Quote Originally Posted by B_Ray
Wait, so ya'll are saying that Muslim factions didn't levee/conscript civilians into their armies? I didn't know that. So the Egyptians relied on Mamluks, the Turks were a warlike people before they became Muslim and later had janissaries, and what about the Almohads/Moors? They must have fielded some pretty large armies in order to conquer nearly all of the Iberian peninsula and invade France.

The Almohads didnt invade France AFAIK, in fact they were pretty weak, and were crushed by Castile. However, they did have moorish tribes that were allied to the Almohad kings, who provided troops, ill equipped. That was the main reason why the Almoravids and Almohads were pretty weak even after the Almoravids decisively beat the Castilians at Sagrajas, they had no power base. No reliable source of troops, even less with professional soldiers.