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

122 Origins

soldierswhoclaimedtohavekilledthe

Khriji

leader

Qatri

b.

al-FujCa

in

77/696,twowere

mawlas,

ss

AttheBattleofDayr

Jamajim,al-Hajjaj’s

slavesandmawlas

helped

tosecure

acrucial

roadhead;atthe

sametime,al-Hajjjhadghul{zmsimpersonate

him.

s9

During

cAbdal-Malik’s

reign,

his

sonal-Walidledthe

Caliph’s

mawlasona

militaryexpeditionagainst

Amrb.Said’s

brother

Yah.yfi.

9

TheSecondConquests

This

long

middle

period

oftheArabianerasawthe Muslims

once

again

on

theoffensiveagainstnon-Muslims.Unlikeinthe

first

conquests,

whenunfreesoldiers

played

almostno

role,

in

the second wave

they participated

often and in substantial

numbers.

WithRebels.

In

77/695the

Azfiriqasectofthe

Khfirijissplit

when

8,000

mawlasleftthemain

body

undertheirown

leader,

the

mawlaAbdRabbih

as-Saghir;presumablythey

also

fought

to-

gether.

91

Thatsame

year,

another

Khfirijigroup

sent 200 men

underamawlato

fightal-Hajjfij’s

forces22Aboutthissametime,

aKhfiriji

mawla

ledfiftymen

into

battle,

and

a

mawlafromFars

who

was

knownforhis

abilityto

throw

twospears(?)atonce

died

fighting

forthe

Khfirijis.

z

Finally,Mut.arrif,

a

quasi-Khfiriji

rebel,hadamawlain

charge

ofhis

.haras(bodyguard);

thisman

alsoservedasa

military

commanderwhen

Mut.arrif

revoltedin

77/69624

Ibnal-Asheath, aformer

Umayyadmilitary

commander,re-

belled

in 80-83/699-702

usinglarge

numbersofunfree sol-

diers.
At.-Tabari

reportsthatmawlasnumberedasmanyasthe

paid

Arabianwarriors

(muq{ttil)

attheBattleof

DayrJamfijim

in

88.

T,2:1019.

89.T,2:958.

90.MDh,3:111.

91.Dixon,p.

180.

92.

T,

2:966.

93.

Fifty

men:AA,11:104.Twospears:AA,11:105.

94.T,2:983.