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Iqta'
Iqta'
Iqta‘ (Arabic: )اﻗﻄﺎعwas an Islamic practice of tax farming that became common in Muslim Asia during the Buyid dynasty.
The prominent Orientalist Claude Cahen described the Iqta‘ as follows:
a form of administrative grant, often (wrongly) translated by the European word "fief". The nature of the iḳṭāʿ
varied according to time and place, and a translation borrowed from other systems of institutions and conceptions
has served only too often to mislead Western historians, and following them, even those of the East.[1]
Unlike European systems, the Muqtis had no right to interfere with the personal life of a paying person if the person stayed on the
Muqti's land. Also, Iqtas were not hereditary by law and had to be confirmed by a higher authority (like the sultan or the king).
Individual iqta holders in Middle Eastern societies had little incentive to provide public goods to the localities assigned to them.
The overarching theme was state power where the iqta was revocable and uninheritable. Though not an investment in a particular
holding of land, the iqta—as a fiscal device—gave soldiers a vested interest in the regime.
Contents
Muslim tax farming before the Iqta‘
The early Iqta‘
The Buyids reform of Iqta‘
Iqta‘ in the Seljuq era
Iqta‘ in the Mamluk sultanate of Delhi
Iqta‘ and feudalism
See also
References
Further reading
External links
The Iqta‘ holders generally did not technically own the lands, but only assume the right to the revenue of the land, a right that the
government typically reserved the right to change. Many Iqta‘ holders did not hold their Iqta' for life, and at least in most cases
they were not subject to inheritance to the next generation.
Although the subjects attached to the Iqta‘ were still technically free men, in real practice the end result often end up with them
functioning like serfs.
There are significant variances in the actual implementation of Iqta' systems throughout the different periods and in different area,
so it is difficult to completely generalize them.
See also
Tax farming
Pronoia
Kharaj
Jizya
References
1. Claude Cahen, "Iḳṭā'," EI2, Vol. A mechanism had to be devised to collect the surplus from the peasantry and
redistribute it among the members of the ruling class. The crucial element in this mechanism was the iqta that
combined the two functions of collection and distribution without immediately endangering the unity of the political
structure. The iqta was the territorial assignment and its holder was designated muqti 3, p. 1088.
2. Lewis, Bernard. "The Middle East".
3. Iqta's: Distribution of Revenue Resources among the Ruling Class, Irfan Habib
4. Sen, Sailendra (2013). A Textbook of Medieval Indian History. Primus Books. pp. 76–79. ISBN 978-9-38060-734-
4.
Further reading
Cahen, Claude, "Iḳṭā'," Encyclopaedia of Islam, Vol. 3, pp. 1088–1091.
Cahen, Claude, “L’évolution de l’iqṭāʿ du IXe au XIIIe siežcle,” Annales, économies-sociétés-civilisation Vol. 8,
(1953), pp. 25–52.
Duri, A. A., “The Origins of the Iqṭāʿ in Islam,” al-Abḥāṯ Vol. 22 (1969), pp. 3–22.
Küpeli, Ismail: iqta als "islamischer Feudalismus"? (https://www.amazon.com/iqta-als-islamischer-Feudalismus-G
erman/dp/3638749665/) Munich, 2007, ISBN 978-3-638-74966-4
External links
Encyclopædia Iranica (http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/eqta)
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