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

62

TheIslamicateContext

mies;
although

theyalsoserved

theirmastersas

agents,military

dutiescamefirst.

Thereasonwhyonly

Muslimsestablished

militaryslavery

lies

deeper,

inthenatureofIslamic

political

idealsandtheireffect

ontheactual
conducting

of

politics.

Why

Muslim

Subjects

RelinquishedPower

Wehaveestablishedthat

militaryslavery

musthave

beencon-

nectedtothecivilizationofIslam.Nowwefacethe

central

ques-

tion:whatIslamicatereasons

causedMuslimsalone

regularly

torecruit

theirsoldiers

asslaves?What

uniquely

Islamicate

pattern

caused

militaryslavery

tocomeintoexistence?

Thissectionidentifiesa

fundamental

pattern

of

public

lifein

Islamdom: withdrawal by

Muslim

subjects

from the

govern-

ments and armies

which ruled them; the

subsequent

sections

showwhotooktheir

place,

connect

this

pattern

to

military

slav-

ery,

anddemonstratehowmilitary

slavesservedMuslimrulers

better

thantheiralternates.

Militaryslavery

recedes

temporarily

intothe

background

inthe

followingpages;

thediscussion

here

concernsafundamentalcharacteristicwithnumerous

and

pro-

found

consequences

forIslamicatepublic

life;

militaryslavery

was

but

one

of

those,though

an

especially

visibleone.Thear-

gument

concerning

Islamicate

public

life is

presented

as a

hypothesis,

anda

springboard

fordiscussion,notasa

firmcon-

victionaboutthe

"presumptive

agency"connecting

slavesoldiers

andIslam.

IslamicPublicIdeals

Whileall

religionspostulate

ideals

thathuman

beings

cannot

consistentlymaintain,

Islamaloneoftheuniversalist

religions

makesdetailed

political

ideals

part

ofitsbasiccode,

theShariCa.

2t

21. amnotconsideringConfucianismareligion.

The

followingargument

connectingmilitaryslavery

toIslamwas

inspiredby

a

reading

ofC.S.Kessler,

"Islam,
Society

andPoliticalBehaviour:Some

Comparative

Implicationsofthe

Malay

Case."This

insightful

articletestifiestotheoriginalandunorthodoxideas

whichthosewho

study

Islaminthe

peripheries

canprovide.