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

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TheIslamicateContext

mangrand vizierswereslaves,subject

tothemerestwhimof

theirmasters,the

pdish{ths

(sultans).When

apdishh

sowished,

hecouldreducethe

grand

viziertoakitchenaideorhavehim

executed;
yet,

atthesametime, the

grand

vizierdirectedthe

government

ofaworld power. Aslongas he personally re-

mainedunder his master’scontrol,

nothing

else affectedhis

statusasatrueslave.

Insum,thefactthata

person

isatrueslavetellsusnothing

abouthis
power,

wealth,

orsocial

standing.

Tobe

sure,

most

slavesweredebasedand
poor;

but

they

didnothavetobe,and

notallwere.As
long

asaslavehadamasterwhocontrolledhim,

hecould
gainanyposition--short,

of

course,

of

sovereign,

since

the

rulerhadnomortalmaster.This

potential

ofthetrueslave

wasnowhereso
fullyexploited

asinIslamdom.

Leaving

Slavery

True

slavery

endswhena

personacquires

controloverhisown

vitaldecisions.This

change

canoccureitherwith

or

withoutthe

master’s consent. Manumission, a

legal

andsocial event an-

nouncing

thatamaster

voluntarilyrelinquishes

controloverhis

slave,is

thenormal

way

of

becoming

free.

Among

allbutmili-

tary

slaves,thisisthe

onlyway

of

shedding

themaster’scontrol

(short

of

rebelling

or

runningaway);they

needhisconsent.

Military

slaveshaveanother

way

of

gaining

controlovertheir

own
major

decisionswithout

permission.

As

professional

sol-

diersand
powerful

officials,

they

havetheirown

power

baseand

opportunities

far

beyond

thoseofotherslaves.Their

military

role
gives

themameansof

escapingslavery--andtheyregularly

exploitit. Militaryslaves

manumitthemselvesasamatterof

course.

Notermin

English

describesthis

process

ofself-manumission,

sinceitdoesnotoccurinWesterncivilization.Yet,becauseitisa

basicfeatureof
militaryslavery,

weneedanameforit.

By

ext6n-

sionfrom"manumission,"Ishallcallit
"ipsimission."

Andin

contrasttothetrueslave
(under

hismaster’s

control)

andthe

freedman

(legally

manumitted),Ishallassumethatthe"former

slave" freedhimself
throughipsimission.

In

other

words,

the

formerslaveneednotbemanumitted.