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

AnExplanationof

MilitarySlavery

71

ethicaland

religiouswriters,suchas

Abfi’l-Laythas-Samarqandi

(d. 373/983) and

Abfi’l-H.

amid

al-Ghazfili (d.

505/1111)

dis-

cussedthe

problems

entailedin

dealingwithrulers.

34

Islamicate

writingswidelyreflectedthisattitudeto

government.

Further,

Muslim

subjectsandrulersalikeinternalizedthis

attitude,mak-

ing

itanormative

patternofbehavior;all

agreed

thatMuslim

subjectsshouldnotbecomeinvolvedin

publicaffairs?

5

Muslim

subjectsavoided armies

(less

so

navies)even more

than

governments and administrators.

Hearing repeatedly

about the

unity

of theumma

andthe sinfulness of

fighting

againstotherMuslims,

theystayed

out

when,

.as

was

usually

the

case,the

enemy

was

Muslim.

(Exceptions

herearethose

cases

whereMuslims

fought

to

savetheirown

lives.)

36

Asa

result,

al-

34. Goitein,
    pp.

205-06.

35. An
    intriguing

alternative

explanationforthealienationofMuslimsub-

jects

fromtheir

rulerscanbetracedbackto

argumentHodgson

makes

about

the

ecology

oftheMiddleEast

creating

aculturewhichhadfewtiestotheland:

Theunusualaccessto

interregional

tradein

themid-AridZone,combined

withits

aridityandits

openness

tooverland

conquestsandto

imperial

for-

mations,all

having

increasing

effectinthecourseof

themillennia,could

have

resulted,

overthe

whole

region

ratherthan

justlocally,

inan

unusual

degreeof

legitimation

ofcultureoriented

tothemarket,andthisis form

favouringcosmopolitanmobility

ratherthancivic

solidarity(2:73-74).

The

aridity

ofits

agricultural

lands,itscentrallocation

intheOikoumen,andits

accessibilityto

conquestby

landcombinedtomake

MiddleEastern

civilization

little

oriented

to

geographicalloyalties.Hence,MiddleEasternMuslimsnatu-

rally

directedtheir

loyaltymore

to

theumma.Thisthenbecame

part

ofthe

high

culturewhich

spread

withIslam.

Another

explanation

fortheuninvolvementofMuslim

subjectscomesfroma

differentMiddleEasterntradition.Autonomouscitieshadexistedsincethemost

ancient

times,beforebureaucraticempiresfunctioned.Citieswere

accustomed

to

pay

off

imperialforeignerswith

quitrents

inreturnforlocalfreedomofaction

inthehandsofthe
religious

and

commercialelites.Althoughthis

procedure

was

outdatedbyabout 600 B.C.E.,itremainedinforce

throughParthianandeven

Sasaniantimes;

perhaps

its

legacyextendedintotheIslamic

period

welland

expanded

fromthe

MiddleEasternbasetoallIslamdom.

36. In389/999,for
    example,thepopulaceofTransoxiana
    "followedthead-

viceofitsteachersanddecidedthat

’whenthe

struggle

isforthe

goodsofthis

world’

Muslimsarenot

obliged

to

’lay

themselves

outtobemurdered’

(quoted

inW.
Barthold,TurkestanDowntothe
MongolInvasion,trans.V.
Minorsky

etal.,

3ded.

(London,1968),pp.267-68).This

implies

thatMuslim

populacesshould