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

TheIslamicateContext

Besides

highquality,

amasterseeks

potential

loyalty

in his

military

slaves.

Ordinary

slavescanbecoerced

into

doing

their

jobs

(evenincludingsomemilitary assignments),

but

military

slaveshavetobeconvinced.Sincethesemen

nearlyalways

as-

sume

greatresponsibilities

and

acquire

considerablefreedomof

action,

personal

bondsbetween

themasterandhisslavematter

greatly.A

masterensures

strong

relations

byacquiring

slaves

both

young

and

foreign.

Children

being

farmore

impressiona-

blethanadults,themaster

spares

noeffortin

acquiringyouthful

recruits.He

acceptsboys

asoldasseventeen

but

prefers

them

abouttwelve;at

that

age

they

arestill

highly

amenabletotrain-

ing

butare

already

skilled in the martial arts oftheir own

peoples.

Thetransferaloftheseskillstothemaster’s

army

con-

stitutesoneofthemainbenefitsof

military

slavery.Incontrast,

a

masterseeks

ordinary

slaves

among

youngadults,

when

they

are

atthe

peak

oftheireconomic

productivity.

Aslaveownerrecruitsaliensbecausetheir

foreignorigin

also

increasestheir

susceptibility

to

being

molded;

theownercan

isolatea

foreignerbyeliminatingany

tiesoutsidehisimmediate

householdand

byforcing

himto

dependentirely

onthesmall

worldofthe

master

andhisfellowslaves.To

complete

thisisola-

tion,most

military

slavesarriveonthescene

ignorant

ofthelan-

guage

ofthe

country

inwhichtheywill

serve,

s

Ofthesenumerous

qualities

desired

in

amilitaryslave,youth

is

unquestionably

themost

important.

Noble

origins,highpoten-

tial,and

beingforeign

all

help,

but

youth

mattersmost,because

this

quality

alonesufficestoensurethesuccessofthenext

stage,

the

trainingprogram.

7.D.Ayalon,"PreliminaryRemarks

ontheMamlk

Military

Institutionin

Islam,"p.56,

n.1.

8.Whena

dynasty

andits

subjectsspeak

differentlanguages,militaryslaves

may

knowthe

language

ofthe

dynasty,

buttheyoughtnottoknowthat

ofthe

populace(e.g.

theMamluksof

Egypt).Oddly,

the

language

andreligion

ofa

militaryslavearequite

the

opposite

ofthoseofan

ordinary

slave.

Military

slaves

areoftenallowedtoretaintheir

foreigntongue

butare

practicallycompelled

to

converttoIslam.

Ordinary

slavesinIslamdom,onthe

contrary,

mustlearntheir

master’s

language

butarefreetoremainnon-Muslims,especiallyiftheybelieve

ina

scriptuaryreligion.