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

Appendix 5 211

II. Slaves,NoTurksMentioned

28.

A-Tabari

(310/923): al-Muetas.im

notesthat hisbrother

al-Ma’mfin ’trained
(#.tanaCa)

fourmenwhoturnedoutexcel-

lently

andIalsotrainedfourmen,butnotoneofthemamounts

to
anything.’

’Whoarethoseyour

brothertrained?’Iasked,andhean-

swered:

’Thir

b.

al-H.usayn--you

sawandheardof

him!AndCAb-

dalffth

b.

Thir--a

manwhoselike

you

willnotsee.And

you

[Abfi’l-ITIusaynIs.hq

b.

Ibrhim]--you

are,

by

God,amanfor

whomthe

government

couldnever

be

compensated.

Andthen

your

brother,

Mubammad

b.Ibrhim--whereistherehislike?

’ButItrainedal-Afshin,andyouhave

seenwhatcameof

him!And

Ashns,

whatacoward.Andtkh,whoisofnoac-

count.And

Was.if,

whoisunreliable.’

"Isaid,’OCommanderoftheFaithful...

your

brothercon-

sideredtheroots andmadeuseofthemandtheirbranches

flourished.ButtheCommanderoftheFaithfulusedbranches

whichdidnotflourishbecause

they

hadnoroots.’-8 (Ta’ffkh

3:1327)

29.

A1-Kindi

(349/961)

and

al-Maqrizi (845/1442):

"Heor-

dered

Kaydfir[thegovernor

in

Egypt]

to

pay

him

homage,

to

dropany

Arabianswhowereonthe

MilitaryRegister

of

Egypt,

andtocutofftheir

militarypay.Kaydfir

didso"(al-Wulzh,p.

193 al-MawCi.z,

1:94).

30. Gardizi(ca.442/1050):
    "MuCtas.im

wasangry

withCAb-

dallh[b.

Thir].

Thiswasbecauseone

day

whencAbdallhwas

serving

as Ma’mfin’s chamberlain

(.hjib), MuCtas.im

came

to

Ma’mfin’sdoorwitha

group

ofhisown

ghulms

ataninoppor-

tunetime.

’Abdallh said: ’Youare unwelcomehere with so many

ghul[ms.’

"MuCtas.im

replied:

’But

youmaybesitting

with 400

ghulms.

Itis

not

suitablefor

meto

sit

downwith

this

[small]quantity

of

men.’

8.

Adopted

fromE.Marin,The

Reign

ofai-MuCta4.im

(833--842)(New

Haven,

1951),pp.130-31.