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

86

TheIslamicateContext

ning

thecycleoveragain.

Thefirstforcedits

way

in,

violently

imposing

itswill fromtheoutside,whilethesecond wasim-

ported

and

acquiredpowerpeacefully

fromwithin.

Marginal

areasoldiersenteredonceas
conquering

warriors,thesecond

timeaspaidsoldiers.

This

explanation

foroutsiderdomination

ofIslamicate

public

lifereversesthe

usual

understanding.

Other

analyses,

whichas-

sumethatMuslim

subjectssoughtpower

butfailedtoattainit

becauseoutsiderstookover,

7

focusattentiononthe

wrong

ac-

tors.I

argue

thatthe

key

liesinthisfact:insidersrelinquished

power

andallowedoutsiderstotakeit

up.

Outsidersoldiersand

rulerswere
always

inthe

wings

in

premodern

times;the

striking

featureinIslamdomwasnotthe

presence

of

marginal

areasol-

diersbuttheabsenceofinsiders.The
peculiarity

lay

withthein-

siderswhodidnotrulemoreoften.

HadMusliminsiderswished

to

participate,

noonecouldhave

prevented

them;thefactthat

they

didnot

points

totheir

relinquishment

of

power,

whichthen

made rule

by

outsiders

possible.

Adherence to

theideals of

Islamdidnotcausean

abundanceofoutsidersin

authority

buta

dearth

ofinsiderswhowishedtoassumeit.

TheBenefitsofMilitarySlavery

Whenarulerdecidedtorecruitsoldiersfrom

marginal

areasto

replenish

hisarmedforces,hehadthreemeans

through

which

to

acquire

them: alliance,

pay,

orenslavement.Each ofthese

methodshadits

advantages

anddrawbacks,

yet

I

shall

argue

that

in

two

crucial

respects,

rulers

preferred

slavestoeithermer-

cenaries oralliesbecause
they

were

acquired

more

easily

and

more

thoroughly

controlled. In thesebenefits

lay

the raison

d’etre of

militaryslavery.

Ibn Khaldfinrefersto themin his

eulogy

ofmilitaryslavery:

Thisstatusof

slavery

isindeeda

blessing

[theslaves]embrace

Islamwiththedeterminationoftruebelievers,whileretainingtheir

nomadicvirtues

whichareundefiled

by

vile

nature,

unmixedwith

70.

E.g.Goitein,p.

218;Grunebaum,lslam,

p.

132.