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

SlavesinWar:

TheHistoricalRecord

45

prepared for this dutyand

proved

themselves

admirably

in

warfare.

98

Theinterestofthis

particularuseofslavesassoldiers

liesin

the

factthattheGerman

authoritiestreatedthemas

thoughthey

were

ordinaryslaves,

deprivingthemoffood,not

paying

them,

and

punishing

them

brutally. When the

Dahomeys wrofea

supplicatingprotest

inMarch

1893,the

governor

who

wasre-

sponsiblefortheirmistreatment

reducedtheirfood

allotment.

99

Eventually,

provoked by

a

beating

of their

women, the

Dahomeys

revoltedon

15 December 1893;

theylastedseven

days

before

meeting

defeat?

The

ineptitude

of

theGerman

administrationherewas

quite

astonishing;

101

italso

accentuates

thedifferences

betweena

militaryslave

system

andother,more

haphazard,

usesof

slavesassoldiers.While

certain

parallels

with

militaryslavery

canbe

found

throughout

the

world,nowhere

outsideIslamdomdid

slaves

perform

thedutiesand

havethe

significance

which

Muslims

habituallygavethem.

InsideIslamdom

For

a

full

millennium,fromthe

early

3d/9th

century

until

the

early13th/19th, Muslims

regularly

and

deliberatelyemployed

slavesassoldiers.This

occurred

throughnearlythewholeof

Islamdom,fromCentral

AfricatoCentral

Asia,

from

Spain

to

Bengal,

and

perhaps beyond. Few

dynasties

within

this

long

time-spanandbroadareahadno

military

slaves? Evenacur-

soryglanceatthe

history

ofMuslim

peoplesrevealstheextraor-

dinary

role

playedbymenofslave

origins

inthe

armedforces.

Theyservedbothas

soldiersandasofficers,thenoften

acquired

98. Ibid.,
    pp.

105,112.

99.

Ibid.,

pp.

106,

ll0-11,108-10;113-14.

100o

Ibid.,pp.116-21,121-29.

101.The

mutinybytheEighthWestIndia

Regiments,9-12April1802,was

similarlycaused

by

"thefearof

beingsoldinto

[ordinary]slavery"

asa

resultof

the

slavesoldiers

having

been

compelledtodomenialwork

(Buckley,p.77;see

also

p.128).

102.

Negativeindicationsarehardto

find,butitdoes

appear

thatthe

Idrisids

madenouseof

militaryslaves.Cf.G.Marqais,LaBerberie

musulmaneetl’Orientdu

moyen
8ge

(Paris,

1946),pp.119-20.