Chapters from the book: History of foreign Asian countries in the Middle Ages. M., 1970.

Development of feudal relations in the Abbasid Caliphate

Under the Abbasids, state own land ownership prevailed in the central regions of the caliphate, where there were large irrigation systems, primarily in Iraq and Egypt. In other areas, along with state-owned lands, there were also many privately owned lands. Unconditional private land ownership (milk, mulk) prevailed, for example in Fars, until the 10th century. There were also lands that belonged to the Abbasid caliphic family (Sawafi). Community lands were included in the category of state lands.

Conditional private land ownership also developed. The state gave (to the warriors small plots of land with holders sitting on it -

peasants for lifelong ownership on condition of military service; such plots, called “katia”, were given, for example, in the district of Qazvin (Iran) to those who settled there in the middle of the 7th century. 500 Arab military officials; since their descendants carried out military service, these lands remained in their possession even in the 10th century. Along with this, another type of conditional possession developed - iqta. Initially, this term only denoted the right given to a servant to collect taxes (kharaj or jizya) from certain land in his favor, which, thus, turned into feudal rent. Gradually, the right to rent became the right to dispose of land. Iqta was given either for the duration of the post or for life for merit. Thanks to the widespread custom of heredity of positions, iqta lands were often actually passed on by inheritance. Depending on the rank and position of the serving person, the iqta could be of different sizes: from one village or part of it to a large district. Inalienable lands of Muslim religious institutions (waqf) also became widespread in the caliphate.

Both in state and private ownership, conditional or unconditional, there was not only land, but also water - canals and other irrigation structures.

On lands of all categories, landowners, as a rule, did not conduct their master's corvée grain farming, but seized feudal rent (food or monetary) from small plots of land. Thus, large feudal land ownership was combined with small peasant land use. Peasants living on state, privately owned and waqf lands were legally considered free, but in fact they were feudal dependent, although at that time not all of them were. What remained were the peasants - small owners who actually retained their freedom.

Kharaj was levied on state lands and on the lands of small owners; tithe - from mulkov lands; the lands of the Abbasid family, iqta and waqf lands contributed nothing to the state treasury; the tax on them turned into rent and went entirely to the benefit of the owner of the land.

As already said, the situation of the peasants did not improve under the first Abbasids. They were still ruined by forced labor; When collecting kharaj, tax collectors committed various abuses: they assessed standing crops at an inflated rate in order to increase the amount of taxes; They were not allowed to harvest grain and fruits until the tax was collected, and the collection itself was delayed - and the peasants had to bribe the collectors so that they would collect the tax as quickly as possible, so that the harvest would not be lost. As before, peasants were hung with “seals,” i.e., lead tags, on their necks, and those who owed arrears were tortured.

In the early feudal society of the caliphate, the patriarchal (among the Arab, Iranian, etc. nomads) and slaveholding structures were preserved. Society of the Caliphate VII-IX centuries. was filled with captive slaves. Here is some data: Caliph Muawiya exploited 4 thousand slaves on his lands in Hijaz alone (from whose labor he received annually 150 thousand loads of grain and 100 thousand bags of dates) and the same number of slaves on his lands and Yemama. One of the companions of the Prophet Muhammad, Abd ar-Rahman ibn Auf, dying, freed 30 thousand of his slaves, and Caliph Mutasim - 8 thousand. The famous lawyer Abu Yusuf Yaqub at the turn of the 8th and 9th centuries. wrote in the “Book of Land Taxes” that all the prisons of the caliphate are overcrowded with detained fugitive slaves. In the 10th century the governors of the regions were pre-

It was written to catch runaway slaves, with whom all regions were swarming, to lock them up and, if possible, return them to their owners. Slaves and female slaves were used not only as household servants and harem odalisques, but also in production: in irrigation work, gardening, herding livestock (especially among nomads), in craft workshops - ergasteriums, in mines. There were not enough prisoners of war for this work, and slave traders brought many slaves from abroad: Turks, Slavs and especially Africans into the caliphate for sale. The scale of this trade can be judged by the fact that one merchant from the Persian Gulf coast alone, during the summer voyage of 936, brought 12 thousand dark-skinned slaves from Africa on 400 barges. There were slave markets in all the cities of the caliphate. The sources never confused slaves with feudal-dependent peasants.

Caliphal power and administration

Lecture 3. Government structure of the Abbasid Caliphate.

3. Collapse of the Caliphate: Al-Andaluz, Maghreb, Egypt and Syria

1. The power of the caliph and administration. The Abbasid Caliphate, starting in 750, was formed into a pan-Muslim state. If the Umayyads ruled as the leaders of the Arab Bedouins and the leaders of the army, the Abbasids became the leaders of the entire Muslim community. During their reign, ethnic Arabs lost their exclusive position in the Caliphate. Religion has become more important than ethnic supremacy previously was.

Under the Abbasids, even the caliph ceased to be a purebred Arab. Children born from wives and slaves of various ethnic origins became caliphs. The caliph came to symbolize the political and spiritual unity of all Sunni Muslims.

The power of the caliph was not absolute or unlimited. Despite the fact that he was the leader of the entire Islamic community, he had neither legislative initiative nor independence in interpreting the Koran and the covenants of the Prophet. Only Muslim theologians could rightfully do this. Hence, modern researchers do not consider it possible to say that the power of the caliph was theocratic. Although relatively recently our textbooks stated this as truth. From the Sunni point of view, the caliph was not the bearer of divine revelation. Therefore, his power was secular in nature.

The flaw of the Abbasid monarchy was order, or rather, disorder of inheritance. Caliphs could choose as their heirs not only their sons, but also any close relatives, including brothers and uncles.

The top of society during the reign of the Abbasids not only became semi-Iranian, but Iranian principles prevailed in the administrative structure. For territorial administration, governorships - emirates - were retained. Here, administrative, military and financial institutions were created on the model of the capital. Just like in the center, they were called sofas. Among the administrators and officials there were many Iranians and people of the Christian faith.

In strengthening the role of the Iranians in the apparatus of governance of the Caliphate, their active support of the Abbasids during the second Civil War (the fight against the Umayyads) played a decisive role. Beginning with the reign of Mansur, the Iranians entered the inner circle of the Abbasid caliphs. They brought with them the political traditions of Iran. In particular, the system of organizing divans, court ceremonial and the position of vizier (from the Arab-Persian. Wazir, i.e. assistant).

The vizier was responsible for coordinating the activities of central departments. In fact, he was the first minister and head of the administrative apparatus of the Caliphate. From the 10th century viziers appeared among all major local rulers of the Caliphate. Under Harun ar-Rashid (786 - 809), the vizier became the caliph's chief adviser and confidant, keeper of the state seal, and manager of administrative and financial affairs.

The court life of the caliph became a great secret. Access to even high-ranking officials was regulated by special officials. The safety of the caliph and his family was ensured by his personal guard.

The core of the caliph's personal guard from the beginning of the 9th century. became professional warrior-slaves. They were called Gulams or Mamluks - these were captured Kipchaks and other Turks, as well as people from the Caucasus and Slavs. From childhood they were raised at court in special schools. The principle of organizing the army in the Caliphate also changed. The army began to be recruited from mercenaries of non-Arab origin. The fighting qualities of the Turks were highly valued. By the middle of the 9th century. the number of Turkic and Berber mercenaries reached 70 thousand warriors.

2. Social structure of the Caliphate

The legal status of a person in the Caliphate was determined by his religion. Based on this principle, the entire population was divided into three groups. The first is the faithful, i.e. Muslims. The second is dhimmiyya, i.e. Gentiles under the protection: Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians. They recognized the authority of the Muslims and paid the poll tax (jizya). In return, they received a guarantee of the inviolability of their person, property and profession of faith. The third were polytheists who were subject to conversion to Islam.

