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

SlavesinWar:TheHistorical

Record

51

Thefirst

large-scale

expedition

ofslave

soldiersin

history

was

probably

thatof

al-MuCtaim

in 213/828, which

consistedof

4,000

Turkssentto

Egypt

for

two

years.

124

Asmilitary

slaves

cameto

forma

largepart

of

theAbbasid

army

inthe

following

decades,

they

gained

a

greater

roleinEgypt

aswell,culminating

in254/868

whenthesonofaTurkishmilitary

slave,

Ah.

madb.

Tfilfin,

becamegovernor

oftheprovince

andthenindependent

ruler,

relying

inlarge part

on anarmed

force made

up

of

slaves.

125

By

the

time the Abbasids

won back controlof

the

country

in

292/905,slavesoldiershad

a

major

roleinthemili-

tary

structure.

Underthe

Ikhshidids,

"many

freed

slavescarried

arms

and entered the military organization,

some of them

reachinghighpositions

init.

’’16

Kffir,

ablackslaveeunuch

with

military

experience,

tookover

theIkhshidid

government

in

334/946

(becoming

itsofficialhead

in

355/966)

and

ruleduntil

just

before

theFatimid

conquest

of

Egypt

in

358/969.1

Withtheadventof

Fatimidrule,

lz8

military

slaves

acquired

new

importance;

perhaps

mostcharacteristically

soldiers

ofdi-

verseoriginsfought

under

theShiC

leadership,

whichledto

constant

turmoil in the armed

forces. From

the time the

Ayyubids

tookoverin

564/1169,slavesof

CentralAsian

origins

predominated.

In

timetheirholdoverthearmy

andthe

gov-

ernment

increased,until

648/1250

they

tookoverthe

rule,too,

keeping

itforovertwoand

halfcenturies.Evenafter

theOtto-

man

conquest

in922/1517,military

slavesandtheir

descendants

continuedtodominateEgyptianpolitics?

9

They

losttoNapo-

leonin

1213/1798andweremassacredby

Muh.ammad

AIin

1226/1811,

whichendedtheir

holdover

Egyptian

public

life.

Some

oftheirdescendants,dubbedTurco-Egyptians,

retained

124.

AI-Kindi,

pp.

188-89;

ITB,

2:208-09.

125.C.

H.

Becker,Beitrige

zur

Geschichte.Tlgyptensunter

demIslam(Strassburg,

1902-03),

pp.

192-94.

126.

S.I.Kshif,

M#rJ3

CAs.r

al-lkhshdyn,

2ded.(Cairo,1970),p.

255.

127.

Onhim,seeI.al-Abyirf,

Ab’l-Misk

Kfr

(Cairo,1382/1962).

128.

OntheFatimid,Ayyubid,

andMamlukuse

of

military

slaves,seenotes

109,

115,and 118 above.

129.A.Raymond,Artisans

et

commerants

auCaire

auXVIIIesi’ecle(Damascus,

1973-74),

pp.

659-726.