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

5O

TheIslamicateContext

15. Safavids(907-1145/1501-1732).

Slavescounterbalanced

thetribal

troops

whichhad

brought

theSafavidsto

power.

The

slavescame

mostly

fromtheCaucasus

region

andlastedtothe

endofthe

dynasty.

12

16. Sharifs ofMorocco (Saedi

and Filali,917/1511-). The

Saediuseof

slavesinthe

army

remained

secondary,

buttheFil-

alisdependedveryheavily

onthem,

especially

inthe

12th/18th

century.

TheslaveswereblackAfricans.

121

17.

Mughals

(932-1274/1566-1858).While

the

centralgov-

ernmentusedslavesassoldiers

onlyerratically,

the

mav4.abdtrs

recruitedthem

extensively.

122

Thecentral

government

found

its

soldiersin

manyplaces,usually

free.

2

AllthemostinfluentialIslamicatedynasties

relied

militarily

on

slaves;

in

many,

thesesoldiers

playedimportant

roles.Thevisi-

ble,

prevalent

roleofslavesoldiersinthe

majordynasties

attests

totheir

importance.

Concentrationontheuseof

military

slavesinasingleregion

ortime
periodmayconvey

the

intensity

oftheir

usage.

While

nearlyany

areaofIslamdomwoulddo,Egypt

hasthedouble

advantage

of

being

clear

to

observeandwellstudied.

Vryonis,"Seljuk Gulams

andOttoman

Devshirmes,"

DerIslam 41 (1965):

224-52;H.A.R.GibbandH.Bowen,IslamicSociety

andtheWest

(London,

1950-57),I/1 45-71 N.Weissman,Les

Jaissaires.

Etudes

d’organisation

nilitaire

desOttomans(Paris,1938).

120.L.Lockhart,"ThePersianArmyin

the

afavi

Period,"DerIslam 35

(1959):89-98.

P.

Oberling,"Georgians

andCircassiansinIran,"StudiaCaucasica

(1963):

127-43.P.I.Petrov,

"Dannuieistochnikov sostavevoinskikhkon-

tingentov

IsmailaI,"NarodyAzii

Afriki

(1964/3),pp.

76-81.

121.M.El-Habib,"Les

Armesetl’artmilitaireen

Afrique

duNordduXVIe

audbutduXIXesicle"(Ph.D.

diss.,

University

ofParis,1973);

A.R.

Meyers,

"TheCAbid’l-Buhfiri:SlaveSoldiersand

StatecraftinMorocco,1672-1790"

(Ph.D.diss.,

Cornell

University,

1974);D.

Pipes,

"TheRiseofthe

SaCdfs

(un-

published).

122.W.Irvine,TheArmy

of

the

Indian

Moghuls:

Its

Organization

andAdministra-

tion(London,1903),p.

11.

123.

P.

Horn,

DasHeer-und

Kriegswesen

der

Gross-Moghuls

(Leiden,1894);Ir-

vine;

Qureshi,pp.

114-39;U.N.Day,TheMughal

GovernmentA.D.

1556-1707

(New

Delhi,1970),

pp.

145’2-80.