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

TheFirst

Military

Slave

System

141

cUthmnowned1,000mamlks,andononeoccasionheman-

umitted 80 ina

singleday;

thefatherofIbn

az-Zubayr

owned

1,000maleand1,000femaleslaves.

2

Evenaeunuchhad

"great

wealth

in

slaves.

’’a

WhencAbdal-MalikarrestedhiscousinCAmr

b.

Saqd

in

69/689,thelatterordered 12,000ofhisslavesand

mawlastosurroundthe

caliph’spalace.

4

CAmrb.Saidalsohad

1,000

slaves

in

Meccaand

1,000in

A.t-.Tfi’if.

5

WhenIbn

az-Zubayr

diedin73/692,heleftbehind1,000skilled(sni)mamlks. One

ofIbn

az-Zubayr’s

commandersinBasra,

apparently

anIsfa-

hani,owned 400 mamlks.

Thefabtilousslave

holdings

ofMfisfib.

Nus.ayr

have

already

beendiscussed. Mfis’slieutenant,

Triq

b.Ziyd,amawla,was

able

to

offer 100

slaves

to

savehislife.

9

In120/738,thekharj

collectorin

Iraqgaveaway2,000

wo4.fs

and

1,000freedmen

(at[qs).

1

Atsome

unspecified

time,thefirstArabianransomed

himselfforthe

price

of2,000camelsand1,000slaves?

Throughout

theArabian

period,

the

caliphsreceivedlarge

numbersof

captives

sent

by

victoriouscommandersas

khums,

the

one-fifthofthe

spoils

duetotheruler.

Although

the

military

leaders

probablydispatched

khums

afternearly

everyvictory,

the

chroniclesonlyoccasionallymentionit.Wehave

specific

refer-

encesfortheRiddaWars,

Ayn

at-Tamrin12/633,the

capture

of

Jerusalem

thesame

year,

theBattleof

al-Qdisiya

in14/635,

thebattlesofal-Mad’inand

Jalfil’

two

years

later,andsome

may

havebeensentfromthe

siege

ofAhwazin

23/643.1.

2.Onethousand

mam/fiks:

ad-Damiri,1:49; 80 manumitted:ar-Rashid,

p.204;

1,000maleand1,000femaleslaves:Arnin,p.105,quotingal-MaseOdi(withouta

reference).

3.

al-Maqrizi,

al-Maw(

Ciz,2:137.

4.

Jah,p.

112.

5.Balarni,4:102-03.FormoreonAmrb.Said’smawlas,seeKister,

p.

46.

6.ar-Rashid,p.203.

7.

FB,p.366.Ayalon,"PreliminaryRemarks,"p.46,drawsunwarrantedcon-

clusionsfromthisminorfact

(following

Goitein,

p.

235 n.

1).

8.

Pp.

124’27.

9.FM,

p.

210.

10.T,2:1648.

11.IbnRusta,p.193;KM,p. 265 mentionsthecamels butnottheslaves.

12.RiddaWars:T,1:1979.

Ayn

at-Tamr:

T.

A.

ash-Sharqi,Ayn

at-Tatar