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

8O

TheIslamicateContext

steppes,deserts,andmountainshadanalmosttotalholdoverIslamicate

armies.

5

Toa

degreeunmatchedin

any

othercivilization

57

they

dominatedthearmiesthat

broughtnew

governments

to

power

and

their

subsequentreplacements.

Hereweshowthe

extentto

which

they

brought

thenew

dynastiesin;

the

followingpages

explainwhy

the

troops

continuedtocome

mostly

from

marginal

areasevenaftera

governmenthadbeenestablished.

Itis

easy

todemonstratetherole

of

marginal

areasoldiersin

founding

new

governments;

a

survey

ofarmiessimilar

tothat

donein

chapter 2 (whichlookedat

militaryslaves)

makesthis

clear,forthe

major

dynasties

mentionedthere,aswellasmost

others,

dependedprimarily

on

marginal

areasoldiers

to

bring

themto

power.

8

Sucha

pattern

existed

nowhereelsetothesameextentasit

didin

Islamdom,

noteven

inthesamelandsbefore

they

became

Muslim.In

pre-IslamicEgypt,

for

example,while

marginal

area

soldiershad

somerolefromthetimeofthe

Hyksosonward,

na-

tive

Egyptians

almost

alwaysfoughtinthearmiesof

Egypt.They

predominated

when

Egypt

was

independent

and served

as

auxiliarieswhen

foreigners(Libyans,

Cushites,

Persians,Greeks,

andRomans)ruled.

’

Butwiththe

coming

ofthe

Muslims,na-

tive

Egyptians(exceptfortheBedouin,whowerenot

insiders)

56.Thisrolehasreceivedbutscant

attention.Somehints

may

befoundin:

Ashtor,

p.

18;Bosworth,

"Recruitment,"p.

64;

J.

C.

Hurewitz,

"Military

Politics

in

theMuslim

Dynastic

States

1400-1750,"Journal

of

the

AmericanOrientalSociety

88

(1968):97;

J.

Celerier,"Islamet

geographie,"Hesperis

39

(1952):347;Gell-

her,p.

3,hasnotedthisfactmost

clearly:"Itseemstobe

striking

featureofthe

history

ofMuslimcountriesthat

theyfrequently,indeedgenerally,have

penumbraof

marginal

tribalism."

57.

Hodgsonmakesthispoint,too,butwithdifferent

terminologyandadif-

ferent

explanation.Hecallsit"militarization"

(2:64)

andattributesittoa"stale-

matebetween

agrarian

and

mercantilepower"

(2:65).

58.Theshortaccountsof

dynasticoriginsprovidedinC.E.Bosworth,The

Islamic

Dynasties(Edinburgh,

1967)makethis

clear.

59.

J.

Lesquier,LesInstitutionsmilitairesde

l’Egypte

sousles

Lagides(Paris,1911),

pp.134-35;

R.

O.Faulkner,"Egyptian

MilitaryOrganization,"Journal

of

Egyp-

tian
Archeology

39

(1953):32-33,37,46;A.R.Schulman,

Military

Rank,Titleand

Organizationinthe

Egyptian

New

Kingdom(Berlin,1964),pp. 28 ff.;butseeL.A.

Christophe

"L’Organisation

del’arm6e

6gyptienneal’poqueramesside,"Revue

duCaire 20
(1957):399-400,foradifferentview.