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

AnExplanationof

MilitarySlavery 95

seemstoexistagainstusingslaves

in

normalcircumstances

butin

favorof

their

assistance

intimesoftrouble.Itis

noteworthy

that

therewasnoclearcondemnationofslaves
fighting

innormal

circumstances;further,therestraintsonslaves
fightingappear

toreflectaconcernwithpropertyvaluemorethanwithhonor,

thediscussions
discourageslavesfrom
exposing

themselvesto

needless
danger

andthus

jeopardizing

theirmaster’s

property,

as

4. The
   strong

and

continuingrelationshipencouragedby

the

ShariCa
betweenafreedslaveandhis
patron(the

wal(’

ofman-

umission),

89

created

favorableconditions for

military slavery.

Slavesowned
by

aMuslimremained

by

their

master

long

after

emancipation,
providing

himwith

allegiance

andservice

inre-

turnfor
protectionand
patronage.

Fewslavesreturnedtotheir

countriesof
origin

after

becoming

free; the

majority

stood

by

their
patron,

a

This

continuingvoluntaryrelationship

increased

thelikelihoodofmenofslave
originsserving

theirmastersin

important
positions.

5. "LeMonde musulmanestunecivilisation
   esclavagiste.

’’gt

TheMuslimsneverseemtohavesufferedfroma
shortage

of

slaves;
throughmany

centuries,over

manyareas,they

owned

them
in

abundant numbers. The Muslims

imported slaves

fromallthe
surroundingareas--especially

sub-SaharanAfrica,

Europe,

CentralAsia,andIndia--while

hardly

ever

falling

vic-

tim toslavery themselves.

2

The

presence

ofslaves was, of

course, afundamental
precondition

of

military slavery;

and

theirexistence

in

massivenumberswasconducivetothe

system,

sinceowners
sought

useful

ways

inwhichto

employ

theslavesat

hand.
Certainly

this

appears

tohavebeenthecaseforthoserul-

88.as-Sarakhsi,p.

908.This

brings

to

mindaU.S.CivilWaranecdote,when

amaster"toldhisslavetolookafterhis
property,

and

whensomeshotfell

nearby,

the

Negro

fled,andwhenthemaster

reprimanded

him

hesaid,’Massa,

you

toldmetotake

good

careof

yourproperty,

anddis

property(placinghis

handonhisbreast),isworf$1500’ (CW,p.278).

89.

My

"Mawlas"articlediscussesthisat

length.

90.Foran

exception,

seeKM,

p.

203.

91.M.Lombard,L’Islamdartssapremi’ere

grandeur

(Paris,

1971),p.194.

92.Ibid.,pp.194-202;

G.

Hambly,"IslamicSlavery:AnOverview"

(mimeo-

graphed:n.p.,n.d.),pp.21-25.