An
Explanation
ofMilitary
Slavery
61
Militaryslavery
lendsitself
particularlywell
tothisrelation
be-
causeitcorrelatestoIslamso
visibly
andhasno
comparable
existenceoutsideIslamdom.Howdoesonemakeaconnection
betweenslavesoldiers
and
Islam?
A
numberofwriters,bothsocialthinkersandhistoriansof
Islam,
19
havelinked
militaryslavery
withthe
patrimonial
nature
ofIslamicate
governments.
(A
patrimonialgovernment
isone
based
ultimately
on
relationships
of
paternalauthority
andfilial
dependence
incontrasttoafeudalone,whichis marked
by
contractually
fixed
fealty
basedon
knightlymilitarism.)
2
Pat-
rimonialrulers
always
needed trusted
agents
toexecutetheir
will;outsiders
(aliens
and
unprivilegedsubjects)
havethefewest
conflictinginterests,
so
they provide
themostreliable
agents.
Fromthis
vantagepoint,militaryslavery
couldbesaidtobea
meansof
acquiring
such
agents.
Muslimsalone
developed
a
sys-
temto
bring
in
agents,
becausetheir
governments
werethemost
patrimonial.
This
simpleexplanation
is
unfortunately
neither
adequate
nor
accurate.Itisnot
enough
to
explainmilitaryslavery
asaconse-
quence
of
patrimonialism;
thebasic
question
stillremains:
why
were Islamicate
governments
patrimonial? Furthermore,
it
is
nottrue
thatIslamicate
dynasties
were
predominantlypatrimo-
nial;
many
ofthemost
important
ones(forinstance,the
Seljuks,
Ayyubids,
Mamluks,Ottomans,Safavids,andMughals)hadim-
portant
feudalelements.Moreover,itisamistaketoviewmili-
tary
slavesas
politicalagents;
over
/nd
over,they
wererecruited
primarily
assoldiers.
They
werewarriors
brought
intostaffar-
housesbuilt
to
insureprivacy;deforestation(duetosheepand
goats
replacing
pigs);
urbandominationof
surroundingdistricts;religious
segregation
incities
and
countryside.
Sexualand
psychological:separation
ofthesexes:theveiland
harem;women’shonor
emphasized;
four
interpersonal
relations
present,four
absent
(according
to
Halpern).
Other: men
encouraged
to
marry
father’s
brother’sdaughter;Arabicpersonalnames;feworganizedathletics
(except
in
Iran).
19.Onthem,seeD.
Pipes,
"The
Strategic
Rationalefor
MilitarySlavery,"
Journalof
Strategic
Studies 2
(1979):
34-35.
Myexplanationssuggested
inthis
articleare
supercededby
the
argumentspresented
here.
- R.Bendix,MaxWeber:AnIntellectualPortrait(London,1966),p.360.