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

Introduction

xvii

amongMuslims. In fact,the

responses

to failure influenced

Muslimsincommon

waysasmuchasthe

goalsthey

attained.In

public

affairs,Muslimsdidnot

live

up

tomostIslamic

precepts

andideals:theratesoftaxation

prescribedbyIslamforzakdh

were

unworkable.inan

agrarian-basedeconomy

and

weredis-

placedalready

inthe2d/8th

century;

the

juridicalprocedures

weretooinflexibleforuseina
systemof
justice;

commercialre-

strictions(suchas the

prohibition

on

interest)wereabsolutely

untenable

fortraders;andthe

political-military requirements

were
beyond

thereachof

anymundane

government.

No

people

haseverlived

longby

theselawsof

Islam--overamillenniumof

history

makesthis

point

clear

beyonddispute--buteach

people

thattookits
faith
seriously

hadtodealwiththe

gapbetween

ideals and
reality. Itis
my assumption

that Muslimsin

pre-

moderntimesdidtake these
idealstoheartandthereforethe

failure to enforce them had
major consequences. Muslims

shareda
disappointmentintheconductof
public

affairs:

illegal

taxes,

non-Islamic

judicialtribunes,

usury,

andfailed

political-

military

institutions

(on

which

morein

chapter3)

boundthem

together,

forbelieversreactedinsimilar

ways

to

thesefactsof

life. Not
thidealsthemselvesbutMuslim
responses

totheir

nonimplementationaccountedfortheIslamicateelementinthe

economic,social,
political,

and

militarylifeof

premodern

Islam-

dom.
Manyattempts

tounderstand

the

history

ofMuslimsas

wellascurrent
developments

missthis

pointentirelyby

looking

onlyatideals;intheabstract,thesehavelittlevalueforunder-

standingtheroleofIslamin
history.

The

adaptationby

Islamoftraits

particulartotheMiddleEast

constitutesafinal
pattern

ofIslamicate

influence.Althoughnot

sanctioned
by

Islam, some Middle

Eastern

patterns

became

identifiedwith
the
religion

andits

way

oflife;asaresult,

they

spread

acrossIslamdom.M.

G.S.

Hodgson

identifiesaMiddle

East
high

culturaltradition

(he

callsit

theIrano-Semitictradi-

tion of the
Nile-to-Oxus
region)

which was modified and

"refonted"
by

Islam.

9

Inhisview,whenIslam

spreadbeyond

8.u.

Haarmann,"IslamicDutiesin

History,"pp.

10-11.

9.

Hodgson,1:61-62,117,237-38.