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

46

TheIslamicateContext

preeminent

roles

inadministration,

politics,

and

all

aspects

of

public

affairs.

The

systematic

useofslaves

assoldiersconstituted

the

single

most

distinctivefeatureof

Islamicate

public

lifein

premodern

times.

13

Precisely

becauseofitsprominence

andwideextent,military

slavery

in Islamdom

defiesbriefdescription;

slavesfilledtoo

many

positions,

servedtoomany

functions.Thus,

comprehen-

sive

documentationoftheir

incidenceandactivities

cannotbe

given

here,

only

some

indicationoftheirdistribution.

Selected

examples

demonstrate

the

importance,

widespread

occurrence,

andfrequency

of

militaryslavery.

The

premierdynasties

of

Islamdom

nearly

alldepended

on

military

slaves.Theseare

the

governments

whichgoverned

the

greatest

areas,

lastedthe

longest,

and

mostinfluencedthede-

velopment

ofIslamicateinstitutions.I

haveselectedseventeen

preeminent

dynasties;

ofthem,it

appears

thatallbutonerelied

on

military

slaves.Theexception,

th

e

Umayyaddynasty,

pre-

cededtheexistence

ofa

military

slave

system;yet

evenitem-

ployed

the

unfreein amannerwhich

foreshadowed

military

slavery.

Abriefcharacterization

ofslavesoldiersintheseseven-

teen

dynasties

follows,

withsomereferencesto

the

secondary

literature.

1.

Umayyads

(41-132/661-750).

PartIIof

this

study

shows

themanner

inwhichthe

Umayyadgovernment

reliedonmaw-

las

whoresembled

military

slaves;theinstitution

of

military

slav-

ery

didnotexistbefore

the

3d/gth

century,

buttheUmayyads

103.Numerousscholarshave

pointed

outtheIslamicatedistribution

ofmili-

taryslavery,

including:Ayalon,L’Esclavage,p.

I;idem,"Preliminary

Remarks,"

p.

44;idem,"Aspects,"p.196;

Forand,

"Development,"

p.1;K6pstein,pp.

117-18;

Lvi-Provengal,

p.

131;C.Cahen,"Note

sur

l’esclavage

musulmanetle

Devshirmeottoman,

h

propos

detravauxrcents,"Journal

of

theEconomic

andSo-

cialHistory

of

theOrient 13 (1970):212,214;

C.Verlinden,Wo,wann

undwarum

gab

eseinenGrosshandel

mitSklavenwihrenddesMittelalters?

(Cologne,

1970),

p.

25;

S.

Vryonis,

inBalkanStudies 5 (1964):

145.

Perhaps

becausethe

systematic

andextensiveemployment

ofslavesassoldiers

had

no

parallel

inothercivilizations,historians

lackareference

point

formilitary

slavery,

andthisaccounts

in

part

forthe

subject’sattracting

solittleattention

relativetoits

importance.