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

TheFirst

MilitarySlaveSystem 143

WhenMarwnb.

Muh.

ammad(laterMarwanII)invadedAr-

meniainthe

early120/740s,he

signedmany

treatieswith

sepa-

ratelocalrulers;in

Fut.h

al-Bulclfin,al-Baldhfrimentionsnine

in

all.

In

threeofthemthe

conqueredpeopleagreedto

supply

slavesandwheat

everyyear; intwo

theyagreed

todeliver

a

numberofslaves

just

onceand

henceforthto

pay

wheat

yearly;

and

intheotherfour

they

hadnoslavestodeliver.

21

Thissmall

selection

seems

typical

ofthe treaties which Muslims

signed

everywhere;

most

ofthementailedthe

delivery

ofsomeslaves.

Ononeoccasion,whenhereceived

a

single

black

ghulm,

Mar-

wan

IIis

supposed

tohavesentbackascornful

reply:"If

you

hadfound

acolorworsethanblackandanumberlessthan

one,

you

wouldhave

sentthat!

’’22

The

baqt,

a

treaty

betweentheMuslimsandtheNubiansmade

in31/652,wasthemostconfused

andthemostremarked

upon

agreement

forthe

delivery

ofslavestothe

Muslims.

23

Itre-

mainedineffectfor

oversixcenturies,until674/1276;

24

during

this

longperiod

itstermswere

changed,butthesealterations

were never
clearlydistinguished,

sothe

historianhas

many

strata to

separate.

Y.

F..Hasan’s

analysis

concludes

thatthe

originalagreementstipulatedannualNubian
delivery

ofslaves

in

exchange

for

provisions.

6

Of

allthe

reported

deliveriesofslaves,

onlyoneexplicitlyin-

dicatesthattheslaveshada
militarypurpose;

ineither125/743

or
128/746,theUmayyad
governor

of

Iraqrequested

fromthe

governor

of

Khurasan,

Nas.r

b.

Sayyfir,

1,000armedandmounted

21.FB,

pp.

208-09.

22.

Jah,p.

81;UA,

p.

235.

23.

On

the

baqt,

besidesthereferencesinY.F.

H.

asan,

TheArabsand

theSudan

(Khartoum,1973),pp.219-21,seealsoKhalifa,
p.

138;Ibn

al-Faqih,p.76;Ibn

Khurdadhbih,p.83;Michael,3:90-94,360;andHill,
Termination,pp.

43-44.

24. F.Loekkegaard,"Ba.kt,"inEl
    gives

thisenddate.Proofthat

this,

unlike

mostotheraccords,remainedin
effectafterthefallofthe
Umayyads

comes

from
thefactthatboththe
caliphs

al-Mahdiandal-MuCtasim

adjusteditsterms

.Hasan,TheArabs,

pp.

25-26).

25..Hasan,TheArabs,

pp.

24-25.

26.

Ibid.,pp.20,25.