The Armies of the Caliphs

Military and Society in the Early Islamic State

Hugh Kennedy

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781134531127
• Subtopic: Middle Eastern History
• Index: History

The Armies of the Caliphs is the first major study of the relationship between army and society in the early Islamic period, and reveals the pivotal role of the military in politics.

Through a thorough examination of recruitment, payment, weaponry and fortifications in the armies, The Armies of the Caliphs offers the most comprehensive view to date of how the early Muslim Empire grew to control so many people. Using Arabic chronicles, surviving documents, and archaeological evidence, this book analyzes the military and the face of battle, and offers a timely reassessment of the early Islamic State.

CHAPTER ONE

The conquests and after : Muslimarmies, 11–64/632–83

Before the conquests

The armies of the first Caliphs were formed in the Prophet’s lifetime and during the spectacular conquests which followed his death in 11/632. Most of the men who joined the armies of the conquests were of bedouin origin.¹ Raiding and fighting, as well as defending themselves against the raids of others, were an integral part of their lives, as both the poems and narratives of the J

hiliya and information about modern bedouin societies makes clear.² This meant that most adult males had experience of military activity and some practice and even skill in riding, using spears and swords and archery. Hunting, too, provided training in such skills. Compared with the farmers and citizens of the settled areas of the Near East, they were a military population.

They did not, however, form armies. An army, as an identifiable unit in society, can exist only if there are sections of society which are in effect non-military or civilian. In the bedouin tribe, this was not the case: with few marginal exceptions, all adult males were fighters and all females and children the families and dependants of fighters. Only after the conquests and settlements did there develop the social specialisation which meant that the army formed a discrete group.

The military forces lacked any system of remuneration, fighting as they did for booty, honour or self-defence. Nor did they have any structure of command with coercive powers. There were certainly tribal nobles, the ashr

f (sing., shar

f) ,who owed their status to descent and their own abilities, but they were obeyed only voluntarily. The individual bedouin tent preserved its own autonomy, just as it provided its own subsistence and the warrior his own weapons. Social identity, formal training, provided equipment and payment, all characteristics of a true army, were foreign to this society.

How far this changed in the first years of Islam, the lifetime of the Prophet, is very difficult to tell.³ The latest authority on the subject⁴ stresses the extent to which our sources on the practice of the Prophet in military affairs, as elsewhere, have been shaped by later legal discussion. We can probably assume that Mu

ammad’s own unique position meant that his orders were accepted more readily than those of other contemporaries. There is some evidence that the nascent Muslim community did, on occasion, supply weapons and food to allow its more indigent members to join in campaigns.⁵ There is no sign, however, of a struct...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• The Armies of the Caliphs
• Warfare and History General Editor Jeremy Black
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of maps
• Acknowlegments
• List of abbreviations
• A note on the use of Arabic sources
• Maps
• 1 The conquests and after: Muslim armies, 11–64/632–83
• 2 The armies of the Marwanid period, 64–132/683–750: recruitment, leadership and tactics
• 3 The payment of the military in the early Islamic state
• 4 Early ‘Abbasid warfare, 132–218/750–833
• 5 The armies of Samarra, 218–56/833–70
• 6 The last armies of the Caliphs, 256–324/870–936
• 7 Weapons and equipment in early Muslim armies
• 8 Fortification and siege warfare
• 9 Postscript
• Appendix 1: The origins of the shākiriya
• Appendix 2: Numbers of the ‘Abbasid army in Samarra
• Glossary
• Bibliography
• Index