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The Relation of the Slave and the Client to the Master or Patron in Medieval Islam

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2009

Paul G. Forand
Paul G. Forand
Affiliation:
University of Kentucky
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Extract

In antiquity and in the Middle Ages slavery played a significant role in the military, economic, political and social life of the Near East. Many studies have been made of these aspects of life, but little has been said in the context of Islam about the psychological bonds which, at least to some extent, characterize the relationship between slave or freedman and master. The institution of ‘mutual alliance’ also played an important part in Islamic history, and there were certain similarities between the relation of the ‘ally’ to the patron on the one hand, and of the freedman to the former master on the other. But it is the purpose of this discussion, in part, to point out some basic differences between the two relationships.

Type
Articles
Information
International Journal of Middle East Studies , Volume 2 , Issue 1 , January 1971 , pp. 59 - 66
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1971

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References

page 59 note 1 Hedaya, p. 517;Google ScholarBiog. Dict. vol. II, p- ix;Google ScholarFagnan, E., Additions aux dictionnaires arabes (Alger–Paris, 1923), s.v. w–l–y. (A list of abbreviations for works cited more than once is given on page 66.)Google Scholar

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page 60 note 6 E.I.2, art. ‘Abnâ'’.

page 60 note 7 Mas'ûdî, vol. vII, p. 59; Fragmenta, pp. 351, 430Google Scholar; Ibn, al-Athîr, Al-kâmil fî 'l-ta'rîkh, ed. Tomberg, C. J. (thirteen vols., Leiden, 1851–1883), vol. vi, p. 225;Google ScholarNujûm, vol. ii, p. 166.Google Scholar

page 61 note 1 More detailed discussions of this incident can be found in Montgomery Watt, W., Muhammad at Medina (Oxford, 1956), p. 282;Google ScholarRoberts, R., Social Laws of the Qoran (London, 1925), pp. 49–52;Google ScholarRobertson Smith, W., Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia, (2nd ed., London, 1903), p. 52.Google Scholar

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page 62 note 4 Ayalon elsewhere (Gunpowder and Firearms in the Mamluk Kingdom [London, 1956], p. 100) defines khushdâshiyya in these terms: ‘Mamlûk military society, in the absence of any hereditary principle, was split up into a series of slave families, each owing allegiance to a different master (ustâdh). The freedmen of each sulţân were bound by ties of loyalty only to that particular ruler and to their comrades in servitude and liberation (khushdâshiyya).’Google Scholar

page 62 note 5 An interesting parallel can be found in the Jewish community of Cairo as reflected in the Geniza documents (Mediterranean Soc., vol. I, pp. 145–6).Google Scholar

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page 63 note 4 E.g. al-Tanûkhî, Al-faraj ba'd al-Shidda (Cairo, 1955) p. 57;Google ScholarTakmila, p. 313;Google Scholar Abû Shâma apud Tyan, , vol. II, p. 45.Google Scholar

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page 64 note 3 Bûlâq, 1904, pp. 115–16.