From Arabian Tribes to Islamic Empire : Army, State and Society in the Near East C.600-850 (Hardcover)

Contents: Introduction; The Arabian Background: The tribe and the state; Tribes and states in the Middle East; The 1st-century concept of higra. The Later Evolution: Were the Qays and Yemen of the Umayyad period political parties?; A note on Muqatil b. Hayyan and Muqatil b. Sulayman; The significance of wooden weapons in al-Mukhtar's revolt and the `Abbasid revolution; On the meaning of the `Abbasid call to al-Rida; The `Abbasid Abna' and Sasanid cavalrymen; The early Islamic world; The pay of client soldiers in the Umayyad period; Mawali and the Prophet's family: an early Shi`ite view; Imperial trauma: the case of the Arabs; Index.