2017/05/15 by Fred M. Donner · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Archaeology and Historical Studies #Islamic Studies and History #Historical and Linguistic Studies
paper · doi:10.4324/9781315241258-1
openalex publication_date 2017/05/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
For analytical purposes, the "state" is defined as a set of political institutions resting on a conception of legal authority; the institutions considered relevant are a governing group, army and police, a judiciary, a tax administration, and possibly institutions to implement state policies other than taxation, adjudication, and maintenance of control by the elite. The existence of official armed forces maintained by the Umayyad dynasty for defense of the state is attested in a number of Arabic papyri. There appears to be little documentation for the military organization of these forces, but for the organization of payment and provisions for the military people are better supplied with information. To demonstrate the existence of a state in the early Islamic period, of course, one must not only describe the institutional features of this state, but also show that the requisite ideological features of the state were in place and that they were linked to institutions already described in some organic way.