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

138

Origins

withthe

figure

ofhalfamillionabove,Ilittle

understandthis

huge

number.

Bothal-Aminand

al-Ma’mSn

employed

mawlasduring

the

civilwarbetweenthem.When

oneofal-Amin’sgenerals

found

himselfina

desperate

situation

in196/812,hesuggested

thathis

mawlasleave

him,but

they

refusedindignantly,averring

their

eternalgratitude

tohimfor

raising

themoutof

poverty.

Con-

sequentlythey

diedby

hissideinbattle.

ln

Ontheotherside,

the

great

mawla

general,

Harthamab.

ACyan,fought

for

al-Ma’mn

thatsame

year.

zz7

The Abbasidssentseveral

unfreecommanders

against

the

rebel

Ab5’s-Sary.

A

kh{zdimled

200

horsemenonthepilgrim-

age

toMeccain

199/815

andfoughtAb’s-Sary’s

forces

with

them;

theAbbasid

governor

ofMecca

collected forwarthe

mawlas

ofBarn5cAbbsandtheslaves

oftheirhouses

(?);

inthe

followingyear,

theAbbasids’

agent

inMecca,amawla,collected

the slavesofthe

AbbasidsinMecca,led themagainst

Ab’s-

Sary,

and

won.

1

Therearealsofurther

incidentalreferences

tomawlasfightingAbfi’s-Sary.

a9

When

al-Ma’mSnwas

looking

forseveral

soldiersoflowrank

to

arrange

theassassination

ofhisvizier

al-Fatl

b.Sahl

in203/

819,he

choseaBlack,aGreek,a

Daylami,

andaS.aqlabi(Slav);

according

toBalami,theGreek

andthe

S.

aqlabi

weremawlas.

9

WiththeAbbasids

against

Non-Muslims,

132-205/750-820. Unfree

soldiershardlyfoughtany

non-Muslimsduring

thefirst

sixty

years

ofthe

Abbasid

caliphate.Except

foronecampaignagainst

anapostate

inKhurasanin141/758,

TM

theyfought

onlyagainst

the

Byzantines,

the

first time in 140/757,

over

Malatya.

z2z

A1-H.

asan

al-Was.if

or

al-H.

asanb.

Was.if

led

themawlasinthead-

MaroazonChina,

theTurksandIndia(London,1942),p.

94;M.CanardinArabica

7 (1960):220.

216.

T,3:854.

217.TMaw,

pp.

325-26.

218.

Kh&lim:T,3:982.Abbasid

governor:

ibid.Abbasid

agent:

T,3:992-93.

219.

T,3:1020-21.

220.

BalCami,4:516

butnotT,3:1027.

221.T,3:136;FB,p.338.T,3:98

alsoidentifieshimasamawla.

222.FB,

p.

188.