Each community was governed according to its own religious and legal norms. That. in the Abbasid state not only did there not exist universal equality before the law, but there was not even the idea of ​​a state community.

According to Islamic norms, the entire Muslim society is equal before Allah. Only women and slaves have half the legal liability (for a woman - 2 witnesses). A person's position in society depended on his occupation. And it was expressed in the amount of taxation. Only government positions had tax benefits.

Cities and citizens. In agricultural regions, the urban population of the Caliphate reached 15%. The cities were received by the Arabs from previous civilizations; they built a small number anew, as fortresses and military camps (Fustat, Kufa, Basra). In the Middle Ages in Europe, a city with a population of 100 thousand people. And more - a rare phenomenon. Until the 15th century there were no more than 4 cities. And in Mesopotamia and Egypt in the VIII-X centuries. the percentage of residents of cities with a population of over 100 thousand inhabitants exceeded even Western Europe early XIX V. Thus, in 1800 in the Netherlands and England, 7% of the total urban population lived in such cities. In France - only 2.7%. In Arab countries - about 20% (Essays, p. 185). According to the norms of Sharia, the townspeople enjoyed personal freedom, freedom of trade and movement.

Unlike a European city, a Muslim city might not have walls. But in its center, as a rule, there was a fortress or citadel of the ruler. The nobility settled around her. This part of the city was called “Madina” (Shakhristan in Persian). Around it there were trade and craft suburbs - rabat.

The definition of a city by Arabic-speaking geographers states that the main thing in its topography is the cathedral mosque and the ruler's palace, market, square, khan (hotel), hospital, school, bathhouse.

The city played a prominent role in Arab society. In this regard, in the caliphate, the estate and the village never had either economic or political dominance over the city. Even landowners in the Baghdad Caliphate lived not in estates, but in cities.

The economic role of cities in the caliphate acquired special significance as a result of the development of monetary relations. The Arabs viewed trade as something sacred. Thus, Muhammad al-Shaibani, a lawyer of the late 8th century, believed that providing for oneself with one’s labors is not just an obligation, but a real feat that is rewarded in the next world. In this regard, he referred to the “righteous” Caliph Omar, who once said the following: “To die in the saddle of my camel during a trip to acquire the bounties of Allah is dearer to me than to be killed in a war for faith.” The Arabs quite seriously believed (unlike the Europeans) that trade was a godly matter. The bazaar, where trade takes place, is a place of holy war with Satan, who is trying to seduce the merchant with easy profits by deceiving buyers. It was clear to everyone then that it would be more difficult to survive in this struggle than with arms in hand in a war with the infidels.

However, the status of cities in the Caliphate never approached that of Europe. Craft corporations were created in the cities of the Caliphate, but they did not have important internal regulatory functions. These functions were assigned to a special government official. He oversaw regulation, standardization of production and trade, and regulation of food prices in lean years.

The cities were part of the administrative district and were governed by a governor appointed by the caliph. The governor was responsible for maintaining order in the city and collecting taxes from the townspeople. He also appointed the city governor, city police chief, tax collectors and judge. In addition to Baghdad, the built capital center of Samara became the famous city of the Caliphate. (“Sura min raa” - the one who sees it rejoices). Gord was built 120 km from Baghdad, on the left bank of the Tigris. In 836, Caliph Muttasim, frightened by the action of the inhabitants of Baghdad against the Turkic guards surrounding him, moved his capital here. The best architects were involved in its construction. The city in its heyday stretched for almost 35 km along the river. There were wide streets, developed infrastructure and even a zoo for 2 thousand animals. (All that remains is sand, ruins and the famous spiral minaret).

3. Collapse of the Caliphate: Al-Andaluz, Maghreb, Egypt and Syria

The first signs of the collapse of the Caliphate appeared already at the end of the 9th century. In the X – XIII centuries. The map of the Muslim world has become mosaic and moving, changing. The power of the Abbasid caliphs was limited to Iraq and Southwestern Iran.

Spain is the former Roman province of Baetica (from the 3rd century). From the 5th century became part of the Visigothic kingdom. Under the sixth Umayyad caliph Al Walid I, expansion to the West began. At the beginning of the summer of 711, a military leader from Keyrouan (Tunisia), the former military commander Tariq, at the head of 7 thousand Berber troops, landed on the rock of Jebel al-Tariq (Mount Tariq). He defeated the army of the Visigothic king Rodrigo. By 714, the Arabs had conquered the territory of the Iberian Peninsula. Spain was declared an emirate of the Arab Caliphate and received the name Al-Andalus. From that time on, the Christian population linked their destinies with the Arab state and culture for many years. Assessing the close contact between the culture of Arabs and Christians, the French historian J. Michelet spoke very categorically, cutting off the culture that existed until the end of the 19th century. Eurocentric assessment of world history. “Spain was a battlefield. Where Christians appeared, a desert arose; where the Arabs walked, water and life were in full swing, rivers flowed, the earth turned green, gardens bloomed. The field of reason also flourished. What would we barbarians become without the Arabs? I’m ashamed to admit, but only in the 18th century. our state treasury began to use Arabic numerals, without which even the simplest calculations are impossible.”

From the middle of the 8th century. Arab Spain is a unique cultural and historical region. Here, after the bloody rise to power of the Abbasids, the grandson of Caliph Hisham, Abd ar-Rahman, who escaped extermination, found refuge. Fleeing persecution, he hid among the Berbers of Morocco, and then in May 765 (at the age of 20) he was proclaimed emir of Al-Andalus, remaining in power for about 30 years.

Muslim Spain flourished under Abd ar-Rahman III (912-961). During his reign in 929, the independent existence of Spain was proclaimed - a Caliphate called Al-Andalus. Its capital was Cordoba. In glory and prestige it surpassed even Baghdad and competed with Constantinople.

Al-Andalus until the 11th century. was one of the most developed parts of Europe. The bulk of the population were Muladis and Mozarabs. Muladi (the Spaniards called them renegatos) - the local population who converted to Islam, children from mixed marriages of Christians and Muslims. Among the muladis there were people of varying status and wealth: from magnates to freedmen. Many Spaniards retained the Christian faith. But as a result of close communication with Muslims, they learned Arabic, customs, entered into mixed marriages, and bore Arabic names. These are Mozarabs or Arabized.

During this period of comparative peaceful coexistence, close and friendly relations were established between Muslims and representatives of other faiths living in Al-Andalus. This tolerance was facilitated by significant ethnic mixing. Constant contacts brought to life the knowledge and ability to speak at least two languages. Thus, the famous caliph Abd ar-Rahman III, the son of a Christian captive, easily switched from Arabic to Romance during conversations with courtiers. Such close contact of languages ​​was reflected in the emerging Castilian language, which borrowed a lot from Arabic. This is also felt in modern Spanish, especially in terminology related to irrigation, fortification, civil law, urbanization, trade, botany and nutrition.

A unique phenomenon is the capital of the state of Cordoba, which flourished in the 9th-10th centuries. The city was called the “decoration of the world.” It was home to 500 thousand inhabitants. A large number of mosques, 800 schools, 600 hotels, 900 baths, 50 hospitals were built. The streets of Cordoba are paved with stone, sometimes with marble. In the evening they were illuminated and numerous fountains flowed. The real adornment of Cordoba was its intellectual elite. There were 70 libraries in the city. Caliph Al Hakam II (961-976) patronized scientists and was himself an extraordinary personality. His passion for knowledge and books culminated in the creation of the largest and richest library in the Muslim world. This library had about 400 thousand volumes. In Cordoba, and then in Toledo, there was a staff of scribes whose skills were very highly valued. They copied up to 18 thousand manuscripts annually.

