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

AnExplanationof

MilitarySlavery

93

The institutionof

militaryslavery

wasnotan

accident,

ale-

galism,

orafluke,butasuccessful

adaptationto

the

specific

Islamicateneedto

acquire

andcontrolaliensoldiersfrom

mar-

ginal

areas.

Howeveroddit

may

seemtoour

eyes,

Muslimrulers

reaped

real

military

benefitsfrom

theenslavementofrecruits.

NonmilitaryFactors

Besides

providingMuslimswithamechanismfor

acquiring

and

controlling

soldiersfromoutside

marginalareas,

militaryslavery

hadtofitintothe

general

patterns

ofIslamicate

life.

Military

slavery

hada

militaryrationale, but

nonmilitary factorsalso

contributedtoits

successand

proliferation.

These

nonmilitary

factorsdidnot

explainthe

purpose

oftheinstitution,but

they

did

help

toform an

environmentthatwasconducivetomili-

taryslavery.

Hadthe

military

needs

been

unchanged

butother

factors

unsuitable,the

systemmight

neverhave

comeintobe-

ing.Beyondfulfilling

a

function,

militaryslavery

alsofitted

into

Islamicate

society.

1. Slaves
   fought

in

battlefromthefirstmomentsofIslam.

They

were

already

participating

in

Muh.

ammad’sbattlesinsiza-

ble

numbers,

s3

This factmusthavemade their later

usein

warfare

more acceptable,though no

explicit

mentionofthe

Mu

.hammadan

precedent

has

cometo

my

attention.Since

every

actof

Muh.

ammad’shasattractedclose

scrutiny,itseems

proba-

blethattheslaveswho

fought

withhim

remainedeverafterin

the

Islamicconsciousness.This

may

have

givensanctiontothe

useofslavesin

warfare:"Ifthe

Prophet

didso,we

may

too."

I

cannotaccountforthe
strikingabsenceofthis
justification

from

thesources,however.

2. BothIslamiclawandtheeventsofthe
   early
   period

com-

binedto
giveslavesinIslamdoman
exceptionallyhighstatus.

The
Qur’fin

and

subsequent

Shariea

regulationsguaranteedthe

humandignityoftheslave,
especially

onewhowasa

Muslim.

83. Detailsareinchapter4.