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

170

Origins

Perhaps

morethan

any

other

conquerors

in

history,

Arabians

desertedtheirhomelandtosettle

in

vanquished

territories.

49

So

Arabiadidnot

provide

areservoiroffresh

marginal

areasol-

diers,

soldiersneithersoftened

by

civilizationnorembroiled

in

internecine

strife.TheMuslimleadershadnochoicebuttore-

plenish

theirarmies

withnon-Arabians.

Enrollment

of

Non-ArabiansasMawlas. Whenthetime

cameto

enroll

non-ArabiansinMuslimarmies,thecentral

government

(and

alsorebelleaders)lackedthe

power

eitherto

compel

the

introductionofnewsoldiersortoestablish

new

corps.

Instead,it

allowed

individualArabiantribesmentorecruitnon-Arabians

ontheirown.

Clearly,

thelatterlacked

affiliationtoanArabian

tribe;therefore

they

could

notenroll

directly

inthe

Military

Reg-

isterandwere

precluded

from

joining

the

armyindependently

(though

insome

cases

theyfought

in

separate

unitswhichhad

no

apparent

Arabian

patron).

5

Inorderto

join,they

hadto

at-

tachthemselvestoatribalmember,an

Arabian

patron.

Non-Arabianclientageprofited

bothArabian triballeaders

and tribesmen. Leaders

extended their

powers by acquiring

larger

forces; individual tribesmen became

patrons

to non-

Arabianswhoservedthemasretainers.

Just

asthe

tribalchief

controlledhiswarriors’

pay,

sothetribesman

controlledthatof

his clients.

The

government

(or

rebel

leader)

which funded

themhadaslittlecontroloverthenewsoldiersasover

theold.

Thisremarkablesituation,

again,grew

fromtheorigins

ofMus-

lim

power

in

conquests

by

tribally

organized

armies.

Non-Arabianclientsinthearmy

were

mostly

Muslim.Non-

Muslimsjoined

tooand

fought

in

large

numbersatthefarcor-

ners

ofthe

empire(especially

inNorthAfricaandCentralAsia),

butmostnewsoldierswereconverts

fromthe

subjectpopula-

tions:mawlas.

Mawlas

whobecamesoldiersshared

many

characteristics,re-

gardless

oftheir

origins,

slaveorfree.

51

Allwerenon-Arabian

49.Donner,pp.

192-93

explains

thisasaresultofthecentral

government

urging

Arabianstomoveintoareasinwhich

they

couldbemoreeasilycontrolled

by

the

government.

50.P.190.

51.For

details,

see

my

"Mawlas,"section