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

Introduction

xxi

gaveuponthosetimesin1951: "Ourinformationis

severely

limitedinwhatconcernsthemamlfik

systemfromits

origins

to

1250.Itisdoubtfulthatthe

sourceswemustknowcanbeusedto

throwmuch

light

onthat

longperiod.

’’21

Hehasnot

changed

his

opinion

inthe

interveningyears.

2

This

study

dealsnot

onlywith

the

periodbefore 1250 c.E.,butwiththeearliest

part

ofit.

My

researchintothefirsttwoIslamic

centuriesconfirms

Ayalon’s

conclusion:thesourcesdonot

provide

enough

evidenceevento

posit

the

existenceofa

system,

muchlesstore-createit.Inorder

to

study

the

system,

therefore,Ihavehadto

postulate

itsexis-

tence;the

following

two

assumptionsserveasthebasisofthis

study:

1.

Whenever soldiers ofslave

origins

become adominant

militaryforce,

a

system

mustexist

to

acquire,

train,and

employ

them.Slavescantakeon
support,auxiliary,

or

emergency

roles

foran
army

inan

unorganizedway,

buttobecomea

major

inde-

pendentpower

they

mustbeused

systematically.

Thisisnota

theory

butan

assumption;

slaves

attained

predominantpower

in

manyIslamicate

dynasties

forwhichwehave

hardly

atraceof

a system.

3

Yet this

assumption

finds some confirmation

in

a
comparativereading

ofslave

systems.

In

particular,two

facts

support

it:whena

trainingprogramisknowntoexist,slaves

often
acquireoverwhelmingimportance(forexample,theAb-

basids under
al-MuCtaid, the
Seljuks,

Mamluks,

Ottomans,

TunisiaundertheBeys,andDarFur);outsideIslamdom,where

no
system

isknown

tohaveexisted,slavesnever

acquired

such

predominance.Althoughthesefactsdonot
logically

necessitate

thefirst
assumption,they

reinforce

my

beliefinitscorrectness.

2. A
   system

of

militaryslavery

mustexistatleast

thirtyyears

be-

fore
military

slaves

assert power.

Thirty years

marksthe

ap-

21. D.
    Ayalon,L’Esclavage

duMamelouk,

p.

II.

22. Privatecommunication, 23
    August

1975.

23. Forexample,the
    following

aresome

dynasties

founded

by

soldiersof

slave
origins

inthe

period

900-1100c.E.:

Simjurids,Ghaznavids, Kalbids,

Najahids,Tujibids,CAmirids,

Mujahidids,Jahwarids,Burids,

andtheShahsof

Armenia.Inaddition,Kffirtook
controloftheIkhshididdynastyandLu’lu’

eliminatedtheHamdanids.Inallofthesecaseswe
knowalmostnothingabout

the
existenceofa
military

slave

system.