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

WhatIsa

MilitarySlave?

19

Depending

on their

specific circumstances, then,

military

slaves

may

eitherbetrueslaves

ornot.An

analysis

oftheir

posi-

tion

must take into account the

changes

they undergo.

In

general,

military

slaves

begin

theirserviceto

a

dynasty

astrue

slavesand

gainpartialorfull

independence

over

time.

Again,

the

extentofthemaster’scontrolis

thekeyfactor;

they

aretrue

slavesas

longasamastercansellthemand

makesthevitaldeci-

sionsintheir

lives.If

they

havenosuch master

theyareno

longer

trueslaves.Itis

only

theirrelationswiththe

masterthat

determinetheirstatusas

slaves;otherconsiderationshaveno

ef-

fectonthis

status.

Seb/iktigin,

a

miliaryslavewholater

founded

theGhaznavid

dynasty,explained

what

being

a

trueslavemeant:

"TheMasterhadnot

commandedusto

fight;

ifwehad

fought

withoutthe Master’s

orders,

then

eachoneofuswouldhave

been

amasternotaslave,forthemark

ofaslaveisthathedoes

only

whathis

mastertellshim.

’’24

Some writers contest

the

servility

ofthese men.

Papoulia

doubts

thattheir

relationship

totheir

masterwasatrueslave-

masterbond. She

points to awider

pattern

of

relations be-

tweenanabsolute

rulerandhissubordinates:

Otherfactorsalso

playedaroleherebesidesthestatusofthe

[slave]

nobles.Thisisa

phenomenonwhichis

alwayspossible

under

ab-

solute

rule.Blindsubmissionresultedfrom

theireducation,from

thetimewhen

theydidserveastrueslaves,andit

wasmoreofa

religious

thana

political

principle.

2

Intruth,

regardless

ofother

circumstances,thesemenaretrue

slavesbecause

they

canbe

disposed

of

bytheirmasterand

they

must

obeyhim.Theyremaintrueslaves

regardlessofwhoelse

sharesthis

submission.

Our

concernhereiswith

militaryslaves;

if
itturnsoutthatothersinthe
courtsharetheir
servility,

this

doesnotaltertheir
ownstatus.Ifthemaster’s
powersasabso-

luteruler
complementthoseas
slavemaster,thenthey
only

in-

creasehiscontroloverthe
slavesandmakethemservilein
more,

notfewer,
ways.

Alternatively,

onecansee

militaryslavesasa

type

ofmerce-

nary;

butas

longas

they

aretrueslaves,this

viewdoesnot

help

24.

Ni.zim

al-Mulk,

pp.

126/105-106.

25.Papoulia,

p.

8 24.Thefinalassertionis

highlydubious.