Landholding Patterns in Early Islamic Egypt

Abstract

This article examines the impact of the Arab conquests of the 630s and 640s on rural society and fiscal organization in Egypt. Traditional accounts paint a picture of a seventh‐century Egypt from which the aristocracy had largely disappeared and in which Arab rulers and administrators communicated directly with village communities. Drawing upon the testimony of seventh‐century documentary papyri, this essay reveals the continued role of Christian elites in administering tax collection and the extent to which the Arab conquerors left agrarian social relations largely undisturbed. Only over the course of the eighth century were indigenous Christian elites sidelined, leading to a number of tax revolts on the part of the Coptic population.

Archaeological approaches to the Islamic Emirate of Crete (820s-961 CE): a starting point

“…Egyptian evidence is even more detailed. Legendre 2016, and Sijpesteijn 2009, demonstrate that, during the initial 60 to 80 years after the conquest, the occupation of the countryside by Muslims was either forbidden (under Umar I, d. 644), or limited to the Delta. During this period, the conquerors' elite claiming territorial leadership administered the Egyptian countryside from their capital Fustat, employing local agents, the dukes (an office attested during pre-Islamic times), for tax collection at the village level.…”

On the Road to Heaven: Taxation, Conversions, and the Coptic-Muslim Socioeconomic Gap in Medieval Egypt

“…The argument is that Arabs were more likely to settle in areas that were closer to 'Arish. In these areas, the argument goes, Arabs were more likely to replace Coptic local elites as large landholders and headmen (Sijpesteijn 2009), and hence to impose a higher poll tax rate (or enforce the tax more strictly) on Coptic taxpayers. By contrast, in areas where Arabs did not settle, Coptic elites remained in power and were likely more lenient with their fellow Copts by allowing taxpayers to pay zero or reduced tax and to accumulate tax arrears (Morimoto 1981).…”

“…66-91;175-81). In response to a series of tax revolts between 726 and 866, they resorted around 900 to tax farming (Sijpesteijn 2009) that remained in effect until 1813. Under this system, the state contracted out the tax collection of each kura to individuals (Morimoto 1981, pp.…”

“…“At the order of the most glorious [governor] it has been determined that the poll tax will be levied … and I am worried that this will scare them.”Athanasios, (Coptic) head of Hermopolis district in Upper Egypt, in a letter to his subordinate Shenoute, 3 March 644 ce (cited in Sijpesteijn 2013, p. 73).…”

“…The hypothesis of tax-induced conversions triggered fierce debates among historians. While scholars such as Gladys Frantz-Murphy (2004) and Yossef Rapoport (2004) endorsed the hypothesis, 3 others such as Daniel Dennett (1950), Kosei Morimoto (1981), and Petra Sijpesteijn (2013) took a cautious stance in light of the growing papyri discoveries that suggested that conversions in Egypt may not have started until the mid-eighth century. A third group argued that conversions occurred even later for other causes including the suppression of Coptic tax revolts in the ninth century (Al-Maqrizi 2002 [1500]; Mikhail 2004) and state persecution in 1250–1517 (El-Leithy 2005), while a fourth group contended that it was Islam’s appeal that attracted converts (El-Shayyal 1966).…”