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

176

Origins

subtle

understanding

has

replaced

it.

Arabians

participated

heavily

inthe

Abbasidmovement,

providing

it

withboth

military

support

andits

rulingfamily.Earlierscholarswere

misledbythe

factthat

Abbasid

supportcamefromKhurasaninto

thinking

that

Iranians

gave

allthe

support;closerexaminationshows

that

most

oftheKhurasaniswere

Arabianswhohadsettled

thereand

becomedetribalized,and

otherswereArabian

tribesmenem-

ployedinthearmiesstationed

there.

6

The Abbasid

da’wa

(movement) appealed

directly

tonon-

tribesmen,

toall

Muslimswhohadbeen

excluded

by

thetribal

organization

of

society,

and

particularly

to

non-Arabians

everywhere anddetribalized

ArabiansinKhurasan.

67

Despite

thisantitribal

Abbasid

ideology,

Abfi

Muslim,

through

masterful

maneuvering,

managed

to

gain

the

support

ofArabiantribes-

men

inKhurasanaswell.

Inorderto

accomplishthis,

hehad

toidentifytheda’wawith

the

cas.

abiyyaofthesoutherners

[anArabian

tribalfaction]andthisiswhathe

succeededin

doing.

Byadjusting

the

da’watothe

existingpoliticalcircumstances.

AbfiMuslimwasableto

attracttohiscause,enbloc,thousandsof

excellent

fighters

Inits

final

stage

[theAbbasids]

acquired

an

armywhichwas

mainlyArabinitsconstitution.

The armies

which carried theAbbasids

to

victory

hadthree

Khurasanielements:

Arabiantribesmen,Arabian

nontribesmen,

and

Iranian nontribesmen.

The Abbasid

army

thus had

the

same

compositionas

everypreviousIslamicate

army,Arabian

warriorsand

non-Arabian

auxiliaries;the

major

difference

lay

in

the

organization

and

statusofthe

non-Arabians.

Earlier

interpretations

of

theAbbasidtakeover

mistookthe

Abbasids’

antitribal

policy

foran

anti-Arabianone.Thetwocan

indeedbe

easilyconfused, since itwas

theArabianswhobe-

longedtotribes,but

theywere

very

different.The

Abbasidsdid

not

rebel

against Arabiansbut

against

the

tribal

organization

which

profited

Arabians

so

greatly

at the

expense ofother

Muslims.

The

factorswhichhad

madeunfreesoldiersso

importantin

66. 
    

    Sharon,"CAbbasiddaCwa,
    p.XXXII.

    
    


67. 
    

    Ibid.,
    pp.

    
    

XXXIII-XXXIV.

68.Ibid.,
p.

XXXIV.