Cordoba is the birthplace of one of the most famous scholars in the Islamic world and Christendom– Ibn Roshd or Averroes (1126-1199). Modern researchers believe that almost the entire population of Cordoba and Toledo was literate. The high intellectual level also attracted Christian intellectuals from the clergy (Herbert). The aristocracy of Castile, Aragon and Provence copied the art of living from the Arabs and strived for their luxury.

During the reign of Hisham II (976-1013), the decline of Al-Andalus began and its collapse in 1031. The Caliphate fell apart into fiefs - taifa. These are small independent emirates: Cordoba, Seville, Granada, etc. The weakening of the caliphate led to the intensive expansion of the Christian kingdoms. The military confrontation gave rise to an outbreak of religious fanaticism, both on the part of Muslims and Christians.

Literature

Al-Hariri. Maqams/Arab medieval picaresque stories. – M., 1987.

Hilal al-Sabi. Establishments and customs of the court of the caliphs / Trans. from Arabic, preface And note. I.B. Mikhailova. – M., 1983.

Reader on Islam: Trans. from Arabic/Comp. CM. Prozorov. – M., 1994.

Bolshakov O.G. Medieval city of the Middle East. (VII – mid-XIII century). – M., 1984.

Bolshakov O.G. History of the Caliphate. – M., 1998.

Grunebaum G.E. Classic Islam. – M., 1986.

Metz A. Muslim Renaissance. – M., 1966.

Mikhailova I.B. Medieval Baghdad. – M., 1990.

Essays on the history of Arab culture. – M., 1982.

Watt W.M. The influence of Islam on medieval Europe. – M., 1976.

Filshtinsky I. History of the Arabs and the Caliphate (750-1517). – M., 2006.

Introduction

Along with Byzantium, the most prosperous state in the Mediterranean throughout the Middle Ages was the Arab Caliphate, created by the Prophet Mohammed (Muhammad, Mohammed) and his successors. In Asia, as in Europe, military-feudal and military-bureaucratic state formations arose sporadically, as a rule, as a result of military conquests and annexations. This is how the Mughal empire arose in India, the empire of the Tang dynasty in China, etc. A strong integrating role fell to the Christian religion in Europe, the Buddhist religion in the states of Southeast Asia, and the Islamic religion in the Arabian Peninsula.

The coexistence of domestic and state slavery with feudal-dependent and tribal relations continued in some Asian countries during this historical period.

The Arabian Peninsula, where the first Islamic state arose, is located between Iran and Northeast Africa. During the time of the Prophet Mohammed, born around 570, it was sparsely populated. The Arabs were then a nomadic people and, with the help of camels and other pack animals, provided trade and caravan connections between India and Syria, and then North African and European countries. The Arab tribes were also responsible for ensuring the safety of trade routes with oriental spices and handicrafts, and this circumstance served as a favorable factor in the formation of the Arab state.

1. State and law in the early period of the Arab Caliphate

Arab tribes of nomads and farmers have inhabited the territory of the Arabian Peninsula since ancient times. Based on agricultural civilizations in southern Arabia already in the 1st millennium BC. early states similar to the ancient eastern monarchies arose: the Sabaean kingdom (VII–II centuries BC), Nabatiya (VI–I centuries). In large trading cities, urban self-government was formed according to the type of the Asia Minor polis. One of the last early South Arab states, the Himyarite kingdom, fell under the blows of Ethiopia and then Iranian rulers at the beginning of the 6th century.

By the VI–VII centuries. the bulk of the Arab tribes were at the stage of supra-communal administration. Nomads, traders, farmers of oases (mainly around sanctuaries) united family by family into large clans, clans - into tribes. The head of such a tribe was considered an elder - a seid (sheikh). He was the supreme judge, the military leader, and the general leader of the clan assembly. There was also a meeting of elders - the Majlis. Arab tribes also settled outside Arabia - in Syria, Mesopotamia, on the borders of Byzantium, forming temporary tribal unions.

The development of agriculture and livestock breeding leads to property differentiation of society and to the use of slave labor. Leaders of clans and tribes (sheikhs, seids) base their power not only on customs, authority and respect, but also on economic power. Among the Bedouins (inhabitants of the steppes and semi-deserts) there are Salukhi who have no means of subsistence (animals) and even Taridi (robbers) who were expelled from the tribe.

The religious ideas of the Arabs were not united into any ideological system. Fetishism, totemism and animism were combined. Christianity and Judaism were widespread.

In the VI Art. On the Arabian Peninsula there were several independent pre-feudal states. The elders of the clans and tribal nobility concentrated many animals, especially camels. In areas where agriculture was developed, a process of feudalization took place. This process engulfed the city-states, particularly Mecca. On this basis, a religious and political movement arose - the caliphate. This movement was directed against tribal cults for the creation of a common religion with one deity.

The Caliphic movement was directed against the tribal nobility, in whose hands there was power in the Arab pre-feudal states. It arose in those centers of Arabia where the feudal system acquired greater development and significance - in Yemen and the city of Yathrib, and also covered Mecca, where Muhammad was one of its representatives.

The Mecca nobility opposed Muhammad, and in 622 he was forced to flee to Medina, where he found support from the local nobility, who were dissatisfied with competition from the Mecca nobility.

A few years later, the Arab population of Medina became part of the Muslim community, led by Muhammad. He performed not only the functions of the ruler of Medina, but also was a military leader.

The essence of the new religion was to recognize Allah as one deity, and Muhammad as his prophet. It is recommended to pray every day, count out a fortieth part of your income for the benefit of the poor, and fast. Muslims must take part in the holy war against the infidels. The previous division of the population into clans and tribes, from which almost every state formation began, was undermined.

Muhammad proclaimed the need for a new order that excluded inter-tribal strife. All Arabs, regardless of their tribal origin, were called upon to form a single nation. Their head was to be the prophet-messenger of God on earth. The only conditions for joining this community were recognition of the new religion and strict compliance with its instructions.

Mohammed quickly gathered a significant number of followers and already in 630 he managed to settle in Mecca, whose inhabitants by that time had become imbued with his faith and teachings. The new religion was called Islam (peace with God, submission to the will of Allah) and quickly spread throughout the peninsula and beyond. In communicating with representatives of other religions - Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians - Mohammed's followers maintained religious tolerance. In the first centuries of the spread of Islam, a saying from the Koran (Sura 9.33 and Sura 61.9) about the prophet Mohammed, whose name means “gift of God”, was minted on Umayyad and Abbasid coins: “Mohammed is the messenger of God, whom God sent with instructions to the right way and with true faith, in order to elevate it above all faiths, even if the polytheists were dissatisfied with this.”

New ideas found ardent supporters among the poor. They converted to Islam because they had long ago lost faith in the power of tribal gods, who did not protect them from disasters and devastation.

Initially the movement was popular in nature, which scared off the rich, but this did not last long. The actions of the adherents of Islam convinced the nobility that the new religion did not threaten their fundamental interests. Soon, representatives of the tribal and trading elites became part of the Muslim ruling elite.

By this time (20–30 years of the 7th century) the organizational formation of the Muslim religious community led by Muhammad. The military units she created fought for the unification of the country under the banner of Islam. The activities of this military-religious organization gradually acquired a political character.

Having first united the tribes of two rival cities - Mecca and Yathrib (Medina) - under his rule, Muhammad led the struggle to unite all Arabs into a new semi-state-semi-religious community (umma). In the early 630s. a significant part of the Arabian Peninsula recognized the power and authority of Muhammad. Under his leadership, a kind of proto-state emerged with the spiritual and political power of the prophet at the same time, relying on the military and administrative powers of new supporters - the Muhajirs.

By the time of the death of the prophet, almost all of Arabia had fallen under his rule, his first successors - Abu Bakr, Omar, Osman, Ali, nicknamed the righteous caliphs (from "caliph" - successor, deputy) - were in friendly and family ties with him. Already under Caliph Omar (634 - 644), Damascus, Syria, Palestine and Phenicia, and then Egypt, were annexed to this state. In the east, the Arab state expanded into Mesopotamia and Persia. Over the next century, the Arabs conquered North Africa and Spain, but failed twice to conquer Constantinople, and were later defeated in France at Poitiers (732), but maintained their dominance in Spain for another seven centuries.

