Slave Soldiers and Islam_ The Genesis of a Military System - Daniel Pipes

68

TheIslamicateContext

ButIslamicpublic

idealswere none

theless

important

for

being

unattainable.Though

beyond

reach,

they

constantly

in-

fluenced

attitudestowardpolitics

andwarfare,causing

Muslim

subjects

to

lookaskanceat

the

governments

thatdividedthe

umma

andthearmiesthat

wastedMuslim

lives.The

presence

of

theseidealscaused

Muslim

subjects

to

reject

theirrulers,

andin

this

way,

Muslim rulers failed. They

failed

not

by

external

criteria(forexample,capacity

todominate,

durationofrule)

but

byfalling

shortofIslamic

standards.

26

A

government

didnot

embody

theaspirations

ofitssubjects,

itsboundaries

hadlittle

meaning

forthem,andits

warfarehadvirtually

none.Yet

Mus-

lim

rulerswerenoworse

thanothers;

their

subjects

were

dis-

satisfied

notbecauseofany

inherent

insufficienciesbut

because

ofheightened

Islamicexpectations.

Muslim

subjects

looked

for

successorsto

Muh.

ammadbut

insteadfound

business-as-usual

politicians.

Theexistenceof

Islamic

public

ideals

servedmoreto

denigrate

real

governments

than to

guide

them; those

ideals

underminedmore

than

they

sanctioned.

This

may

beseenmost

clearly

withregard

totheumma.

Thepoliticalimportance

oftheummalay

notinits

positive

ability

tomobilizeMuslims

butinits

negative

effectonrealgov-

ernments.The

urnmaidealmadereality

looktransientand

mis-

erable;

Muslims

preferred

thevision of

their

glorious

com-

munity.

Theexistence

ofanidealof

theummathusworked

to

restricttheappeal

of

existingkingdoms.

Evenafter

theunified

26. mustreemphasize

thatthisisnot

myjudgment

ontheMuslimrulersbut

anunderstanding

ot-howtheirsubjects

felt.Thereader

may

notetwo

modern

parallels:(1)

Inthe

twenty

yearsfollowing

WorldWarII,Americans

heardin-

cessantly

aboutthe

virtuesoftheir

country

andthebenevolent

roleitwas

playing

intheworld.Thiscreated political

idealwhichtheU.S.government

couldnot

in

reality

attain;as result,

eachstumbleseemed

likeacalamitousfailure.The

VietnamWarandthe

Watergate

Affair(the

latter

peccadilloby

anyother

stan-

dard)

ledtoseveredisaffectionbecausethey

contrasteddarklywiththe

ideals.In

theUnitedStatesthis

wasa

passing

theme, resultof

the

ideological

excessesof

theColdWar;thegap

betweenidealandrealinpremodern

Islamicateciviliza-

tionwasa

permanentpart

ofthereligiously-basedculture,constantlygenerating

disaffection.

(2)Byparadingglamorous,

unattainable

images,

moviesandtelevi-

sion(especially

advertisements)oftenconvince

theviewerthathisown

lifeis

deficientandleaveshim

dissatisfiedwith

reality.