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

Chapter Six

How

Military Slavery

First Occurred

Defining

theuniversalcharacteristicsofa

military

slave

system

(systematic acquisition, organized training, professional em-

ployment)

madeit

possible

todateand

identify

itsfirst

appear-

ance in 198-205/814-20;

similarly, establishing

the

general

rationaleformilitaryslavery--that

it

servedasameanstoac-

quire

andcontrol

marginal

area

soldiers--helps

usto

under-

standhowitfirst

developed.

This

concludingchapterinterprets

thefirsttwocenturiesofIslamicate

history

inthe

light

ofthe

theories

presented

in

chapter

3;hereIshallshowtheneedthat

existedfor

marginal

areasoldiersand

propose

thattheenslave-

mentofsoldiersfollowedfromtheearlier
practice

of

employing

themasmawlas.First,however,Ishallnotetheideasofother

historiansonthis

topic

andthenthe

possible

influenceof

prior

civilizations

onthe

development

of

militaryslavery.

Only

afewhistorianshaveventuredan

opinion

onthefirst

development

of

military slavery,

and noneofthem

explains

how,forthefirsttime

in

humanhistory,a

majordynasty

cameto

enslave

its

soldiers

ina

systematicmanner.

Itis

notunfairto

say

thatnoscholarhas

seriously

consideredthis

question.

Ayalon

attributes

military slavery

toa

growingmanpower

shortage,

whichhetracesallthe

way

backtothetimeofcUmar

I.

Lapiduspoints

tothisandtotheusefulnessofslaves

inhelp-

1.

Ayalon,

"PreliminaryRemarks,"p.

44.

159