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

An

Explanation

of

MilitarySlavery 97

Besidesthe

strength

oftheIslamic

ties,

the

readiness

ofMus-

limsto

accept

newconvertstoIslam--evenslavesmcontributed

totheirenthusiasmfor Islam.Themanumittedslavebecamea

full-fledged

memberofthe

community.

AMuslimcouldnotbea

complete

stranger

tootherMuslims;evenifa

foreigner

ora

slave,heshareda

vital

bondwiththem.Othersocieties

generally

showedless

openness

tooutsidersand

greater

reluctanceto

allowthemtoholdsensitive

positions.

8. TheShariCa
   ruling

thatone-fifthofall

booty(ghanma)

be-

given

tothe

government

derivesfromthe

Qur’hn:

"When

you

havetaken

booty,

one-fifth

belongstoGod,the

Prophet,

hisnear

of

kin,

to

orphans,

the

poor,

and

wayfarers.

’’a

Whilethe

jurists

disagreed

aboutthedetailsofthis

arrangement,

a7

they

did

con-

curthatthisone-fifth

(Arabic:

khums; Persian:

penchik)

ofthe

bootybelonged

tothe

community

asawholeas

represented

by

its

government

and

personifiedby

itsruler.Thefifth

gen-

erallyincluded allforms of

wealth

acquiredby

force

ofwar,

both

property

(movable

and

not)

and

persons--namely,

slaves,

as

Untilnow,no

study

hasbeenmadeofthe

application

ofthe

khums

regulationthroughout

Islamicate

history;

butwhereverit

heldfirm,itcould

supply

therulerwith massivenumbersof

slaves.

9a

Extensive

conquests

could

provide

the Muslimruler

withthousands of

slaves;

insuch

instances,

itmade

nosensefor

themalltoservehim

personally

orworkinhishousehold.

They

couldbetterlaborinthefieldsorin

industry,

buttheruler

might

prefertousethemto

support

his

regime

by

enrolling

theminto

the

army

ortheadministration.Thekhums

rulingprobablymade

closesttheCrusaderscameto
militaryslavery.

TheCrusaders

hadanacute

shortage

of

militarymanpower(pp.

88-97);alltheMuslimarmies

theyfacedre-

liedon

military

slaves;

yet

despitetheneedandthe

availability

ofa

model,the

WesternChristians
appear

nevertohavetriedtoimitatetheMuslims.

TheEthiopiansperhapstriedmilitaryslaverytoo(seen. 12 to

chapter

1).

96.Qur’n,8:41.

97.Khadduri,

pp.

121-22.

98.IntheOttoman

case,

for

example,

thisfactoris

commonly

ascribedcon-

siderable

importance:Kldy-Nagy,pp.

164-65;S.Shaw,

History

of

theOttoman

Empireand

Modern

Turkey,

vol.1:

Empire

of

theGazis

(Cambridge,

1976),s.v.

pen-

ik

intheindex.

99.

az-Zabidi,p.

96.