30 years after the death of the prophet, Islam was divided into three large sects, or movements - the Sunnis (who relied in theological and legal issues on the Sunna - a collection of legends about the words and deeds of the prophet), the Shiites (considered themselves more accurate followers and exponents of the views of the prophet, as well as more accurate executors of the instructions of the Koran) and the Kharijites (who took as a model the policies and practices of the first two caliphs - Abu Bakr and Omar).

With the expansion of the borders of the state, Islamic theological and legal structures were influenced by more educated foreigners and people of other faiths. This affected the interpretation of the Sunnah and the closely related fiqh (legislation).

The Umayyad dynasty (from 661), which carried out the conquest of Spain, moved the capital to Damascus, and the Abbasid dynasty that followed them (from the descendants of the prophet named Abba, from 750) ruled from Baghdad for 500 years. By the end of the 10th century. The Arab state, which had previously united peoples from the Pyrenees and Morocco to Fergana and Persia, was divided into three caliphates - the Abbasids in Baghdad, the Fatimids in Cairo and the Umayyads in Spain.

The emerging state solved one of the most important tasks facing the country - overcoming tribal separatism. By the middle of the 7th century. the unification of Arabia was largely completed.

Muhammad's death raised the question of his successors as supreme leader of the Muslims. By this time, his closest relatives and associates (tribal and merchant nobility) had consolidated into a privileged group. From among her, they began to choose new individual leaders of Muslims - caliphs (“deputies of the prophet”).

After the death of Muhammad, the unification of the Arab tribes continued. Power in the tribal union was transferred to the spiritual heir of the prophet - the caliph. Internal conflicts were suppressed. During the reign of the first four caliphs (“righteous”), the Arab proto-state, relying on the general armament of the nomads, began to rapidly expand at the expense of neighboring states.

One of the important incentives for the movement of Arabs to new lands was the relative overpopulation of Arabia. The indigenous inhabitants of the conquered lands offered almost no resistance to the newcomers, since before that they were under the yoke of other states that mercilessly exploited them, and were not interested in protecting the old masters and their orders.

Conquests continued during the reign of the Umayyad caliphs (661–750). At this time, the Arabs subjugated Syria, Iran, North Africa, Egypt, Central Asia, Transcaucasia, Afghanistan, many possessions of the Byzantine Empire, Spain and even islands in the Mediterranean Sea. A supranational empire emerged, the basis of whose unity was Islam and a new military and tax system. The statehood of the early caliphate was poorly developed; the administration system was adopted from conquered Iran and Byzantium. Most of the land was declared the property of the state, and on this basis (following the Byzantine model) a system of semi-feudal awards under the condition of military service began to form. The basis of its own tax system was the privileged taxation of devout Muslims and the burden of non-believers. At the beginning of the 8th century. Statehood began to take on a more formalized form: the minting of its own coins began, and Arabic became the national language.

As a result, a new large state arose on the conquered lands - the Arab Caliphate . Arabia also became part of it.

For their new homeland, a new religion, the Arabs received in return productive forces that were at a relatively high stage of development. Entering the areas ancient culture(Mesopotamia, Syria, Egypt), they found themselves at the mercy of the deep social revolution unfolding here, the main direction of which was the formation of feudalism. Under the influence of this process, the decomposition of the primitive communal system among the Arabs quickly ended.

Arab feudalism, along with the main features common to the feudal society of any country, was characterized by important features.

The degree of development of feudalism in individual regions of the Caliphate was not the same. It was directly dependent on the level of their socio-economic development that preceded the conquest. If in Syria, Iraq, and Egypt feudalism reigned almost completely, then in most of Arabia significant remnants of the tribal system remained.

2. State and law in the late period of the Arab Caliphate

At the end of the 8th century. new trends have emerged in the development of the Arab state. The local nobility, having gained a foothold in the conquered countries, lost interest in the unity of the Caliphate. The caliphs became the rulers of the Arab state. The caliph was considered the full-fledged deputy of the prophet with all secular and spiritual rights. Later, the caliph began to be considered the direct deputy of Allah himself. His powers were limited only by the instructions of the Koran. Moreover, the decrees and judicial decisions of the first four caliphs, the immediate successors of the prophet, even received the meaning of sacred tradition (sunna).

During the first 60 years of the state, caliphs were elected either by a council of the clan nobility or by a decision of “all Muslims” (i.e. Mecca and Medina). With the rule of the Umayyads, the power of the caliph became hereditary in the clan, although an absolutely verified tradition did not develop.

After internal unrest, rule in the empire passed to the dynasty of pro-Iranian rulers – the Abbasids (750–1258). The most famous of the Abbasids were the caliph Harun al-Rashid, who was included in the characters in the Arabian Nights, as well as his son al-Mamun. These were enlightened autocrats who combined concerns for spiritual and secular enlightenment. Naturally, in their role as caliphs, they were also occupied with the problems of spreading the new faith, which they themselves and their subjects perceived as a commandment to live in equality and universal brotherhood of all true believers. The duties of the ruler in this case were to be a fair, wise and merciful ruler. Enlightened caliphs combined concerns about administration, finance, justice and the army with support for education, art, literature, science, as well as trade and commerce. The latter were understood as intermediary operations and services related to transportation, warehousing, resale of goods and usury.

As in previous historical eras, an important role was given to ways of assimilating the heritage and experience of highly developed ancient cultures and civilizations. In the past, the Greeks adopted writing from the Phoenicians and some philosophical concepts from the eastern sages (Egyptian, Mesopotamian, possibly Indian). After 10 centuries, the ancient Greco-Roman heritage facilitated the formation of Arab-Muslim culture, which for several centuries continued that cultural work, which was interrupted for one reason or another in the Greco-Latin world.

The Arab-Muslim world, in the course of assimilation and processing of the ancient heritage, brought to the public arena such outstanding thinkers and figures as Avicenna (980 - 1037), Ibn Rushd (Latin name Averroes, b. 1126) and Ibn Khaldun (XIV century). Ibn Khaldun lived in North Africa and tried (the only one in Arabic literature) to move from narrative history to pragmatic (utilitarian scientific) in order to establish and describe the laws of world (in this case, within the Arab Caliphate and its surroundings) social history. He viewed history as a “new science,” and considered the main area of ​​historical change not changes in political forms, as the ancient Greeks did in their time, but the conditions of economic life, which have a strong influence on the transition from rural and nomadic life to urban life and customs.

It is characteristic that for the Arab historian throughout the world and its history, only the cultural merits of Muslims as a whole existed as significant. Thus, historically new culture He places Muslim nations above all others, but notes its decline and predicts its destruction.

Baghdad became the capital of the state. The unique relations of state service feudalism were strengthened in the state. The property of religious Muslim institutions (waqf) was separated.

During the reign of the Abbasids, the position of the caliph changed dramatically. Next to him stood a secular ruler - the Sultan, to whom the army, bureaucracy, local rulers, and administration were subordinate. The Caliph retained spiritual powers, as well as supreme judicial power.

Until the 10th century Arab statehood was formed primarily by a military organization (united by constant conquests), a unified tax system and a common political-religious authority. There was no national administration.

By the beginning of the 10th century. under the caliphs, the position of vizier appears - first the senior official, then the head of the government and the entire administration of the empire. The vizier was appointed by the caliph, who presented the ruler with a special robe. The vizier managed the state administration independently, providing the caliph (sultan) with weekly reports on affairs. His position by the end of the 10th century. became hereditary in childbirth, and the “sons of viziers” formed, as it were, a special layer of the highest bureaucracy. By the 11th century. the importance of the post of vizier fell, sometimes even two viziers were appointed, including even Christians.

