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

96

TheIslamicateContext

erswhoreceivedvastnumbersof

s[aves

aswar

captives

(see

p.

97).

6.

An

abundance of servile women

in courts

may

have

made

rulersmore predisposedtomilitaryslavery.

A Muslim

mancould

keepany

numberofconcubines;this

practice

filled

therulers’

palaces

with

legions

ofslavewomen.Many

aMuslim

rulerfoundhimselfsurrounded

by

femalesofslaveorigins,in-

cluding

hismotherandwives;

why

not,then,includemaleslaves

inhis

entourage

too?

7. Islamsummonsan
   unparalleledallegiance

fromitsadher-

ents.Ithasthe

power

to

change

loyalties;

it

routinely

transforms

a

person’s

wholeorientation.

ThismadeiteasierforMuslims

than for other peoples

to

place

outsiders in

responsible po-

sitions. Islamshowsastonishingpower

in

capturing

a

person’s

primaryidentity;

converts

usually

viewthemselvesas Muslims

firstandasmembersofanethnic

group

orregion

second.While

many

differences

distinguished

Muslimsfromeachother,

they

felttheircommonbondmorethanthosedifferences.So

power-

fulwasthisaffiliationthat,for

example,

theTurks"submerged

their

identity

inIslam"tothe

point

where,inpremoderntimes,

they

hadalmost

no self-conception

other thanas Muslims.

93

Similarly,

forBerbersinNorthAfrica,"notionsbetweentribal

andIslamicwere

hazy

andofdoubtfulsocial

significance.

’’94

The

power

oftheIslamic

bond

gave

amasterconfidencethat

aslavewhoconvertedtoIslamreally

didtransferhis

allegiance

totheMuslims. When

non-Muslims

attempted

to

bring

about

comparablechanges

in

identity,they

didnotmeetwiththesame

success;boththe

Byzantines

andtheCrusaders

triedtoeffecta

similartransformation

in

marginal

area soldiers;

95

butChris-

tianity

doesnotbinditsadherentsas

tightly

asIslamdoes.

93.B.Lewis,The

Emergence

of

Modern

Turkey(London,1965),p.

13;S.A.Zen-

kovsky,Pan-TurkismandIslaminRussia

(Caxnbridge,

Mass.,1967),

p.

8.Islamhad

the

veryspecialpower(shared,perhaps,onlybytheUnitedStates)tochangenot

onlytheidentityofanewmemberofitscommunitybutalsothatofhisancestors.

94.

Gellner,p.

15.

95.On

Byzantium,

see

Vryonis, "Byzantine

andTurkishSocieties,"

pp.

125-52,

comparing

ByzantineandIslamicate

attempts;

alsoC.Cahen,

"Djaysh"

inEl2.OntheCrusaders,seeSmail,
pp.

111-12,

discussing

the

Turcopoles,

the