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

132

Origins

haveencouragedhisenemies’

slavestodeserttheirmastersand

to

fight

for theAbbasidsina

separate

corps?

67

Theyfought

ina

separate

trench,too,toavoid

oppressionby

Arabians?

68

AbfiMuslimhimself,ofcourse,was

the

outstanding

mawla

figure

intheAbbasidmovement;

asthe

military

and

political

tacticianoftheirriseto

power,

hemorethananyotherfigure

was
responsible

fortheAbbasidsuccess.

Abfi

Salama,

another

mawla.,

also

played

avitalrole;detailsabout

boththesemenhave

beencollectedby

others

and

neednotbe

repeated

here.

19

Abfi

Jahm,

themawlafounderofthe

Jahmiya

sect,led 700

troops

in 131/749.

aT

What

appears

tobea

single

mawlawith

variousforms ofhisname ledAbbasid

troops

toSarkhusin

130/748,to

Iraq

against

the

Umayyads

in132/750, andcom-

manded

.Qah.taba’s

advance

guard

alsoin 132/750.171

Finally,

in

134/752,herebelled

against

theAbbasidsandwasdefeated?

z2

A1-Jh.i.z

statesthatthe

Khurfisfiniya,

theAbbasid

troops

from

Khurasan,were

mawlas,

a;3

WithRebels,132-205/750-820.

By

thetime

theAbbasidstook

over the

caliphate,

the erasof

great conquests

had ended;

henceforthMuslimsfought

against

fellow

believersmoreoften

thannon-Muslims.Unfreesoldiers,consequently,

also

partici-

pated mostly

in warfare between Muslims.

It is

commonly

thought

thatmawlasfavoredtheAbbasids,theiralleged

bene-

factors,

just

as

they

hadearlierstruggledagainst

the

Umayyads;

but

just

asthe

Umayyadargument

is

wrong,

sotoo

istheAb-

basidone. Mawlas fought

asmuchfortheirrivalsas forthe

Abbasids.

When

the

city

ofMosulrose

against

theAbbasidsin133/751,a

167.ADA,

pp.

280-81,284.For

a

translation

and

discussion,

see

Pipes,

"From

MawlatoMamluk,"pp.201-02.

Thisisdatedin

T,

2:1969.

168.T,2:1969.

169.Onthem,

see

Sourdel,

El2,andthereferencesinnote 129 of

Pipes,

"Mawlas."

170.T,3:3-4.

171.Sarkhus:Khalifa,

p.

591.Iraq:

TYa

c,2:345.Qah.taba’s

advance

guard:

T,3:18.

172.T,3:75-77.

173.

al-Jh.iz.,Manqib,p.

14.