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

How

Military

SlaveryFirstOccurred 173

the

time.

Althoughonly

humbleauxiliaries,

theyfought

often

andin
large

numbers.The factthatevenfreenon-Arabians

fought

asmawlasdidmuchto

perpetuate

Arabiansupremacy,

forasmawlasthey
provided

serviceson

highly

favorableterms.

When free

non-Arabian Muslims

accepted

subservient, even

servile,
positions,they

forfeitedachanceto

gain

power

ontheir

own.Had
they

heldoutforbetterterms,

the

Arabians

would

havefaced

severe

shortages

ofsoldiersand

might

wellhave

madeconcessions

to

gain

theirassistance.

Byacceptingemploy-

mentoninferiorterms, the freemawlas contributed to the

maintenanceofArabianruleandprivilege.

Thetransitionfrom

Arabian armipotence (13-64/634-84)

to Arabian

hegemony

(64-132/684-750)

indicatedArabian,notmawla,

strength.

InviewoftheIslamicate

patternsuggested

inchapter3,

en-

rollmentofmawlasinthe

period

after

64/684hastwo

irregular

features. First,

individualsoldiersandtheirtriballeaders,not

thecentral

government,

recruitedthesenewsoldiers; thiswas

notamatterof

preference,

butwas

due

to

thefactthatthecen-

tral

government

lacked

the

authority

to

bring

insoldiersonits

own.Second,

the

new

soldierswereMuslimsand

subjects,

not

aliensfrom

beyond

the

empire’s

boundaries.Eveniftheydid

notenjoy

the

privileges

oftheArabians,mawlaswere Muslims

participating

inthe

army,

andthisanomalyrequiresexplana-

tion.Perhapsthespecial

conditionsof

early

Muslim

society

ex-

plain

it;

atthistime,mostwarfarewas

stillfihgd,

sothatMuslims

hadreasonto

join

thearmedforces.Also,inMarwanidtimes,

Muslimsconstituted

only

a

tinyportion

ofthe

population

ruled

by

theUmayyads;according

toastatistical

analysis

ofnames

by

RichardW.

Bulliet,

in64/684Muslimsmade

up

3 to 4

percent

of

the

population

inTunisia,Egypt,Syria,Iraq,

andIran. Sucha

small

minority

could

not

possibly

feelsecure

enough

towith-

drawfrom

public

affairs.Even

though

Muslimswieldedenor-

mous

power,

theirholdwastoo

shaky

forthemto

relinquish

itto

others.

The first time Muslim

rulersneeded to

replace

unreliable

marginal

areasoldiers,they

turnedtotheiroutsider

subjects

and

60.Bulliet,pp.

97,

109,

83,44.