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

26

TheIslamicateContext

tionofthemilitary

abilitiesofslavesandtheirfearof

mutiny.

Indeed,ordinary

slaves

suddenly

thrustintobattlewithoutany

preparationgenerally

didmakeindifferentsoldiers.

6

Lacking

military

skills,

they

could

provide

only

limited

help.Exceptions

tothis
pattern

occurredontherareoccasions

whenaslave’sin-

natetalentsoutweighed

the

handicap

of

being

untrained.

CAn-

tara,thelegendary

heroof

Jahili

Arabia,

began

hiscareeras

a

slave
shepherd

andbecamea

great

warrior

through

hisown

per-

severance andabilities.A slave
joined

arebellion

against

the

Umayyads

in

Syria

about70/689,

andwhenitfailedhereturned

tohismaster.The
caliph

heardofthisslave’s

exploits

in

there-

bellionand,after
procuring

hismanumission,assigned

himto

commanda
regiment

of

troops.

Onoccasion,

evenmasslevies

ofslaves
fought

well.Thisiswhat

happened

when

al-Junayd,

the

Umayyadgovernor

of

Khurasan,fought

theTurksin

112/730:

A1-Junaydproclaimed:

"Theslavewhofightsisfree,"sothe

slaves

fought

hardandthepeoplewereastonishedby

them

Seeing

theirhardiness,thepeople

were

delighted.

The

enemy

retreated

andthepeoplepersevered

until

victory.Uponconcluding,

Mt]si

b.

an-Naghr

saidtothe

people:"Rejoice

inwhat

you

haveseen

the

slavesdo."

Themaster’sfearofaslave

mutiny

wasthemostimportant

deterrentto

using

hisslavesinbattle.

9

The

slaveowner

rarely

"The

proposition

tomakesoldiersofourslavesisthemost

pernicious

idea

thathasbeensuggested

sincethewar

began

Youcannotmakesoldiersof

slaves,

norslavesofsoldiers Youcan’t

keep

whiteandblacktroopstogether

and

you

can’ttrust

negroesby

themselves Thedayyou

makesoldiersof

themisthe

beginning

oftheendoftherevolution.

Ifslaveswillmake

good

sol-

diersour

whole

theory

of

slavery

is

wrong--butthey

won’tmakesoldiers"(ibid.,

p.1009).

"Somesay

that

[arming

slaves]willbe

givingup

the

questio

n

What,givingup

the

question

to

grip

itthe

tighter?Givingupslavery

tohaveslaves

defendit?To

havethemshootdowntheenemiesofslavery?Strangenotion,

indeed!"

(ibid.,p.

1010).

Legal

prohibition:

Justinian

Corpusjuris

civilisix.12.10,

dating

from 468 c.E.

6.Rome:

Barrow,

p.

146.

Muscovy:

notethe

quote

on

pp.

36-37.

7.FB,

pp.

160-61.Foratranslationanddiscussion,see

p.

189.

8.T,2:1543.

9.Rome:Barrow,

p.

146.Venezuela:Lombardi,p.

38.BritishWestIndies:

Buckley,p.38;Pares,p.

252.U.S.:

Hay,p.

48.