Ghilman

2021-06-23T09:52:21Z

2001:16A2:F94F:3600:887B:7D27:FE55:90F1: /* Heaven */

{{short description|Slave-soldiers in the Islamic world}}
{{slavery}}
'''Ghilman''' (singular {{lang-ar|غُلاَم}} ''{{transl|ar|ALA|ghulām}}'',<ref group="note">Other [[Arabic transliteration|standardized transliterations]]: ''{{transl|ar|DIN|ġulām}} / {{transl|ar|Wehr|ḡulām}}''. {{IPA-ar|ʁʊˈlæːm, ɣoˈlæːm|IPA}}.</ref> plural {{lang|ar|غِلْمَان}} ''{{transl|ar|ALA|ghilmān}}'')<ref group="note">Other standardized transliterations: ''{{transl|ar|DIN|ġilmān}} / {{transl|ar|Wehr|ḡilmān}}''. {{IPA-ar|ʁɪlˈmæːn, ɣelˈmæːn|IPA}}.</ref> were [[slave-soldier]]s and/or [[mercenary|mercenaries]] in the armies throughout the Islamic world, such as the [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid]], [[Samanid]], [[Safavid Dynasty|Safavid]], [[Afsharid Dynasty|Afsharid]] and [[Qajar Dynasty|Qajar]] empires. 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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Daniel Pipes |title=Slave Soldiers and Islam: The Genesis of a Military System |date=1981 |isbn=0300024479 |pages=35, 45}}</ref>

The [[Quran]] mentions ''ghilman'' ({{lang|ar|غِلْمَان}}) as serving boys who are one of the delights of ''[[Jannah]]'' or paradise/heaven of Islam, in verse [https://quran.com/52/24 52:24]. (Verse [https://quran.com/56/17 56:17] is also thought to refer to ghilman.) <ref name="El-Rouayheb, 2005 (p.131-136)">{{cite book |title=[[Before Homosexuality in the Arab-Islamic World, 1500–1800]] |last1=El-Rouayheb |first1=Khaled |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2005 | pages=131–136 }}</ref><ref name=Afary>{{cite book | title=Sexual Politics in Modern Iran |last1=Afary |first1=Janet | chapter=The Quran and Homosexuality in the Muslim World |date=9 April 2009 | publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781107394353 |access-date=6 August 2020| chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rwYmAgAAQBAJ&q=houris+are+allowed+in+islam+because+there+is+no+need+for+procreation+in+heaven&pg=PT110 }}</ref>

== Etymology ==
The word ''ghilman'' ({{lang|ar|غِلْمَان}}), and its singular variant ''[[ghulam]]'' ({{lang|ar|غلام}}), are of [[Arabic]] origin, meaning ''{{lang|en|boys}}'' or ''{{lang|en|servants}}''. It derives from the Arabic root ''ḡ-l-m'' ({{lang|ar|غ ل م‎}}).<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.etimolojiturkce.com/kelime/gulam |title=Gulam |work=Etimoloji Türkçe |language=tr |access-date=21 March 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.etimolojiturkce.com/kelime/g%C4%B1lman |title=Gılman |work=Etimoloji Türkçe |language=tr |access-date=21 March 2021 }}</ref>

==History==
The ''ghilman'' were slave-soldiers taken as prisoners of war from conquered regions or frontier zones, especially from among the [[Turkic people]] of [[Central Asia]] and the [[Caucasus|Caucasian]] peoples ([[Turkish language|Turkish]]: ''Kölemen''). They fought in bands, and demanded high pay for their services.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e722?_hi=7&_pos=1 |title=Ghulam - Oxford Islamic Studies Online |publisher=Oxfordislamicstudies.com |date=2008-05-06 |access-date=2016-02-12}}</ref>

The use of slave soldiers in the Islamic world stretches back to 625 when African slave soldiers were mentioned serving under Muhammad and the Rashidun Caliphate. Slavs and Berbers were also used under the Umayyad Caliphs. However it was only in the mid-9th century that this became used on a large scale.<ref name=ian>{{cite book |last1=Heath |first1=Ian |title=Armies of the Dark Ages |date=2015 |isbn=978-1326233327 |pages=59–60}}</ref>

''Ghilman'' were introduced to the [[Abbasid Caliphate]] during the reign of [[al-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.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Shome|first=Ayan|title=Dialogue & Daggers: Notion of Authority and Legitimacy in the Early Delhi Sultanate (1192 C.E. – 1316 C.E.)|publisher=Quills Ink Pvt Ltd|year=2014|isbn=978-93-84318-44-4|pages=101}}</ref> These slave-soldiers were opposed by the native Arab population, and riots against them in [[Baghdad]] in 836 forced Mu'tasim to relocate his capital to [[Abbasid Samarra|Samarra]].

