New Rule over Old Structures: Egypt after the Muslim Conquest

Abstract

This chapter examines the administrative changes in Egypt after the Muslim conquest. It explains that the conquest of Egypt by the Arab armies in 642 CE brought a new religious, linguistic, and administrative rule to this rich and important Byzantine province. However, this transformation was gradual and the arrival of the Arabs had little impact on the daily lives of the Egyptians. The Arab conquest did not result in mass confiscations of land in Egypt and there was no programme of land rewards for the conquering elite. This chapter suggests that both administrative continuity and change were part of the Muslim plan for Egypt after the conquest but it was not a formal plan but rather a pragmatic response to the challenges the conquerors encountered.

Scribal Networks, Taxation, and the Role of Coptic in Marwanid Egypt

“…As Petra Sijpesteijn has described it, Egypt was "a well-stocked way station", providing resources for further Arab conquests. 62 West of Egypt, these conquests included western North Africa (711-716) and the Iberian peninsula (705-715), while in the east these same years saw the conquest of Sind and central Asia. 63 An Arabic letter dating more-orless to this period attests to the direct cost to Egypt of the army, namely, the payment of the military stipend (ʿaṭāʾ).…”

“…72 The Greek Nessana entagia (P.Ness. [60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67] pre-date the Coptic entagia (the latest possible date is 689) and reflect older practices; on language use in this province, see R. Stroumsa, "Greek and Arabic in Nessane," in Documents and the History of the Early Islamic World, ed. P. M. Sijpesteijn and A. T. Schubert (Leiden: Brill.…”

TheRedSea under theCaliphalDynasties, c. 639–1171

“…Yet this does not seem to have been the case for the Red Sea region, where a troika of rapacious taxation, forced labour, and land confiscation fuelled spiralling rebellion and sedition in Egypt and Yemen. For instance, the ruthless fiscal administration of ʿUbayd Allāh ibn al‐Ḥabḥāb (r. 724–34), the overseer of taxation appointed to Egypt by the caliph Ḥishām, caused the people such “anguish and distress [that they] were minded to sell their own children” (Severus ibn al‐Muqaffaʿ, , 69; Sijpesteijn, , 196; Kennedy, , 73). The nadir came in 830 with the Bashmuric rebellion, wherein the Christian Copts and Muslim Arabs found common cause and killed the ʿAbbāsid governor, forcing the caliph al‐Maʾmūn to personally take charge of the brutal suppression of the revolt.…”

An Early Umayyad Papyrus Invitation for the Ḥajj

“…One possibility is that 'Uqba had gone to the countryside to supervise the grazing of Sahl's camels, since we know that camel herds were typically taken into the countryside during the spring to graze in preparation for the campaigning season. 42 It is not unreasonable to assume that the same was done for the pilgrimage season.…”