Transcript Land Tenure - Islamic Studies Network

Bedouin, fellahs and sultans:
History of the Islamic Countryside
Week 4
Land tenure
Queen Mary University of
London
HST 5112, 2011-12
Arab conquests & land-tenure
At the time of conquest, Arabs retain
Byzantine / Sassanian land-tenure:
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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’)
Arab conquests & land-tenure
How to collect land-tax (kharaj)?
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By fixed tax (in kind or in cash)
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By share of the produce
Arab conquests & land-tenure
How to collect land-tax (kharaj)?
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From individual cultivators
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From the village community
Arab conquests & land-tenure
How to collect land-tax (kharaj)?
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By agents of central government
By Tax-farming
By and for local leaders (decentralization)
‘Abbasid land tax (8th- 10th c)
Impact of large-scale conversion to Islam:
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Exemption from poll-tax, but kharaj tax
continues;
Charity tax (zakat) on livestock and
selected cash crops
‘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)
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The Middle period, 1000-1500
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Virtual end of private ownership over arable
land (fields)
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“Death of the kharaj-payer”: Kharaj is now a
rent paid by cultivators for the right to use
the land
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Decentralization of tax-collection
Islamic ‘feudalism’, 1000-1500
iqta‘ - a grant of agricultural revenue in return for military
service.
Different from feudal estate:
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Temporary, non-hereditary grant, to be withdrawn by the
ruler at any time.
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Iqta‘-holder would reside in a city, visiting his village only
occasionally.
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No judicial authority over the cultivators.
al-Aqsara‘i, a manual of
horsemanship (Syria/Egypt,
Islamic ‘feudalism’, 1000-1500
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What was the position of the peasant under the iqta‘
system?
According to some ethical and legal works:
1.
Peasants are attached to the land
2.
iqta holders can raise taxes at will
3.
No incentives for long-term investment
Islamic ‘feudalism’, 1000-1500
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What was the position of the peasant under the iqta‘
system?
Legal sources, especially fatwa literature:
1. Tenancy contracts concluded with the iqta holders
(share-cropping or fixed rent).
2.
De-centralized negotiation of lease payments with
iqta holders.
3.
Individual iqta holders at a disadvantage, as they
tend to lack local knowledge and power base.
Islamic ‘feudalism’, 1000-1500
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Continuous shifts from state land-ownership to
private ownership and back, unless land endowed for
religious purposes
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Private owners convert land to charitable
endowments (waqf) to protect from state confiscation
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Waqf could benefit religious institutions, the poor, or
families of land-owner
Islamic ‘feudalism’, 1000-1500
Iqta to medieval Islamic socieites, from
India to Spain, is what feudalism is to
European Islamic societies