The use of ''ghilman'' reached its maturity under [[al-Mu'tadid]] and their training was conceived and inspired through the noble ''[[furusiyya]]''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last1=Coetzee|first1=Daniel|title=Philosophers of War: The Evolution of History's Greatest Military Thinkers [2 Volumes]: The Evolution of History's Greatest Military Thinkers|last2=Eysturlid|first2=Lee W.|publisher=Praeger|year=2013|isbn=9780275989774|location=Santa Barbara, CA|pages=63–64|language=en}}</ref> From a slave, a ''ghulam'' attained his freedom after completing the formative training period and joined the elite corps as a mounted warrior.<ref name=":0" /> The ''ghilman'' rose rapidly in power and influence, and under the weak rulers that followed Mu'tasim, they became king-makers: they revolted several times during the so-called "[[Anarchy at Samarra]]" in the 860s and killed four caliphs. Eventually, starting with [[Ahmad 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.

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.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Jf5t1vFw1QC&q=ghilman+soldiers&pg=PA297 |title=Handbook to Life in the Medieval World, 3-Volume Set - Madeleine Pelner Cosman, Linda Gale Jones - Google Books |isbn=9781438109077 |access-date=2016-02-12|last1=Cosman |first1=Madeleine Pelner |last2=Jones |first2=Linda Gale |year=2009 }}</ref> Some ghilman seem to have lived [[celibate]] lives. The absence of family life and offspring was possibly one of the reasons why ghilman, even when attaining power, generally failed to start [[dynasty|dynasties]] or proclaim their independence. The only exception to this was the [[Ghaznavid]] dynasty of [[Afghanistan]].

Slave soldiers became the core of Islamic armies as the Bedouin, 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.<ref name=ian/>

From the 10th century, masters would start to distribute to the ghilman tax farming land grants ([[Iqta]]) to support their slave armies.<ref name=ian/>

The [[Buyids]] and likely the [[Tahirids]] also built armies of Turkish slave soldiers. The [[Saffarids]] 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. The Turkish Seljuks and their successors the Ghurids and the Turkic Khwarazmian 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 the Mongols, the institution returned under the [[Qara Qoyunlu]] and [[Aq Qoyunlu]] Turkmens. The various Iranian dynasties (Safavid, Afsharid, Qajar) drew slave soldiers from the [[Caucasus]] such as Georgians, Circassians and Armenians.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/barda-v|title=BARDA and BARDA-DĀRI v. Military slavery in Islamic Iran|access-date=15 April 2014}}</ref>

The Delhi 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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Roy |first1=Kaushik |title=Military Manpower, Armies and Warfare in South Asia |date=2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1317321279 |chapter=3|pages=48–49}}</ref>

There were violent ethnic conflicts between the different groups of ghilman, the Turks, Slavs, Nubians and Berbers in particular.<ref name=ian/>

==Heaven==
The [[Quran]] mentions ''ghilman'' in verse [https://quran.com/52/24 52:24]: "There will circulate among them ''ghilman'' for them, as if they were pearls well-protected." Ghilman are traditionally described as servant boys provided especially for believers in heaven. In verse [https://quran.com/56/17 56:17]: "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''.<ref name="El-Rouayheb, 2005 (p.131-136)"/><ref name="Afary"/> Descriptions of the ''ghilman'' 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.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Günther|first1=Sebastian|title=Roads to Paradise: Eschatology and Concepts of the Hereafter in Islam (2 vols): Volume 1: Foundations and the Formation of a Tradition. Reflections on the Hereafter in the Quran and Islamic Religious Thought / Volume 2: Continuity and Change. The Plurality of Eschatological Representations in the Islamicate World Thought (SET)|last2=Lawson|first2=Todd|publisher=BRILL|year=2016|isbn=978-90-04-33095-5|location=Leiden|pages=301}}</ref>

Some have suggested that homosexuality might not apply in heaven where there is no need for procreation, and that the ''ghilman'' might be the male equivalent of the famously beautiful female [[houri]]s that the faithful marry in heaven.<ref name="Afary" /> However, the most outstanding interpretation is that they are simply a symbolic gesture to the pleasures of heaven due to the fact that it is impossible for humans to imagine heaven in the Islamic religion.

==See also==
* [[Mamluk]]
* [[Janissaries]]
* [[Saqaliba]]

==References==
===Notes===
{{Reflist|group=note}}
===Citations===
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Characters and Names in Quran}}

[[Category:Ghilman| ]]
[[Category:Ottoman culture]]
[[Category:Slaves of the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:Slave soldiers]]
[[Category:Arabian slaves and freedmen]]
[[Category:Military units and formations of the Middle Ages]]

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Ghilman