The provinces existed in the caliphate separately from each other and from the central government. The rulers of the regions bore the title of emir (supreme). Often, having secured hereditary power for their family, emirs also adopted more sonorous titles - Shahinshah, etc. Both politically and legally, they had almost complete power in their province, subject to the religious authority of the caliph and the central administration.

Each region-province had its own representative office in the capital of the caliphate, Baghdad, a diwan that dealt with its affairs. In turn, the regional divan was divided into 2 departments: the main one, which was in charge of the distribution and collection of taxes, land policy, and the financial one (winters). At the end of the 9th century. one of the caliphs united the regional divans into the department of the court, trying to create from this a semblance of a central administration, where there would be subdepartments for enlarged regions: offices for Western affairs, for Eastern affairs and for Babylonian affairs. After several transformations associated with a general strengthening of centralized power in the middle of the 10th century. A centralized administration was formed at the court of the Baghdad caliphs.

The most important was the military department (all of them were called divans), where there was a chamber of military expenditures and a chamber of recruiting troops. Individual military units were governed independently. The most extensive was the expenditure department intended to serve the court. It had up to 6 special chambers of advisers for various matters. The State Treasury was the control department where the treasury books were kept. The confiscation department conducted office work on such an important article in the relationship between the authorities and subjects who violated the order and laws of the service. The preparation of all kinds of documents and letters of appointment was carried out by a special Office of Letters; She also handled the caliph’s correspondence.

One of the most important in fact was the Main Department of Roads and Posts, which controlled individual postal and road officials. The officials of this department were responsible for providing explicit and secret information to the authorities about what was happening in the empire, so it was in charge of a network of informants. A special department was represented by the office of the caliph, where paperwork on petitions was carried out. In the press department, after agreement in other departments, the orders of the caliph were given force. There was a separate banking department, the most unique institution where money exchange and other payments were made.

Department managers (sahibs) were divided into three ranks. They were paid according to their ranks. True, over time, a tradition developed of paying state salaries only for 10 of the 12 months of the year. However, the practice of combining multiple positions helped out.

The governors of the provinces had their own viziers. The provincial administration was also represented by the commander of the regional troops - the amir and the civil ruler - the amil; the latter's duties mainly included collecting taxes.

Officials could only be recruited from among the free and constituted, as it were, a special class. Military officers were primarily recruited from among the unfree. This made them more personally dependent on the supreme commander and the caliph. Receiving significant salaries, officials themselves had to maintain their offices, scribes and other minor employees.

Courts Islamic law constituted, as it were, the second (along with the financial administration) part of the state organization; in reality, judicial power in the doctrine of Islam belonged to the prophet and caliphs as bearers of justice.

Initially, the caliphs themselves conducted the court. In the provinces this was done on their behalf by the emirs. Over time, administrative and spiritual responsibilities required the creation of special judges - qadis.

The qadis always remained under the supreme authority of the caliphs, and senior officials could overrule their decisions. Actually courts, appeals, etc. did not exist in Islamic law. One could only complain to the supreme power. In the 9th century. The qadis were removed from the authority of the provincial emirs, and everyone, including those in the main cities, was directly appointed by the caliph. The right to appoint judges remained with the caliphs even when most of the secular and political powers were taken away from them by the sultans. If the qadi was not appointed by the caliph, his rights were in doubt. Along with the usual ones, there was the position of supreme qadi.

Initially, in order to make the position of a judge more independent, they were not entitled to a salary. During the reign of the Abbasids, positions became paid and even sold. This was all the more possible because Muslim jurists and jurists had a very negative attitude towards holding the position of judge: it was considered unworthy, and decency demanded that one refuse it.

The legal powers of the qadi were formed gradually. So, only from the 10th century. the right of judges to decide inheritance cases was consolidated. Their responsibilities included supervision of prisons and resolution of deanery matters. The qadi had his own judicial staff of 4–5 ministers and scribes, including judges who dealt with the smallest disputes.

From the 9th century One of the most unique and unparalleled institutions of Muslim legal proceedings emerged - “permanent witnesses”.

Since the law required accepting testimony only from persons of good reputation, the qadi kept a list of such witnesses, constantly inviting them to court sessions. They testified to the acts, four of them participated in the analysis of cases. Sometimes such “witnesses” were assigned to independently examine minor cases on behalf of the judge.

The positions of judges have largely become hereditary. Largely also because legal proceedings, based on the Koran and Sunnah, retained the character of customary law and were guided by the tradition of judicial practice.

In addition to the spiritual court of the qadi, there were also secular courts in the caliphate. They included “every matter that the qadi could not resolve and which should have been resolved by someone with more power.” Criminal and police cases were more often brought to the secular court. The vizier appointed secular judges. It was possible to appeal the decision of the qadi's court in a secular court. The court court was considered the highest authority of secular justice (although there was no strict subordination). It was often performed by viziers, palace managers. From the second half of the 9th century. the caliphs themselves did not participate in resolving specific cases.

The secular court was less limited by the Koran and tradition. Local law prevailed in it, and punishments were applied that were prohibited in the courts of the qadi (for example, corporal). But here peace deals were possible, witnesses were sworn in. The discretion of the court was largely free.

Simultaneously with the emergence of the Caliphate, its law was formed - Sharia (Sharia - from Arabic - “proper path”). Law was initially formed as the most important part of religion. Its main sources were:

Koran - main holy book Islam. The instructions contained in it are in the nature of religious and moral guidelines.

Sunnah is a collection of traditions (hadiths) about the actions and sayings of Muhammad, as set forth by his companions. To a large extent they contain instructions regarding family inheritance and judicial law. Subsequently, the attitude towards this source in the Muslim world became ambiguous: Shint Muslims do not recognize all hadiths.

Ijma - decisions made by authoritative Muslim jurists on issues not covered in the above-mentioned sources. Subsequently, these decisions received recognition from prominent legal theologians. It is believed that Muhammad, under these conditions, encouraged the free discretion of judges (ijtihad). According to legend,

Fatwa - written opinion of the Supreme Religious Authorities on decisions secular authorities regarding certain issues of public life.

Subsequently, as Islam spread, other sources of law appeared - decrees and orders of the caliphs, local customs that do not contradict Islam, and some others. Accordingly, law became differentiated, and legal norms were determined in a given region by the dominant direction of Islam there, as well as by the level of development of social relations. But at the same time, there has been a tendency towards theoretical generalization of legal norms.

Muslim law initially proceeded from the fact that people's activities are ultimately determined by “divine revelation,” but this does not exclude the possibility of a person to choose and find the proper direction of his actions. Therefore, failure to behave properly is considered not only a legal violation, but also a religious sin, attracting the highest punishment. The actions of a Muslim differ as follows:

1) strictly obligatory, 2) desirable, 3) permitted, 4) undesirable, but not punishable, 5) prohibited and strictly punishable.

This differentiation is especially important in relation to the main values ​​protected by Islam: religion, life, reason, procreation and property. According to the essence of the encroachment on them, as well as the nature of the punishment, all crimes are mainly reduced to three types:

1) crimes directed against the foundations of religion and the state, for which precisely defined punishments follow - hadd;

2) crimes against individuals, for which certain sanctions are also imposed;

3) offenses, including crimes for which punishment is not strictly established. The right to choose punishment (tazir) is given to the court.

The Hadd crimes included, first of all, apostasy and blasphemy, which were punishable by death. However, according to many prominent jurists, the repentance of an apostate allows for his forgiveness. All speeches against state power were also punishable by death.

Among crimes against individuals, the law paid the most attention to premeditated murder, and provided for alternative punishment. According to legend, Muhammad offered the relatives of the murdered man to choose one of three: the death penalty, forgiveness of the murderer, or acceptance of a blood ransom (diya). The ransom amount was usually determined as the value of 100 camels. The subjective side of the crime was taken into account. The person who committed manslaughter paid a ransom and made religious atonement (kaffarah).

