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

SlavesinWar:TheHistoricalRecord 53

Deccaninthe
years

1009-35/1601-26,wasaslaveofAfrican

origin.

139

Itisnotclearwhether

militaryslavery

existedeast

of

Bengal;

Ihavefound

onlywisps

ofevidence,suchasthe

fact

that

"throughoutMalaysia,

thenumberof

troops

whicha[Mus-

lim]

rajah

couldcommand

wasbotha

symbol

andanactualin-

dication

ofhiswealthand

power."

140

Incontrasttotheerratic

employment

of

slavesassoldiers

by

non-Muslims,militaryslavery

inIslamdomservedasa

nearly

universaltoolofstatecraft. Elsewhere,slaves
fought

asemer-

gency

forces, personal

retainers, auxiliaries, or cannon fod-

der;only

Muslimsusedthem

inlarge

numberson

aregular

basis

as
professional

soldiers.

Also,

thefew

systematicexamples

of

non-Muslims
using

slavesinthis

way

date

only

from thesix-

teenth
century,long

aftertheestablishmentand

proliferation

of

theIslamicate
system.

Exceptfortheseunusualcases,Muslims

alonechosetorecruitsoldiers
throughenslavement,

afactwhich

has
manyimplications.

139.R.

Shyam,

Life

andTimes

of

MalikAmbar

(Delhi,1968).

Severalother

full-length

studiesonhimarenotedin

Joseph

E.Harris,The

African

Presencein

Asia
(Evanston,

Ill.,1971),

pp.

91-98.

140.B.Lasker,Human

Bondage

inSoutheastAsia

(Chapel

Hill,N.C.,

1950),pp.

49-51.