Ghilman (singularArabic:غُلاَمghulām,[note 1] pluralغِلْمَانghilmān)[note 2] wereslave-soldiers and/ormercenaries in armies throughout theIslamic world. Islamic states from the early 9th century to the early 19th century consistently deployed slaves as soldiers, a phenomenon that was very rare outside of the Islamic world.[1]
TheQuran mentionsghilman (غِلْمَان) as serving boys who are one of the delights ofJannah or paradise/heaven of Islam, in verse52:24 (Verse56:17 is also thought to refer to ghilman).[2][3]
The wordsghilman (غِلْمَان) and its singular variantghulam (غلام) are ofArabic origin, meaningboys orservants. It derives from the Arabic rootḡ-l-m (غ ل م).[4][5]
Theghilman were slave-soldiers taken as prisoners of war from conquered regions or frontier zones, especially from among theTurkic people ofCentral Asia and theCaucasian peoples (Turkish:Kölemen). They fought in bands, and demanded high pay for their services.[6]
The idea of slave soldiers is sometimes projected back to the earliest Islamic period, but there is no evidence that the Prophet Muhammad or the Rashidun Caliphs organized slave armies. While individuals of slave origin, such as freedmen or war captives, may have joined battles voluntarily, the systematic use of slave soldiers did not exist at that time. Under the Umayyads, some Slavs and Berbers were employed in military roles, but it was only by the mid-9th century, particularly under the Abbasids, that the large-scale recruitment of slave soldiers, such as the ghilman, became a defining feature of Islamic military systems.[7] The first Muslim ruler to form an army of slave soldiers, before the Abbasid Caliphs, seems to have beenIbrahim I ibn al-Aghlab (800–812), founder of theAghlabids of Ifriqiya, where there was already a large population of agricultural slaves and access to extensive slave trading networks across the Sahara Desert.[8]
Ghilman were introduced to theAbbasid Caliphate during the reign ofal-Mu'tasim (r. 833–842), who showed them great favor and relied upon them for his personal guard. Accounts cite that their numbers increased in the caliphal household as Mu'tasim tried to address the court factionalism.[9] These slave-soldiers were opposed by the native Arab population, and riots against them inBaghdad in 836 forced Mu'tasim to relocate his capital toSamarra.
The use ofghilman reached its maturity underal-Mu'tadid and their training was conceived and inspired through the noblefurusiyya.[10] From a slave, aghulam attained his freedom after completing the formative training period and joined the elite corps as a mounted warrior.[10] Theghilman rose rapidly in power and influence, and under the weak rulers that followed Mu'tasim, they became kingmakers: they revolted several times during the so-called "Anarchy at Samarra" in the 860s and killed four caliphs. Eventually, starting withAhmad ibn Tulun in Egypt, some of them became autonomous rulers and established dynasties of their own, leading to the dissolution of the Abbasid Caliphate by the mid-10th century.
InUmayyad Spain, slave soldiers of "saqaliba" (Slavs) were used from the time ofAl-Hakam I, but only became a large professional force in the tenth century, when the slave soldier recruitment shifted to Christian Spain, particularly the Kingdom of León.[11]
A ghulam was trained and educated at his master's expense and could earn his freedom through his dedicated service. Ghilman were required to marry Turkic slave-women, who were chosen for them by their masters.[12] Some ghilman seem to have livedcelibate lives. The absence of family life and offspring was possibly one of the reasons that ghilman, even when they attained power, generally failed to startdynasties or to proclaim their independence. There are, however, a few exceptions to that rule, such theGhaznavid dynasty ofAfghanistan and theAnushtegin dynasty, which succeeded it.
Slave soldiers became the core of Islamic armies as theBedouin,Ghazi holy warriors and Hashariyan conscripts were not as reliable, while Ghilman were expected to be loyal as they had no personal connections to the rest of society. However, the Ghilman often did not remain as loyal as expected.[7]
From the 10th century, masters would distribute tax farming land grants (Iqta) to the ghilman to support their slave armies.[7]
TheBuyids and likely theTahirids also built armies of Turkish slave soldiers. TheSaffarids drew slave soldiers from Turks, Indians and Africans. The Ghaznavid dynasty, which originated from a slave soldier of the Samanids, also built their military around slave soldiers, first Turks and later Indians.
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The TurkishSeljuks and their successors theGhurids and the TurkicKhwarazmian dynasty also continued with an army of mainly Turkish slave soldiers. Seljuk regional princes were each placed under the tutelage of slave soldier guardians (atābak) who formed their own dynasties. After a brief interruption under theMongols, the institution returned under theQara Qoyunlu andAq QoyunluTurkmens. The various Iranian dynasties (Safavid, Afsharid, Qajar) drew slave soldiers from theCaucasus such asGeorgians,Circassians andArmenians.[13] (Unlike the Seljuks, who quickly abandoned their tribal warriors for an increase in slave-soldier forces, the Mongols did not adopt the institution of slave-soldiers).[14]
TheDelhi Sultanate also made extensive use of Turkish cavalry ghilman as their core shock troops. After Central Asia fell to the Mongols they switched to capturing Hindu boys to convert into Islamic slave soldiers.[15]
There were violent ethnic conflicts between the different groups of ghilman, the Turks, Slavs,Nubians and Berbers in particular.[7]
Islamic caliphs often recruited slave-soldiers from the Turkic peoples of Central Asia due to their hardiness in desert conditions and expertise with horseback riding.Ghilman in the Abbasid Caliphate fought primarily as a mounted strike force whose purpose was to weaken the enemy with swift and rapid attacks before allied infantry were sent into battle. They carried a lance that could be used to impale enemy infantry easily and a round wooden shield that had been reinforced with either animal skin or thin metal plates. Theseghilman also carried a sword on their belt, where it was easier to draw as opposed to the back or the chest.[16]
TheQuran mentionsghilman in verse52:24: "There will circulate among themghilman for them, as if they were pearls well-protected." Ghilman are traditionally described as servant boys provided especially for believers in heaven. In verse56:17: "There will circulate among them [the faithful in heaven] young boys made eternal" -- "them" refer to the faithful in heaven and "young boys made eternal"to ghilman.[2][3] Descriptions of theghilman by tenth and sixteenth-century theologians were focused on their beauty. Their commentaries also hold that the extratemporal parameters of the Paradise, which the young servants inhabit, are also extended to them so that they do not age or die.[17] Some have suggested that homosexuality might apply in heaven where there is no need for procreation, and that theghilman might be the male equivalent of the famously beautiful femalehouris that the faithful marry in heaven.[3]
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