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

76

TheIslamicateContext

Throughout premodern

times,

these hinterlands supported

only

simple

formsofsocialandculturallife,fortheycontained

fewcitiesorlarge

concentrationsof

population;

theirinhabit-

antsusually

livedfar

apart

fromeachother

ordidnotsettleat

all.
They

moreoftenhadcontact

withanimalsthanwithfellow

humansoutsidethefamily.

The

economy

was

simple

andnearly

self-sufficient,though

articlesfromthecities

were

highlyprized

andformed thebasis ofanimportant

trade. Social lifewas

rudimentary,

with few

divisions ordistinctionsbetween

indi-

viduals.Culture

remainedata

popular

level,formarginal

areas

couldnot

supportspecialists;

theminstrelorfolk

artisthadto

devotehis

days

to

providing

for

himself.Intellectuallife

beyond

traditionalwisdomhardly

existed.Political

organization

in

mar-

ginal

areasfollowedpredominantly

triballines,though

notal-

ways

(the

Balkan

population

livedinmountains

without

being

tribal,

whileeven

city-dwellers

insub-Saharan

Africaremained

tribal).

Onthewhole,institutionsstayedsimple,rarelyinvolving

more

persons

thankneweachother.

IbnKhaldtSncallsthese

peoples

savage(wah.sh)

andenumerates

them: "TheArabians

andtheZantaaresuchpeoples,

asaresimilar

groups,

t0r

in-

stancetheKurds,Turkomans,

andtheVeiled

S.anhja.

’’48

The

"government

areas"includedwhatwasnot

marginal,

the

permanently

settledlandswhere

city-dwellers

and

farmerslived

more

closelytogether.

Unlikemarginalareas,

which

permitted

onlysimple

economies and

cultures,

government

areas

sup-

ported

morecomplex

formsofhuman

activity;

inaword,they

housedcivilization.

With

regard

to

politicalorganization,

they

developedlarge-scalestructures--governments--in

contrastto

thetribesin

marginal

areas.

49

Thedistinctionbetweenoutsiders

andinsiders

parallels

that

of

government

andmarginal

areas."Insiders"arethe

ethnically

dominant,economically

stable,

sociallyaccepted,

religiously

con-

formingpopulation

ofasettled

region. Theypopulate

both

citiesandcountrysideand

haveastakein

preserving

theestab-

48.Muq,1:295(my

translationfromtheArabic,1:263).

49.Thebladas-sibaandbldal-makhzaninMoroccoreflectthisdistinction

most

precisely.