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

Appendix

5

209

Turknamed
H.

ammd;al-Mahdi

hadanother,namedMubfirak.

HenceforththeTurkscontinuedtoincreaseinnumbers,

and

eventuallythey

overpowered theAbbasids,

aswehavemen-

tioned.Obeisance[totheirmasters]

kept

themfrom

taking

over

theruleearlier.Theytook

overatthedeathof

al-Wtthiq

on

[the

strength

oftheir]increasedsizein

al-MuCtas.im’s

andhis

reigns"

(Shar.h

Qo4.

dat,p.285).

18.

Yfiqfit(626/1229):

"Thearmiesof

al-MuCtas.im

increased

untilhisTurkish

mamlfzksreached

70,000

innumber"

(Mujam

al-Buldfzn,3:16).

19. Ibn

Dih.

yfi(634/1237):

"His

possessions

expandedgreatly

untilhehad70,000

maml(zks

andas

many

free[soldiers]"(an-

Nibr6s,
p.65).

20.

An-Nuwayri

(731/1332):

al-Ma’mfin"wasthefirsttotake

Turksinhisservice.

Heraisedtheir

price,paying

forone

of

them

100,000

or200,000dirhams.

’’5

21. Ibn Kathir(774/1373):
    "al-MuCtas.im

employed

alarge

body

of

Turks,nearly

20,000ofthem.Heownedwar

materiel

andmounts

suchasnooneelsehad"

(al-Bidya,

10:296).

22. IbnKhaldfin(808/1406):"Mawlfzsofdynasties..,acquire

nobilitybybeingfirmly

rootedintheir

wal(g

relationship,by

theirserviceto

a

particulardynasty,

and

byhaving

a

large

num-

ber ofancestorswhohadbeenunderthe

protection

of

(that

dynasty).

For

example,

theTurkishmawlSsof

theAbbasids

thusachieved’house’andnobilityandcreatedglory

and

impor-

tanceforthemselvesby

being

firmly

rootedintheir

relationship

tothe(Abbasid)dynasty."

"The

groupfeeling(eas..atn-ya)

oftheArabians

hadbeende-

stroyedby

thetimeofthe

reigns

of

al-MuCta.sim

andhissonal-

Wthiq.

TheAbbasidstriedtomaintainaholdoverthe

govern-

mentwiththe

help

ofPersian,Turkish,Daylami,Saljfiq,

and

other

maw/s.

"TheAbbasidsafteral-Mutas.im..,

remained

caliphs

inname

becauseArabiangroupfeeling

continuedtoexist

Caliphate

androyalauthority[initially]

existedinthesame

person;

then,

5.Quoted

inaneditor’s

footnoteonKB,

p.

255.