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

Introduction xix

their
public

order could not

correspond

tothose

goals,they

withdrewfromtheirownarmies,
compelling

therulerstolook

for

soldierselsewhere,

whichinturn

ledtothedevelopmentof

militaryslavery

asasolution.

TheMilitarySlaveSystem

A new
dynastyrarely depends

onslave soldiers atthe time

whenitcomesto
power;

15

theyusually

turn

up

twoorthree

generationslater,asarulercasts aboutto
replace

unreliable

soldierswithonesfromnewsourcesthathecanbettercontrol.

Typically, military

slavesserve the rulerfirstas

royal body-

guards,thenmovetoother
parts

ofhis

entourage,

andfrom

there tothe
army,
government,

andevenintothe

provincial

administration.Astheruler
increasingly

relieson

militaryslaves,

theyacquireindependentpower

basesandsometimestakemat-

ters
intotheirownhands,either
controlling

theruleroreven

usurping

his

position.

16

Notalways, however: in

many

cases,

when
judiciouslyused,military

slaves render

competent

and

faithfulservicetotheirmastersfor
longperiods

oftime.

The

career

of

a

military

slavefollowsa

tightpattern.

Borna

non-Musliminsome
regionnot

underMuslim

control,

17

he

is

acquired by

the Muslimsas a

youth

old

enough

to

undergo

training

butstill

youngenough

tobemolded

by

it.

Brought

to

Islamdomasaslave,heconvertstoIslamandentersa

military

training

program,

emerging

somefiveto

eightyears

laterasan

adultsoldier.Ifhehas
specialabilities,hecanriseto
anyheights

inthe
army

or

(sometimes)

inthe

government;

whilemostmili-

tary

slaves

spend

theiradultslivesintheruler’s

army,they

are

not

justsoldiersbutakeyelementofthe

ruling

eliteinmost

Muslim

dynasties.

15.Exceptionsusuallycomefromdynastiesfoundedbymilitaryslaves,since

theyrelyheavilyontheirowncorps.

16.The

special

and

fascinatingphenomenonofsoldiersofslave

origins

be-

coming

rulerswill

notbeconsidered

in

thisstudy.Thismeansthatmuchofthe

evidencefromtheMamluk
Kingdom

will

not

be

analyzed.

17.

Exceptions

exist,

notably

intheOttomanandFilali

dynasties.