Causing bodily harm was generally punishable by talion.

Theft, as an attack on one of the main values ​​protected by religion, was prosecuted very severely: the hand of the convicted thief was cut off. There were other restrictions.

In the law of the Caliphate, norms regulating property relations also received some development. A beginning was made for the formation of basic legal land statuses. This:

1) Hijaz – lands where, according to legend, Muhammad lived and for which a special legal regime was established: tithes were collected from Muslims living on these lands;

2) waqf – lands transferred to mosques, Muslim schools and other organizations for religious and charitable purposes. They were exempt from taxes and considered inalienable. The waqf could consist of other immovable and movable property;

3) mulk – lands that, by the nature of the powers of their owners, could be identified with private property;

4) iqta – temporary grants of land along with the peasant population living on it for service. The owner of such land had the right to taxes from the peasants. Contract law had not yet developed in its entirety, but in the approach to resolving a number of specific disputes, some important principles were defined - the prohibition of enslaving debtors, the condemnation of usury.

In the Umayyad Caliphate, which had contact with the Roman cultural heritage and the works of Greek authors, a layer of people was formed who became interested in issues of theology and jurisprudence independently and without connection with the ruling class and its apparatus. Lawyers of such a wide profile could be judges in the service of individual rulers, but they could also be very critical servants, believing and proving that rulers were deviating from the requirements of “divinely revealed law.”

The Abbasids also tried to take into account the opinions of jurists. The decisions of lawyers were not put into practice immediately and directly, but only insofar as the rulers themselves chose them as a doctrinal basis for their political or judicial punitive actions. In practice, lawyers discussed and generalized much more than practical legal issues in the modern sense: they were interested in and recognized as authoritative advisers in the field of rituals and rites, etiquette and moral precepts. The revealed law thus extended to the entire way of life and therefore became a “divinely revealed way of life.”

Under the Abbasids and their governors, mosques were transformed from the center of state life, including judicial activities, into places of worship. At such institutions, primary schools for teaching the alphabet and the Koran arose. Anyone who knew the verses of the Koran by heart was considered to have completed his studies. Some of the primary schools, apparently, were not only spiritual, but also secular (children of other faiths were educated, a ban on this was introduced in the middle of the 9th century). Men of science and philosophers first grouped themselves in mosques and studied with individual inquisitive people here and in other places. Such was the original activity of the founders of the four main schools (madhabs) who lived under the first Abbasids, into which the orthodox Muslim world was divided: Abu Hanifa in Kufa (Syria), Malik ibn Anas in Medina, Shafi'i in Mecca (then in Cairo) and Ahmed ibn Hanbal in Baghdad. Theological talk was at the same time legal talk.

Theological faculties arose at some mosques. This was, for example, the faculty and then the university at the al-Azhar mosque in Cairo, which grew out of a school at the mosque built in the 10th century. Schools with cells for students and lecture rooms appeared at some mosques (madrassah – place of study, from “daras” - to study). These schools are first mentioned in the extreme east of the Muslim world, in Turkestan, where they arose, apparently, under the influence of Buddhist monastic practice (vihara). Then they appear in Baghdad, Cairo, Morocco. The oldest inscription on a Bukhara madrasah (15th century) contains a saying that sounded dissonant with the subsequent and partly modern practice of schooling: “The pursuit of knowledge is the duty of every Muslim man and woman.”

Despite the cessation of conquests, the period of the 9th-10th centuries. became a time of a kind of Muslim renaissance, the flourishing of culture, theology, and jurisprudence.

By the end of the 9th century. centrifugal tendencies emerged in the vast empire. They relied on the feudal aspirations of individual rulers, especially those who asserted their power locally without its recognition by the caliphs. In the middle of the 10th century. the strengthened rulers of Iran seized power in the central regions of the empire, leaving the caliphs with nominal spiritual power. The deprivation of political power by the caliphs caused a natural process of disintegration of the vast state, which did not possess any internal strength and unity.

The split of the Caliphate into separate independent states became a matter of time.

In the 11th century In Iran and Asia Minor, independent sultanates arose, nominally recognizing the suzerainty of the caliphs. In the 13th century In Central Asia, a vast state of Muslim rulers, the Khorezmshahs, emerged, uniting most of the former possessions of the caliphate. Even earlier, the Cordoba Caliphate in Spain and the sultanates of North Africa became independent states. The caliph retained his power over parts of Mesopotamia and Arabia. The final defeat of the Asian possessions of the former Arab empire occurred during the Mongol conquest. The Baghdad Caliphate was abolished. The dynasty and power of the Arab caliphs were still preserved for several centuries in the state of the Mamluk rulers in Egypt, which temporarily became the sacred center of Muslims, until in the 16th century. he did not fall under the rule of the new powerful political force emerging in the Middle East - the Ottoman Empire,

The Arab empire - both as a whole and the individual states that made it up - was in its purest form a theocracy, i.e.

The organization of power and management of statehood, all power and administrative (and even socio-legal) principles of which were determined by the religion of Islam and the indisputable authority of the spiritual head. At the beginning of the caliphate, such a head was the Prophet Muhammad. He equally owned both secular and spiritual-religious power. The supremacy of the ruler was also based on the state’s supreme ownership of the land: more precisely, the lands belonged only to Allah, in whose name the earthly rulers disposed of them.

Conclusion

The main reasons for the military successes of the Arabs must be recognized as religious fanaticism, as well as the exhaustion of feudal Byzantium and Iran. As a result of the conquests, a huge feudal state was created, which was at first quite centralized. Further feudalization led to the collapse of this state. The first step in this direction was taken in economically and socially developed lands.

The decomposition of tribal relations went especially far in Hijas (the region of the Red Sea coast). Here, semi-sedentary tribes were concentrated around the oases, engaged not only in cattle breeding, but also in agriculture. In this area there were the trade and craft cities of Mecca and Yathrib, through which a busy caravan route ran from south to north. The cities were dominated by wealthy merchants and moneylenders. Having become a privileged group, they nevertheless did not break family ties with certain tribes and their nobility. These areas were home to large numbers of disadvantaged Bedouins. Centuries-old ties, ties and traditions of mutual assistance that bound fellow tribesmen were crumbling. A disaster for ordinary people was increased inter-tribal strife. Constant mutual military raids were accompanied by murders and theft of people and livestock.

Thus, in an environment of deep socio-economic crisis, a new (class) society was born. And as was the case among other peoples, the ideology of the social movement, which objectively advocated a new system, acquired religious form.

Simultaneously with the emergence of the Caliphate, its law was formed - Sharia (Sharia - from Arabic - “proper path”). Law was initially formed as the most important part of religion.

The peculiarity of Arab feudal society was that the class system did not arise in the form that existed in European countries. The rights and privileges of feudal lords were not regulated in Islamic law. Only the descendants of Muhammad - sheikhs and seids - stood out from the general mass of Muslims and enjoyed some privileges.

Another feature of Arab feudal society was the difference in rights between Muslims and non-Muslims.

The caliphate is a feudal-theocratic despotism. At the head of the state was the caliph, the successor - the “vicar” of Allah on earth. The caliphs concentrated spiritual and temporal power in their hands.

The source of the caliph's power was: the election by the people and the reserved order of the caliph. Over time, the second method became dominant. The successor could be a member of the caliph's family or a man from the family of Muhammad who has no physical defects and has reached adulthood. The reign of the Caliph ends with death, renunciation of power, and physical and moral impossibility of fulfilling his functions.

