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

AnExplanationofMilitarySlavery

73

mobilizedtheminmoderntimes;andmost

recentlY,

theU.S.

presence

inIranarousedan

atavisticMuslim

response.

When

Muslim

subjectsfought,theymostprobably

perceived

athreat

from

non-Muslims;

butwhena

government

reasonably

main-

tainedtheShariCaand

kept

theinfidelsat

bay,theystayedaway

fromarmiesandtendedtotheir

privategardens.

So,

insteadofpubliclife,Muslim

subjects

innormaltimescon-

centratedon

personal

matters.

They

were

principallyinterested

in

leading

the

good

lifeandmuchlessinwho

administeredit.

38

Intense

family,

communal,and

religiousinvolvements,

where

Islamic

precepts

andidealswereoften

attained,tookthe

place

of

powerpolitics

andwarfare.Personsinterestedin

righteous

liv-

ing

didbesttorestricttheiractivitiesto

private

affairs.

Affiliationstendedto

beeithersmall-scaleorIslamic.

(Small-

scale

groupings

are

face-to-facesocietiesinwhich

everyone

vir-

tually

knows

everyoneelse;theyare

typically

basedeitheron

proximity

oron

kinshiprelations.)

Inruralareasof

Islamdom,

villages

andtribes

predominated;

inurban

areas,quarters

and

fraternalassociations

(suchasyouth clubs,trade

guilds,

even

criminal

gangs)

hadthe

most importance.

39

Everywhere

the

family

camefirst,

though,

asthe

supreme

locusofMuslimlife.

Largeraffiliations(inwhicha

person

does

notknow

everyone)

derived

fromIslam.Thesewere

primarilytwo,

themadhhaband

thearqa.The

madhhabswere

systems

of

jurisprudence(often

translatedas"law

schools")

which

developedintosocialinstitu-

tions.Eachmadhhabundertooktotranslatethe

regulationsofthe

Qur’an

and

.hath

intoa

completelegalstructure.

Theyevolved

outof
earlystudygroups

of

scholars;

by

the

early

5th/1

lthcen-

tury,nearly

allSunniMuslims

held

allegiance

toamadhhab

(and

Shiq

and

Kharijigroups

eachhadtheirown

madhhabs,too).Sur-

prisingly,these

informallyorganizedlegalaffiliationsbecame

vehicles for
popular
expression

in the

period between al-

Ma’mfin’

reign

andthe

Buyid Conquest

(ca.

200-330/820-

38.Grunebaum,lslam,

p.

132.

39. Fordiscussionsofthesesocial
    questions,

seethe

writings

ofClaudeCahen,

MarshallG.S.
Hodgson,andIraM.Lapidus.