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

174 Origins

recruitedthemasmawlas.Thesecondtimethisneed

arose,

the

authoritiesestablishedthe

patternwhichwastobefollowedfora

millennium:

they

went

beyond

their domains and recruited

marginal

areasoldiersasslaves.

TheSecond

Need,

195-205/811-20:

Slaves

ADetribalized

Army. TheAbbasid

army

couldnothavebeenmore

differentfromits

Umayyadprecursor.The

Umayyadarmy

had

remainedtribalbecausethe

central

government

hadbeenun-

ableto

assumedirectcontroloverit.As

conquerors,

thesoldiers

hadthe

strength

toretainthetribalstructurewhichservedthem

sowell,first

against

thecentral

authority

andthenasameansto

controlthenon-Arabianconvertswho

joined

the

army.

TheAb-

basid

dynasty,

on

the

contrary,began

asa

quasi-religious

move-

ment;

it had no truck with tribal

etiquette

and itowed the

tribesmenno

privileges.

From

129/747,

theAbbasids

made

ef-

fortstocontroltheir

army

andtoinsurethe

equalparticipation

ofalltheir

supporters.

Forboththesereasons,

they

detribalized

the

army.By

organizing

new

corps

oftheirownwhichhadno

otherleadersor

allegiances,

theAbbasids

acquiredadirectcon-

troloverthe

army

whichtheir

predecessorsalwayslacked.Also,

as

conspirators

andthenrebels,

they

neededa

loyalarmy

and

didnot

worry

aboutitsconstitution.

Theold

dichotomy

between

tribesmenandotherswouldhave

impeded

theAbbasidsearch

for

loyalsoldiers;theyhadto

open

therankstoalltheir

parti-

sans:Arabiansand

others,

tribesmen

andothers.

Eliminating

thetribalelementmadeiteasierfortheAbbasidstocontrolthe

army

andtorecruitintoit

loyal

supporters

ofall

background.

The Abbasids

engineered

this

military reorganization by

changing

the

Military

Register.

IntheArabian

period,

theMili-

taryRegister

had

playedavitalrolein

distinguishing

Arabian

tribesmenfromotherMuslims.
Tribal
membershipbrought

en-

franchisement,for

militarypay

and

politicalpower

both

came

through

thetribes.This

insuredArabiancontroloverIslamicate

public

lifein

general

andoverthe

non-Arabiansin

military

ser-

vicein
particular.

Shortlyafter

Abfi

MuslimarrivedinKhurasanin

129/747,

he

foundedthefirstnontribal
corpsofMuslimsoldiers.Hedidthis