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

Slaves

inWar:TheHistoricalRecord 35

campanda

slave

stayed

behind--hewas

thought

tobeadeserter.

Hewroteadecreeof

protection

(amen)andsentittothecityby

arrow.

Whenwereturned

to

fight,

the

enemy

leftitscastleand

said,

"Thisisyourdecree

of

protection."

Wewroteaboutthisto

[Caliph]

cUmarandhewrotetous:

"A

Muslimslave

isa

Muslim,

sohis

pro-

tectionisasanyother’s.His

decreeisvalid."Thus,wecarriedout

itsterms.

52

In

conclusion,any

slavecould

help

inwarfare

(though

thelit-

eraturementionsnosuchuseoffemaleslaves.

53

Evenwhenun-

skilled

andofdubious

royalty,

slaves

providedsupport

behind

the
lines,

reinforcementsonthesidelines,and

emergencyhelp

onthefrontlines;ifnottrusted,
they

couldbecoerced.Yet,

however

helpfulordinary

slavescouldbeinbattle,they

had

lim-

itedfunctions;they

neverconstitutedthe

mainstay

ofan

army.

Forthat

they

had

to

betrained

professional

soldiers--inother

words,

military

slaves.

Military

Slaves

While

ordinary

slaves

fought

hereandtherearoundthe

globe,

without

anyparticularpattern,military

slaves

rarelyappeared

outsideIslamdomandveryfrequently

withinit.Letuslookat

somenon-Musliminstances

ofslave soldiersandthensketch

theirwiderole

among

Muslims.

52.

FB,p.

391;Khalffa,

p.

133,andT,1:2568havealmostidenticalaccounts.

ThisincidentbecamecelebratedinIslamiclawas

the

basisfor generalruling

onthevalidity

ofaslave’s

amnesty:Umm,

7:319;Abfi

CUbayd,pp.

242-43;as-

Sarakhsi,pp.255-56.

C.

Huart,"Gondshpfir,"

inEl2,dismissesthisanecdote

asa"romanticfiction."

53.Only

minor

exceptions

can.befound;in

Ethiopia,

forinstance,slave-

womenmighthelpcarry

asoldier’s

equipment

(M.Perham,TheGovernment

of

Ethiopia

[London,1948],p.162),

and

in

ancientIndia,

prostitute

slavesserved

theirmastersas

spies(R.

R.Sharma,

"Slavery

intheMauryanPeriod,c. 300

B.C.-c. 200

B.C.,’J0urnal

of

theEconomicandSocialHistory

of

theOrient 21 (1978):

191).

MuslimslaveAmazonswerehardlymorecommon.Oneexample

comes

fromthe

Mughalimperial

household,where"armedwomenguards"kept

watch

overtheinside

of

the

haremand"themost

trustworthy

ofthemwere

placed

near

theemperor’ssleepingapartments"(Qureshi,p.

56).