Science Fair Project Encyclopedia Mamluks (or Mameluks) (the
Arabic word usually translates as "owned", singular: مملوك
plural: مماليك) comprised slave soldiers used by the Muslim
Caliphs and the Ottoman Empire, and who on more than one
occasion seized power for themselves. The first Mamluks worked
for Abbasid caliphs in 9th-century Baghdad. The Abbasids
recruited them from enslaved non-Muslim families captured in
areas including modern Turkey, Eastern Europe, and the Caucasus.
Using non-Muslims as soldiers helped partially overcome Islamic
prohibitions on Muslims fighting each other. The rulers also
desired troops with no link to the established power structure.
The local warriors were often more loyal to their tribal sheiks,
their families or nobles other than the sultan or caliph. If
some commander conspired against the ruler, it was often not
possible to deal with him without causing unrest among the
nobility. The slave-troops were strangers of the lowest possible
status who could not conspire against the