1981/11/01 by Jere L. Bacharach · 2 citations
Social Sciences · #Islamic Studies and History #African history and culture analysis #Global Maritime and Colonial Histories #Ruler #Battle #Islam #Mamluk #Infantry #Ancient history #History #Element (criminal law) #Theme (computing) #Political science #Law #Archaeology
paper · doi:10.1017/s0020743800055860
openalex publication_date 1981/11/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
Islamic military slavery has been the subject of a number of studies in recent years. The central theme of these scholarly works has been the dominant role played by Turks, imported as slaves and trained as cavalry, for whom the term “Mamluk” is used to denote both racial background and occupation. A second aspect, which has not been as systematically studied, is that most Muslim armies were composed of cavalry and infantry units organized into units based on racial identities. The theory was that their racial affinities were the cohesive element within a unit; that the natural rivalries between these groups would bring strength to a ruler's position as they tried to outdo one another on the field of battle; and that these racial jealousies would create a balance which would prevent any one military/racial group from dominating the government.