Shaping a Muslim State: The World of a Mid-Eighth-Century Egyptian Official
Petra M. Sijpesteijn
Abstract
This book provides a synthetic study of the political, social, and economic processes which formed early Islamic Egypt. Looking at a corpus of previously unknown Arabic papyrus letters, dating from between ad 730 and 750, which were written to a Muslim administrator and merchant in the Fayyum oasis in Egypt, the book examines the reasons for the success of the early Arab conquests and the transition from the pre-Islamic Byzantine system and its Egyptian executors to an Arab/Muslim state. By examining the impact of Islam on the daily lives of those living under its rule, the book highlights the ... More
This book provides a synthetic study of the political, social, and economic processes which formed early Islamic Egypt. Looking at a corpus of previously unknown Arabic papyrus letters, dating from between ad 730 and 750, which were written to a Muslim administrator and merchant in the Fayyum oasis in Egypt, the book examines the reasons for the success of the early Arab conquests and the transition from the pre-Islamic Byzantine system and its Egyptian executors to an Arab/Muslim state. By examining the impact of Islam on the daily lives of those living under its rule, the book highlights the striking newness of Islamic society while also acknowledging the influence of the ancient societies which preceded it. The book applies theoretical discussions about governance, historiography, (social) linguistics, and source criticism to understand the dynamics of early Islamic Egypt, as well as the larger process of state formation in the Islamic world.
Keywords:
Islamic Egypt,
Fayyum oasis,
early Arab conquests,
Islamic society,
governance,
early Islamic Egypt
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2013 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780199673902 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: May 2014 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199673902.001.0001 |
