Bedouin, fellahs and sultans: History of the Islamic Countryside Week 4 Land tenure

1. Bedouin, fellahs and sultans:History of the Islamic CountrysideWeek 4Land tenure Queen Mary University of London HST 5112, 2011-12

2. Arab conquests & land-tenure At the time of conquest, Arabs retain Byzantine / Sassanian land-tenure: • Non-Muslim landowners/peasants pay an agricultural tax = kharaj, in addition to poll-tax • Arab land-owners pay a charitable tax = ‘ushr (tithe); • State distributes land grants to Arab leaders or groups • If area was conquered without a agreement of capitulation, all land becomes property of the Muslim community (fay’)

3. Arab conquests & land-tenure How to collect land-tax (kharaj)? • By fixed tax (in kind or in cash) • By share of the produce

4. Arab conquests & land-tenure How to collect land-tax (kharaj)? • From individual cultivators • From the village community

5. Arab conquests & land-tenure How to collect land-tax (kharaj)? • By agents of central government • By Tax-farming • By and for local leaders (decentralization)

6. ‘Abbasid land tax (8th- 10th c) Impact of large-scale conversion to Islam: • Exemption from poll-tax, but kharaj tax continues; • Charity tax (zakat) on livestock and selected cash crops

7. ‘Abbasid land tenure (8th- 9th c) • Land reclamation projects in Iraq • Large estates run by urban landowners • Use of slaves in estates around Basra, and in Tunisia (Qayrawan) • Zanj Slave revolt around Basra (868-883) • Peasants revolts in Egypt (9th century)

8. The Middle period, 1000-1500 • Virtual end of private ownership over arable land (fields) • “Death of the kharaj-payer”: Kharaj is now a rent paid by cultivators for the right to use the land • Decentralization of tax-collection

9. Islamic ‘feudalism’, 1000-1500 iqta‘ - a grant of agricultural revenue in return for military service. Different from feudal estate: • Temporary, non-hereditary grant, to be withdrawn by the ruler at any time. • Iqta‘-holder would reside in a city, visiting his village only occasionally. • No judicial authority over the cultivators. al-Aqsara‘i, a manual of horsemanship (Syria/Egypt, 1371)

10. Islamic ‘feudalism’, 1000-1500 • What was the position of the peasant under the iqta‘ system? According to some ethical and legal works: • Peasants are attached to the land • iqta holders can raise taxes at will • No incentives for long-term investment

11. Islamic ‘feudalism’, 1000-1500 • What was the position of the peasant under the iqta‘ system? Legal sources, especially fatwa literature: • Tenancy contracts concluded with the iqta holders (share-cropping or fixed rent). • De-centralized negotiation of lease payments with iqta holders. • Individual iqta holders at a disadvantage, as they tend to lack local knowledge and power base.

12. Islamic ‘feudalism’, 1000-1500 • Continuous shifts from state land-ownership to private ownership and back, unless land endowed for religious purposes • Private owners convert land to charitable endowments (waqf) to protect from state confiscation • Waqf could benefit religious institutions, the poor, or families of land-owner

13. Islamic ‘feudalism’, 1000-1500 Iqta to medieval Islamic socieites, from India to Spain, is what feudalism is to European Islamic societies