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

166

Origins

Quraysh]

said:’LookQuraysh,you

haveleft

yourghulms

with

your possessions--they

will

bethe oneswho take over

your

camelsaddles.’

Sowe[theslaves]

groupedtogether,

hobbledthe

camels,andtookoffinbattleformationto theleftand
right

wings.

TM

Later,Nistfisexecuteda

Muslim

captive

underordersfromhis

master?

2

Afterthe

peace

ofal-Hudaybiya

in6/628,a

Qurashi

soldierwhohad

beentaken

captiveby

theMuslims

wishedto

stay

in

Medina

asaMuslim,buttheMeccans

sentouta

Qurashi

with

amawlato

bring

himback.

3a

Atthe

Battleof

al-H.

unayn

in

8/630,aChristian

slave

fought

for

Thaqif

andmet

hisdeathin

battle?

4

Just

before

theMuslimtakeoverofMecca,Quraysh

sent

itsmawlas

to

help

itsallies,theKinfina

tribe,

a5

It

appearslikely

thattheMeccans,

whowere

city

dwellers,

usedslavesinwarmoreoften

thandidtheirdesertbrethren.

Theviewofthelatter

canbe

readilyappreciated

in

thestate-

ment,

"Aslavedoesnotunderstand

howto

fight;

hisworkisto

milk

thecamelsandbindtheirudders.

’’a6

Still,

atthemostim-

portant

battle

oftheRiddaWars, atYamfima

in

11/632,

the

"false

prophet"

Musaylama

sufferedso

many

losses

fighting

the

Muslimsthat

hisleaderssentoutacalltoarm

the

villagers

and

slaves.

37

Asinthe

Roman-Byzantine

andIranian

cases,

Arabia

pro-

vidcs

examples

ofslaves

fighting,

butnoneofthem

appears

to

havcmuchto

dowith

militaryslavery.

TheNeedforMarginalArea

Soldiers

Tracing

Muslimmilitary

needsfrom thebirth

ofIslamuntil

205/820showsthatMuslimstwicesought

what

militaryslavery

31.

al-Wfiqidi,p.

230.

32. IH,2:172

al-Wfiqidi,p.362.

33.IH,2:323.

34. IH,2:450.


35. TYae,2:58.

36.S’ratCAntar,

quoted

inR.A.Nicholson,

A

LiterayHistory

of

theArabs(Lon-

don,

1907),p.

115.

37.T,1:1953-54;al-Balansi,p.

104,writes"women,children,

andslaves."