims,militaryslavery
inIslamdomservedasa
nearly
universaltoolofstatecraft. Elsewhere,slaves
fought
asemer-
gency
forces, personal
retainers, auxiliaries, or cannon fod-
der;only
Muslimsusedthem
inlarge
numberson
aregular
basis
as
professional
soldiers.
Also,
thefew
systematicexamples
of
non-Muslims
using
slavesinthis
way
date
only
from thesix-
teenth
century,long
aftertheestablishmentand
proliferation
of
theIslamicate
system.
Exceptfortheseunusualcases,Muslims
alonechosetorecruitsoldiers
throughenslavement,
afactwhich
has
manyimplications.
139.R.
Shyam,
Life
andTimes
of
MalikAmbar
(Delhi,1968).
Severalother
full-length
studiesonhimarenotedin
Joseph
E.Harris,The
African
Presencein
Asia
(Evanston,
Ill.,1971),
pp.
91-98.
140.B.Lasker,Human
Bondage
inSoutheastAsia
(Chapel
Hill,N.C.,
1950),pp.
49-51.