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

The

UnfreeinMuslimWarfare,2-205/624-820

137

deserves

study,

particularly

sinceheseems

tohavecomefrom

lowly

origins.

Therebellionofthe

CAlidleader

al-H.usayn

b.CAlimarked

a

highpointintheuseofunfree

soldiers;besideshis

heavy

re-

lianceon

them

(previouslydescribed),theAbbasidssent

many

against

him. Four

mawlas commanded

troops,

and

one of

themheadedthe

vanguardof

twenty

horsemen.

27

H.

ammd

at-Turki, an

importantfigurein

al-Mans.flr’s

court,

28

fought

against al-.Husayn b. Ali, and one

report says he killed al-

.Husayn.

29

Another

Turk,Mubrakat-Turki,was

punishedby

the

caliph

fornot

pursuingtherebels

vigorouslyenough.

1

In

178/794

the

governorofKhurasan

employed

a

totalofhalf

amillion

CAjam

andcalled

themthe

Abbsiya;

theirwaR’

went

tothe

governor,

so

they

were

insomesensehismawlas.

Twenty

thousandofthemweresent

to

Baghdad

where

theywerecalled

the

Karanbiya.

TM

The

governor

of

Ifriqiya sent his mawla

against

arebelin183/799and

themawlawon.

.1.

After

succeeding

al-Hdi on

thethrone, Hrfinar-Rashid

made

everyefforttoinsurethat

forces

supporting

al-Hfdi’s

in-

fant son would

not

dislodge him; Hrfin sent Khazima b.

Khzimwith

5,000armedmawlas

againsttheinfant!

21

When

Hfirfindiedin

193/809,

a

mawlaofhiswas

counted

among

the

majorcommanders.

.14

Afterhis

death,an

inventory

ofhis

pos-

sessionslisted

50,000swordsoftheShkiris

and

ghulzms.

15

As

207.T,3:558,562.

208.He

helped

tobuild

Baghdad(T,3:276-80),ledthe

caliph’sbodyguard

(T,

3:392;IA,

6:24),servedas.hjib(MDh,3:309;T,

3:280),controlledtaxadon

intheSawad

(Jah,p.134),and

personally

waitedon

Caliph

al-Mans.far

(MDh,

3:309;T,3:429).

Ath-Thaelibi,p.20,noteshis

specialimportance.

209.

Abft’l-Farajal-Is.fahni,Maqtila.t-Tgffibiynp.451.

210.T,3:563.

211.T,3:631.

212.

Ibn

al-Abbtr,1:90-91.

213.T,3:602.

214.T,3:772.

215.ar-Rashid,

p.

217.Onthe

Shkirs,seeForand,

"Development,"pp.

10-15;Fries,p.24;Wellhausen,

p.

496;

Dennett,"MarwanibnMuhammad,"

p.

130;

Shaban,CAbbsidRevolution,

p.

58;Gibb,

p.

87;

E.Herzfeld,Geschichteder

StadtSamarra
(Hamburg,1948),p.99,n.1;V.
Minorsky,Sharafal-Zand,

n

.Tgthir