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

160

Origins

ing

the

caliphs

tocentralizetheir

power.

2

Bosworthofferstwo

explanations:

theeconomic andcommercialexpansion

ofthe

first Abbasid

period;

and the decline of

Arabian soldiers

throughdecayandanarchy,

whichforcedtheAbbasidrulersto

seekoutmorereliable

troops.

3

Cahen

suggests

thatslaveswere

ableto

provide

morefaithfulandskilled service.

4

Hamdistresses

al-Ma’mfim’s favorable

experiences

with Turkish soldiers in

Khurasan,

5

whereas

T/llnerandIsmail

point

to

al-MuCtas.im’s

experiences

withthemin

Egypt

and

Iraq.

Ismailalsonotesthat

thesetwocountries didnot

provide

the

Abbasidarmieswith

sufficient

numbersofsoldiers.

6

Hrbek

explains

the

phenome-

nonin

termsofclassconflict. Cronesees

militaryslavery

asan

Islamicateinstitutionbutdoesnot

develop

thislineof

reasoning;

sheascribesit

only

to"thefailureoftheAbbasidstostructure

a

Muslim

empire.

’’s

Hodgson,

as

ever,goesbeyond

alltheseex-

planations:

militaryslaveryemergedamong

theAbbasidsbe-

cause"nostrataofthe

population

were

ready

to

give

effective

support

tothe

government.

’’9

Yeteven

hedoes

not

tiethisfact

intothe

major

factsofIslamicatepublic

life.

Ina

confusingpassage,

IbnKhaldfin

appearstotelescope

the

Umayyad

andAbbasiddeclinesintooneandthento

explain

the

Abbasidrelianceonoutsiders
by

the

unreliability

ofthe

original

Arabian
troops:

WhentheArabiansconquerednations

and

cities,

theirdesertbar-

barismandthesimplicityoftheircaliphs

wastransformedintothe

pride

of

rulership

and thesoftness ofcivilization

Spread

throughout

theworld,new

generations

ofArabians

grewup

in

ease;

theypreferred

thetranquil

plains,

enjoyed

thesoft

life,

and

2.

Lapidus,p.

37.

3.On

expansion:

C.E.Bosworth,"Ghaznevid

MilitaryOrganisation,"

Der

Islam 36 (1960):41; decline:Bosworth,"Recruitment,"pp.61-69.

4.C. Cahen,

"Economy,Society,Institutions,"

inThe

CambridgeHistory

of

Islam,ed.P.M.Holtetal.
(Cambridge,Eng.,

1970),2:535.

5.Hamdi,pp.9-10.

6.

T/511ner,pp.91-22;Ismail,"Mueta.sim, p.23.

7.

Hrbek,p.

54B.

8.Crone,

pp.

B,

142.

9.

Hodgson,

2:B99.