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

Acknowledgments

This

study

isbasedonadoctoral

dissertationsubmitted

in

May

1978 toHarvardUniversity

foraPh.D.

in

History

andMiddle

Easternstudies.My

affiliationwithHarvardformallybegan

in

1967,butitreally

extendsbackmuch

further,forI

very

much

grew

up

initsmilieu.Iamthereforehappy

torecordmymany

debtstoitsstudentsandfaculty.

Researchfor

thisworktookmeto

various

places.

I

spent

a

profitable

six

monthsattheOrientalische

SeminaratFreiburg

University,

West

Germany,

in

1976. TheAmericanResearch

Center

in

Egypt

fundedanine-monthstay

inCairoduring

the

academic

year

1976-77,

providing

me

withan

opportunity

to

readArabicsources

on

early

Muslimhistory.

Iam

grateful

to

the

Department

ofNearEastern

StudiesatPrincetonUniversity

for

making

me a

Visiting

Fellowduring

1977-78.

AsaWilliam

RaineyHarper

Fellow

atthe

University

ofChicago

since1978,I

have

profited

from

the

university’s

unmatched resources

for

comparative

history.Interesting

courses

toteach,

widely

knowl-

edgeable

colleagues,

andexcellent

facilitieshaveallhelped

me

prepare

thisbookforpublication.

Theresearchand

ideasofDavidAyalon

formtheintellectual

basisforthisstudy;

hisdetailedinquiries

intotheMamlukKing-

domof

Egypt

havebothestablishedmilitaryslavery

asan

auton-

omousinstitutionand

madeit

possible

toanalyze

itelsewhere.I

amalsoindebtedto

himfor

helpful

ideas

onhowto

proceed

withthis

kindofresearch.

The

followingpersons

areamong

thosewhoread

andcom-

mentedonPartI:

Ralph

Austen,ShmuelN.Eisenstadt,

Richard

xi