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

TheUnfreeinMuslimWarfare,2-205/624-820

133

largearmy

suppressed

the revolt

by

killing

"18,000

persons:

pure

Arabians,their

slaves,theirmawlas,and

evenunknown

persons.

’’1r4

Apparently, slaves andmawlas inMosul

fought

alongwithArabians. Mawlas

fought

against

theAbbasids

in

NorthAfrica

onseveraloccasions

during

al-Mans.fir’sreign:

one

mawlaled

(Berber?)forces

against

the

Abbasidsto

stop

theAb-

basid

expansion

and

anotherled

Ibfid.i

forcesin142/760.175

Basedin

Medina,theShiCi

Muh.

ammadb.

CAbdallahrevolted

in 145/762;a

mawla

fighting

forhim

sentouta

general

chal-

lenge

to

duel,

but

whenhesawthe

soldierwho

accepted

his

offer,heran

away!

176

Muh.

ammadb.

Abdallgth’s

ally,

stb.

Zayd,dispatchedamawlaincommand

oftenarmedsoldiers?

77

Muh.

ammad’s

brotherIbrfihimb.

Abdallfihalsorebelled

against

theAbbasids

in

145/762

withmawla

help;

according

toFarouk

Omar,

vestiges

of

the

Umayyad

forces"and

theirMawfili

prob-

ably

helped

Ibrfihim.

’’lrs

After

therevoltsof

Muh.

ammadand

Ibrfihimb.Abdallfihhad

failed,theAbbasidssent

troops

to

occupyMedina,butthesemet

with

opposition

froman

unexpectedquarter,

the

blackslaves.

When

an

occupying

soldierrefused

to

pay

forsome

meat,

the

butchers

calledon"theBlacksinthe

army,"whothenkilledsev-

eralAbbasidsoldiers

withstaves.ThentheBlacks’

specialtrum-

pet

sounded,and

they

all

dropped

what

they

were

doingand

rantoform

military

units.

TheyforcedtheAbbasid

governorto

abandonMedinaandfleetoa

nearbytown,Nakhl;

theythen

attacked
Nakhl,beatthe
governor’s
troops,

forcedhimtoflee

again,

and

plunderedhisfood.

They

continued

tokillAbbasid

soldierswiththeir
staves,
arousing

thewonderoftheMedinese:

"These
Blacksareeitherbewitchedor
devils!"

Once

they had establishedtheir

authority

inMedina, the

Blacksfreed
from
jail

aCAlid

sympathizer,

Ibn

Abi

S.abra,

and

madehimtheir
leader.Meanwhile,
Caliph
al-Mans.fir

heardof

174.TYac,2:357.

175.StopAbbasid

expansion:

FB,

pp.232-33.

Ibfi.di:

Khalifa,

p.

644.

For

more
mawlarebels,see
ar-Raqiq,p.

138.

176.T,3:238.

177.T,

3:235.

178.Omar,c,4bbid

Caliphate,

p.

243.