Empire and Elites after the Muslim Conquest: The Transformation of Northern Mesopotamia

by Chase F. Robinson

• ISBN13: 9780521781152
• ISBN10: 0521781159
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-01-22
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The study of early Islamic historical tradition has flourished with the emergence of a new and innovative scholarship no longer dependent on more traditional narratival approaches. Chase Robinson's book, which takes full account of the research available, interweaves history and historiography to interpret the political, social and economic transformations in the Mesopotamian region after the Islamic conquests. Using Arabic and Syriac sources to elaborate his argument, the author focuses on the Muslim and Christian èlites, demonstrating that the immediate effects of the conquests were in fact modest ones. Significant social change took place only at the end of the seventh century with the imposition of Marwanid rule. Even then, the author argues, social power was diffused in the hands of local èlites. This is a sophisticated study at the cutting edge of a burgeoning field in Islamic studies.

Table of Contents

Preface	viii
Acknowledgements	xiii
List of abbreviations	xiv
Note on dates and citations	xv
Map: The Fertile Crescent in the early Abbasid period	xvi
Conquest history and its uses	1	(32)
The seventh-century Jazira	33	(30)
From garrison to city: the birth of Mosul	63	(27)
Christian elites in the Mosuli hinterland: the shaharija	90	(19)
Islam in the north: Jaziran Kharijism	109	(18)
Massacre and narrative: the Abbasid Revolution in Mosul I	127	(20)
Massacre and elite politics: the Abbasid Revolution in Mosul II	147	(18)
Conclusion	165	(7)
Bibliography	172	(28)
Index	200