The Early Islamic Empire at Work. / Volume 1, : Transregional and Regional Elites - Connecting the Early Islamic Empire / / Hannah-Lena Hagemann, Stefan Heidemann.

• Author: Sijpesteijn, Petra
• HerausgeberIn: Hagemann, Hannah-Lena,; Heidemann, Stefan,
• Place / Publishing House: Berlin ;, Boston : : De Gruyter, , [2020]; ©2020
• Year of Publication: 2020
• Language: English
• Series: Studies in the History and Culture of the Middle East
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (VI, 458 p.)

Transregional and regional elites of various backgrounds were essential for the integration of diverse regions into the early Islamic Empire, from Central Asia to North Africa. This volume is an important contribution to the conceptualization of the largest empire of Late Antiquity. While previous studies used Iraq as the paradigm for the entire empire, this volume looks at diverse regions instead. After a theoretical introduction to the concept of 'elites' in an early Islamic context, the papers focus on elite structures and networks within selected regions of the Empire (Transoxiana, Khurāsān, Armenia, Fārs, Iraq, al-Jazīra, Syria, Egypt, and Ifrīqiya). The papers analyze elite groups across social, religious, geographical, and professional boundaries. Although each region appears unique at first glance, based on their heterogeneous surviving sources, its physical geography, and its indigenous population and elites, the studies show that they shared certain patterns of governance and interaction, and that this was an important factor for the success of the largest empire of Late Antiquity.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Table of Contents -- Introduction: Transregional and Regional Elites - Connecting the Early Islamic Empire -- Studying Elites in Early Islamic History: Concepts and Terminology -- Insult the Caliph, Marry al-Ḥasan, and Redeem Your Kingdom: Freiheitsgrade of Kindī Elites During the 7th to 9th Century -- Landowners in Lower Iraq during the 8th Century: Types and Interplays -- The Rise and Fall of the Early ʿAbbāsid Political and Military Elite -- Who Were the Mulūk Fārs? -- An Empire of Elites: Mobility in the Early Islamic Empire -- Preliminary Notes on the Term and Institution of al-Shākiriyya in Early Islam (ca. 14-218 H/635-36-833 CE) Mainly According to the Arabic Sources -- Khurāsānī and Transoxanian Ostikans of Early ʿAbbāsid Armenia -- The Governors of al-Shām and Fārs in the Early Islamic Empire - A Comparative Regional Perspective -- Muslim Elites in the Early Islamic Jazīra: The Qāḍīs of Ḥarrān, al-Raqqa, and al-Mawṣil -- Christian Elite Networks in the Jazīra, c.730-850 -- Establishing Local Elite Authority in Egypt Through Arbitration and Mediation -- The Civilian Ruling Elite of the Ṭūlūnid-Ikhshīdid Period -- Connecting the Ibāḍī Network in North Africa with the Empire (2nd-3rd/8th-9th Centuries) -- Index of names -- Index of places -- Index of subjects