Other muslim states adopted the concept too, briefly in India and for centuries in the Ottoman empire, were it gave rise to the Janissaries. Mamluks were promoted on ability rather than ancestry, so that the most able rose to the top. However these leaders were not only able but also ambitious. In Egypt they took power from the ruling sultans, creating a mamluk sultanate; in the Ottoman empire they often disposed or installed rulers.
The mamluks were active in both military and civil functions, though the reason for their conception was military. Central in their martials arts was the Furusiyya, the craft of horsemanship, combined with a chivalric code. Their long training made them something of an elite force. Mamluks mostly fought as cavalry, armed with bows, lances, swords, axes. Their most famous victory was at Ain Jalut, where they defeated an invading Mongol army.
In Egypt the mamluks ruled on and off until the 16th century CE; the mamluk system remained in use into the 19th century CE. Both in Egypt and Turkey, in the end rulers forcibly rid themselves of their mamluk warriors by massacaring them.