 Imprint: Ashgate Variorum

 Illustrations: Includes 7 b&w figures and 13 maps and plans

 Published: December 2009
 Format: 244 x 169 mm
 Extent: 420 pages
 Binding: Hardback
 ISBN: 978-0-86078-721-1
 Price : £85.00 » Online: £76.50
 BL Reference: 909'.09767
 LoC Control No: 2008940167
  
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 Edited by Fred M. Donner, University of Chicago, USA

 Series : The Formation of the Classical Islamic World: 6

 This volume reprints nineteen articles that deal with the formation of the first
Islamic state under the "rightly-guided" and Umayyad caliphs (632-750 CE). The
articles (five of which originally appeared in languages other than English and are
translated here) trace the crystallization of key institutions of the growing empire
and treat such fundamental issues as taxation, military institutions, administrative
organization and practices, the barid or official courier and intelligence service,
succession, the ruling elites and their income, and questions of legitimation. The
volume includes an introduction by the editor that offers an overview of the
processes involved and helps place each article in its proper context. It also offers
an extensive bibliography of further works relevant to the theme of the volume.
 Contents: Introduction; The formation of the Islamic state, Fred M. Donner; The
development of the debate around the legitimacy of authority in early Islam,
Moshe Sharon; The religious foundations of late Umayyad ideology and practice,
Wadad Al-Qadi; New considerations on the nomination of `Umar II by Sulayman
b. `Abd al-Malik, T. Mayer; Raja' ibn Haywa al-Kindi and the Umayyad caliphs,
Clifford E. Bosworth; Elite incomes in the early Islamic state, Hugh Kennedy;
Arab and muhajirun in the environment of the amsar, Khalil Athamina;
Documentary evidence for the history of the early barid, Adam Silverstein; The
state archives in the early Islamic era, M.M. Bravmann; The content of the papyri
on taxation practices, C.H. Becker; The administration of Egypt under the
Umayyad khalifs, H.I. Bell; The diwans as registers of the Arab stipendiaries in
early Islamic Egypt, Kosei Morimoto; The fiscal rescript of Umar b. Abd al-Aziz,
Azzedine Guessous; The participation of non-Arab elements in the Umayyad
army and administration, Falih Husayn; An Arabic inscription from the time of
the caliph `Abd al-Malik, Moshe Sharon; The coinage of Syria under the
Umayyads, 692–750 AD, Michael Bates; The Syrian desert castles: some
economic and political perspectives on their genesis, Heinze Gaube; The misr of
Ayla: new evidence for the early Islamic city, Donald Whitcomb; Evolution
versus revolution: Umayyad elements in the `Abassid regime 133/750–320/932,
Irit Bligh-Abramski; Index.