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

152 Origins

militaryslavery.

Heismade

responsible

forrelying

onthenew

type

ofsoldiertoo

heavily,

thus

paving

theway

fora

military

takeovershortlyafterhisdeath.Was

al-MuCta.sim

infactthefirst

touseTurksand

military

slaves?

Turks

fought

fortheMuslimsas

early

as54/674,

although

they

remainedfewinnumberuntilthe

timeof

Caliphal-Mans.Sr

(r. 136-58/754-75).

55

A1-Mans.fir

wasthefirstMuslim

rulerin-

tentionally

to

acquire

Turks(12,17).Hissuccessorscontinuedto

rely

onTurksintheirarmies,courts,and

governments,though

not

inlargenumbers(12,17).So

great

wastheincreaseintheir

roleinal-Ma’mfin’stimethatthe

prior

useofTurkswasoften

forgotten.

Many

accountsnotethatal-Ma’mfin

acquired

Turkish

slaves

(2,20,23,33,36-38,40),andothersrefertohis

owning

them

(30,39).

More

important,

somemakean

explicit

connection

between

practices

thatal-Ma’mn initiated and

al-Muetas.im’s

imitation

of

him:

A1-Mutas.im

followedhis

example

in

buying

Turks

athigh

prices

(23

implied

in6),in

systematicallytraining

somementoserveashiscounselors

(28),

andin

attracting

free

Central Asians to convert and

join

the Muslim

army (41).

Further,

al-Mueta.sim

bought

Turkish slaves

originally

at al-

Ma’mfin’behest(2).

Recognizing

al-Ma’m6n’s principalrole,

oneaccountcreditshimwithfirst

taking

Turksintoservice

(20).

Although

al-Ma’m6n

appears

tohaveinitiatedthese

practices,

al-MuCta.sim

became more

closely

identified with them. He

began

collecting

Turkishslavessoonafteral-Ma’mfn’s

victory

in

thecivil

war(T,3:1383)andneverlookedback.Asnoted

previ-

ously,

he

already

hadconsiderablenumbersofTurkishslaves

before

ascending

tothethrone;andasrulerhe

gatheredmany

more.Hefavored

themoverothers(5)andwas

especiallyeager

to

replace

theunreliableArabian

soldiers

with

them(10,23,29).

HewasthefirsttoenterTurksontothe

MilitaryRegister(24,

26).Asaresult,Turkishslavesmade
up

mostofhis

army(13)

anddominatedit

(15).

Onesource

statesthat

al-MuCta.sim

was

thefirsttouseTurks

(7),

whiletwoothersstatethathe

only

in-

creasedtheirnumbers

(16,34),implying

that

they

had

already

existed

beforehis

reign.

55. Thissummarizesinformationinmy"Turks,"pp.87-88.