Literature

1. Tishchik B.Y. History of the state and rights of the lands of the Old World. – Lviv, Vydavnitstvo “SPOLOM”, 1999

2. Reader on the history of state and law of foreign countries. Ed. Z.M. Chernilovsky. – M., 1984

3. Fedorov K.P. History of the state and the rights of foreign countries. – Kiev, Vishcha school, 1994

4. Shevchenko O.O. History of the state and the rights of foreign countries. – Kiev “Venturi”, 1994

Socio-economic state of the caliphate in the 8th - 12th centuries

The Arab conquests played an important unifying role in the socio-economic life of the Eastern countries that became part of the Islamic empire. The political unification of previously disparate regions and countries entailed the formation of a single economic community and contributed, at least at the first stage, to a significant development of the productive forces. This unification led to widespread economic and cultural communication between regions that differed in both levels of economic development and traditional forms of life, as well as the types of agricultural and handicraft products produced, opened up great opportunities for the exchange of experience and contributed to the development of agriculture, crafts and trade everywhere.

At the same time, a certain unification of political life not only did not lead to the loss of local economic specificity or to a break with former forms of economy, but, on the contrary, contributed to the deepening of traditions and was an additional incentive for the expansion of economic ties, in which each of the regions of the Empire contributed to general economic life.

Arab conquests took two forms: Bedouin migration and military colonization. The Bedouins did not receive the right to settle on cultivated lands, because the conquerors understood that this would lead to the destruction of the country's economy. Quite often the tribal leaders themselves, when they received estates as a reward for their exploits in war, refused the land because they did not want to ensure its cultivation. For some time, the tribes continued to roam on those lands that, due to the nature of the terrain, remained free and were not cultivated, which ensured mutually beneficial exchange between farmers and nomadic pastoralists. As before the Arab conquest, agriculture based on artificial irrigation remained the main branch of production. The Islamic medieval world was located in the subtropical zone, and life in arid deserts and steppes had its own specifics. Agriculture based on irrigation reached its greatest development in Iraq, especially in its lower part (Sawad), and in Egypt, along the Nile, especially in the Delta. The Nile in Egypt and the Euphrates and Tigris in Mesopotamia, thanks to an extensive system of artificial irrigation, made it possible to harvest two crops a year. The problem of water was vital, and the inhabitants of the countries of the east, long before the rise of Islam, were able to develop a wide network of canals and knew machines for raising water to the level necessary for irrigation. Custom dictated an equitable distribution of water, and the state supported public works to maintain the irrigation system at the proper level, which did not stop even during wars and uprisings.

The methods of cultivating the land were quite primitive. A spade was used to grow vegetable and garden crops, and a light Mediterranean plut was used in the fields. The practice was to take turns in sowing crops in the fields, which was sometimes hampered by frequent changes of land users due to the annual redistribution of land among community members. Both in large land holdings and in small ones, the method of cultivating the land was the same. There were both windmills and watermills.

By the time the Abbasids came to power, the irrigation system in all areas of the Caliphate, especially in Iraq, had fallen into disrepair, and the first Abbasid rulers devoted considerable efforts to improving the artificial irrigation system, building canals, dams, reservoirs, sluices and hydraulic wheels driven by draft animals.

The main crops in agriculture were grains: wheat - the main food product for people and barley - the main food for animals. Vegetables of all kinds, legumes and spices were grown in gardens and vegetable gardens, all types of fruit trees were cultivated, and date palms were cultivated on the border with the desert. The cultivation of grapes and plums became widespread. There were also large plantations of sugar cane, and industrial crops - cotton and flax. Various types of citrus fruits were brought from remote areas of Asia to the Middle East.

According to Muslim beliefs, Allah owns the earth. It is, as it were, given as a gift to those who process it and enjoy its fruits. Therefore, the Arab conquerors retained the former forms of property in the conquered provinces, and the old owners of the land received the right to use the land plots that had belonged to them in the past, provided that they cultivate them and pay taxes regularly. Only the former possessions of Byzantine emperors and members of the ruling dynasty in Byzantium, the lands of opponents of the conquerors who died during the war, as well as escheated lands that turned out to be ownerless as a result of the flight of their owners were subject to confiscation in favor of the treasury. These lands were considered the property of the state - “sawafi”. Part of the lands became the property of the caliph and members of his family, as well as the Muslim nobility who had special merits in serving the new faith or distinguished themselves during the holy war.

From state-owned lands, the state granted private individuals plots in the form of individual villages or even entire regions with peasants living on these lands for temporary or lifelong use with the obligation to perform military service. This was conditional private land ownership - “ikta”. The concept of “ikta” is sometimes related to the European feudal grant and translated as “feudal estate or fief.” But it would be more correct to translate “ikta” as “transfer of rights to appropriate part of the taxes from a given village or region,” that is, land tax - “kharaj”. Thus, the grant of iqta did not officially change the position of the peasant, who, as before, had to pay taxes either to the government collectors or to the owner of the iqta, the mukta. The transfer of the right to collect taxes (“iqta al-istiglal”) was practiced in the central regions of the Caliphate under the Abbasids and later, during the reign of the Buwayhids and Seljuks.

As a result, the land tax, which the serviceman levied on certain land for his own benefit, turned into feudal rent. The new owner ("mukta") was responsible for processing the resulting possessions ("katia", pl. "katai"). “Iqta” was provided either for the duration of service or for life. Thanks to the custom of inheritance of positions, “iqta” over time began to be actually inherited. Under the Abbasids, state ownership of land prevailed in the central regions of the Caliphate, primarily in Iraq and Egypt, where there were large irrigation systems. Taxes from Sawafi lands were collected by special collectors and partially went to the treasury. Thus, large feudal land ownership in the Caliphate was combined with small peasant land use.

There were also lands that were privately owned (“mulk”). These were the lands of the caliph and members of his family, as well as high-ranking persons who received estates as property for their services in the “holy war” or in supporting the ruling dynasty. Private land ownership was widespread in the eastern regions of the Caliphate, primarily in the provinces of Iran. Owners of “mulks” could sell, donate, or inherit their land. Mulk lands were cultivated by sharecroppers. Large landowners, mulk owners and iqta owners, leased land to fellahim peasants either on the terms of sharecropping (muzaraa), or, more often, payment in cash. Depending on natural conditions, the rent sometimes reached half the harvest.

Unlike Europe, the owners of granted lands in the countries of the Muslim East lived in cities, and not in the estates of their estates. Therefore, no special lands were allocated that would form the landowner’s own property and would be cultivated with corvée labor. There was no direct connection between landowners and land holders, and rent, mostly cash, was collected for the owners by special officials, tax collectors, whose arbitrariness is evidenced by medieval historians.

It should be especially noted that, unlike early medieval Europe, in the countries of the Caliphate, feudal estates never played a decisive role in the economic life of the state. Given the scarcity of cultivated lands, the city with its crafts and trade was the main source of income for the treasury, and since cash payment was the usual form of remuneration for military and civil service, the caliph was constantly in need of funds to support officials and mercenary soldiers.

A significant part of the Caliphate's land fund was in the hands of various religious institutions: mosques, madrassas, charitable organizations, and later Sufi brotherhoods. The property of religious and charitable institutions was not alienated, therefore, in an effort to protect their possessions from encroachment by the authorities or to get rid of unbearable taxes, many land owners transferred them to waqf, that is, bequeathed them for religious and charitable purposes.

Owners of waqfs or waqf property continued to use bequeathed lands and were required to give only a portion of their income to a particular religious institution. In this way they protected themselves and their heirs from feudal tyranny and at the same time expressed their religious feelings.

Over time, the property transferred under the protection of religious institutions grew, and waqfs took the form of huge departments, which led to serious changes in the social life of society. A significant layer of people appeared who lived off waqf property. These people were united by a common concern for the preservation of their collective property. Therefore, the leaders of religious institutions sought protection from the military leaders of the mercenary guard and supported those of its leaders who patronized them.

