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

150 Origins

professionalism

of

military

slavesas

part

ofa

general

transition

from

tribalto

professional

warfare,fromwarriorstosoldiers.

Evidencefor

professionalemployment

beginning

circa

205/

820 is

strong;

fromthen,slavesserved

full-time,

received

regu-

lar

wages,

woredistinctive

clothing,

andlivedin

separatequar-

ters.

They

musthave

servedall

year

round, otherwiseslaves

couldnothavebecome

al-MuCta.sim’s

commanders,retinue,elite

guard,palacepolice

force

(8,9),governors(14),

and

bodyguard

(30:alsoal-Ma’mfin’s);andmuchlesscould

they

havebecome

the

"supportofthe

dynasty

andthe

mainstay

ofhismovement"

(10)

ordominatedhis

army(13,15).

Their

militaryimportance

canbe

gaugedby

the

prominent

role

theyplayed

inthewarfare

of

al-MuCta.sim’s

reign(on

this,more

below).Repeated

reference

toTurksintheservice

(khidma)

ofal-Ma’mfin

and

al-MuCta.sim

(6,

7,

14,20)emphasizes

their

long-term

dutiestothe

caliphs.

Thesetwo

caliphsdropped

Arabiansfromthe

MilitaryRegis-

ter(lh-w(zn

alJund;

29)and

simultaneously

enteredTurksontoit

forthefirsttime

(24,26).

A1-Maqrfzf

drawsan

explicit

connec-

tionbetweenthesetwo

events;

theArabianswereremoved

to

make

way

fortheTurks

(23).

Femaleslaves

acquired

for the

Turkswerealso

placed

onthe

register(KB,p.259);they,

like

themen,receivedfixedsalaries

(rizq),though

howmuchisnot

stated. The

70,000

mawlas

whomade up theregularly

paid

force

(murtaziqa)during

al-Mutas.im’scaliphate

(31)

wereun-

doubtedly

these same slaves.

5

In contrast, aCentral Asian

leaderwhowasnotaslavereceiveda

land-grant,

nota

salary

(43).

A1-Mutas.im

dressed his Turks

very finely: gold

and silk

brocade,

gold

andsilkbelts,

gold

collars,andotherornaments

(5,25,26,T,3:1169)not

only

madethemahandsome

sight

but

alsoservedto

distinguishthemfromother

troops.

Underthese

adornments,

they

wore a

government

uniform

(al-mulabbis

wa’z-zayyas-su’l.tnya;

8,

9).Clearly,

thesemusthavebeen

highly

prizedprofessionalsoldiers.

The

segregation

of Turks from other

troops

in

Samarra

provides

afinalindicationthat

they

were

military

slaves.The

50.Thenumber70,000isseveraltimesassociatedwithal-MuCtasim’sslaves:

14,18,19,33.