In turn, many military leaders, trying to enlist the support of religious leaders who had authority among the common people, patronized them in the hope of their help in the struggle for power with other military groups and officials. As a result, as feudal relations developed, wealthy townspeople found themselves less and less protected from the arbitrariness of the military, and the alliance of military leaders and religious leaders became increasingly stronger. This union played a very negative role in the cultural and economic life of the Muslim world during the late Middle Ages.

Since the Arab conquest, a land tax - “kharaj” - has been levied on all lands. Lands owned by members of the Abbasid family, Qatai lands and waqf lands were not subject to taxes to the treasury. Everything that the owner collected from the tenants was turned into rent in his favor or in favor of religious institutions. On state lands, “kharaj” was collected from peasants by special collectors. All categories of Muslim property, including iqta lands, were subject to ushr (tithe) tax. The difference between the size of the kharaj and the ushra formed the feudal rent and constituted the net income of the owners of the iqta (mukta).

The taxation system, modified depending on local conditions, was the main evidence of the subordinate position of the Gentiles in the Muslim state. In some areas, for example in Syria, the tax on infidels was initially levied on the entire community in the amount established by the conquerors, which was collected by the residents themselves, and the collectors were not interested in who owed what part of the taxes.

All Gentiles paid a poll tax “for patronage” (“jizya”), which was always levied in monetary terms. Initially, “haraj” and “jizya” were considered as a single tax collected from non-believers. Since the time of the Umayyads, “jizya” was collected only from non-believers, and “haraj” continued to be collected from newly converted to Islam. In many provinces of the Caliphate (in Iran, Iraq and in a slightly different form in Egypt), the lands remained Kharaj under the Abbasids, regardless of who lived on them - Muslims or non-Muslims. Since the entire community was collectively responsible for the amount collected, at least for the land tax, it turned out that the conversion of individuals to Islam was not included in the taxation, and new converts paid “kharaj” on an equal basis with non-Muslims. This pushed residents to flee to the cities of Iraq and Egypt, where they were already considered Muslims, which led to rapid urbanization of the provinces and caused damage to both agriculture and the treasury.

The degree of urbanization varied in different provinces of the Caliphate. Muslim legislation did not know the city as some kind of autonomous administrative unit. Although the city was often located on the site of a village or city of late antiquity (for example, Baghdad arose near ancient Ctesiphon), it did not retain the individual characteristics of its predecessor. Unlike the commune cities of Central Italy of the 11th and 12th centuries, which had a certain independence within the framework of a weakly centralized European state, the Muslim city did not have any autonomy. The Muslim state was too strong and centralized for the city to achieve any independence. A significant obstacle to this was the fact that the city was the seat of the feudal ruler, while in Europe barons and knights lived in their estates and castles.

Most of the Arab conquerors settled in cities; few of them chose to live in the countryside. The garrison camps of the conquerors (Kufa, Basra, Fustat, Qairavan, etc.) quickly turned into large cities, and initially their rulers sought to separate the Arab conquerors from the local residents and thereby ensure greater reliability of the military occupation.

A significant part of the inhabitants of the cities (with the exception of Baghdad) lived in them even before the arrival of the Arab conquerors. However, soon the local rural population flocked there, attracted by the opportunity to work, serving the courtiers and the army as artisans and traders, and the prospect of enrichment through various types of business activity. This led to cultural mutual influence, and soon the newcomers adopted local cultural traditions, and the aborigines mastered the language of the conquerors and began to take part not only in the general economic, but also in cultural life. The Bedouins of Arabia, who previously belonged to different tribes, began to mingle with the townspeople and adopt their way of life.

As a result, by the 8th century, tribal traditions among the urban Arabs turned from a real cultural factor into sentimental memories far from social reality, while the traditions of the indigenous population were increasingly perceived by the Arab conquerors. In a word, there was a process of mutual cultural assimilation of the newcomers and the local population. Both categories were moving closer together, although the religious barrier served as a dividing factor for a long time. Damascus under the Umayyads and Baghdad in the 8th-10th centuries, as well as Cairo in the 11th century, could easily compete with Constantinople in cultural life and business activity and were far superior to their contemporary European capitals.

The socio-economic structure of the city and rural settlements varied greatly. In areas undergoing intensive urbanization, the owners of rural estates were townspeople who supplied the city with agricultural products. For individual townspeople, as well as for the state as a whole, land remained an important source of wealth, and successful merchants sought to invest their income in it.

In the 8th-12th centuries, handicrafts traditional for the countries of the Near and Middle East flourished in the cities. Each province was famous for its special handicrafts, and there was extensive exchange between them. There was a distinction between free artisans and state-owned industry, especially in Egypt, where the state maintained control over crafts and trade throughout the country's history. The production of weapons and warships was under state control. Free artisans were obliged to supply the state with all or part of the products they produced. In other areas of the Caliphate, the activities of artisans were more free, but even in this case, the state maintained vigilant supervision over craft production.

Textile production has received particular development in the countries of the Muslim East: spinning, making fabrics from flax, cotton, silk and wool. Syrian artisans specialized in making silk fabrics; artisans in the cities of Egypt and the Iranian province of Fars were famous for their linen fabrics. The production of silk fabrics also developed widely in the Iranian cities of Khuzistan and Fars, especially in Shiraz, Isfahan and Ray, and the artisans of these cities also produced excellent woolen fabrics and carpets, and the production of cotton fabric became widespread in the east of the empire in the cities of Mere and Nishapur and Kabul. In all the cities of the Caliphate, thin and durable cloth was made. The high quality of the work of Muslim craftsmen is evidenced by the fact that the Arabic names of many types of fabrics and products made from them penetrated into European languages.

Textiles were not the only developed area of ​​handicraft production: jewelry craft was developed in all the provinces of the Caliphate. In different cities of the Caliphate, excellent leather goods were made, saddles decorated with expensive fabrics, metal plaques and even precious stones. Syrian artisans were famous throughout the world for the art of making especially durable types of steel, which came from India. They made the famous Damascus swords and daggers, shields, chain mail, armor and helmets, as well as various types of metal utensils: bowls, jugs and dishes with expensive inlay. The cities of Fars were famous for perfumery (the production of incense, flower essences, oils and soaps). At the beginning of the 9th century, paper production was an innovation. This art was brought around 800 from China to Samarkand and in the middle of the 9th century established itself in the cities of Iraq, Syria, and later Egypt, displacing papyrus, the production of which Egyptian craftsmen were famous for. Paper production quickly spread throughout the Mediterranean countries and reached Western Europe.

For many centuries, the technology of handicraft production has remained almost unchanged. In the Middle Ages, as in antiquity, the traditions of handicraft production were passed on from generation to generation, which ensured the preservation of skills. Each artisan worked surrounded by apprentices and journeymen.

Numerous free artisans of various specialties managed their own products and sold their products in local markets. However, in some branches of craft a complex hierarchy has developed. Thus, rich merchants who traded in fabrics (“bazzaz”) hired weavers and spinners and organized trade, and small traders and sometimes slaves were engaged in the specific marketing of their products.

The Middle East is not very rich in mineral resources, but they were generally sufficient for the needs of medieval man. Iron ore was less common than copper, and the iron necessary for the production of weapons had to be partially imported into the central regions of the Caliphate. Silver was mined in Central Asia and Iran, and gold used for minting coins was mined in Nubia. Gold mining and coinage were a state monopoly. Eastern Iran and Northern India were rich in precious stones. In the quarries of Iraq, the material necessary for construction was found in abundance and was mined, and in Iran, the bricks made there were widely used. Egypt had large deposits of alum, which was used for the production of paints and constituted one of the important items of Egyptian export. Pearls were caught from the bottom of the Persian Gulf, and corals were mined from the Red Sea. The development of salt deposits was intensively carried out in Egypt, and at many stages of medieval history, the extraction of salt and its sale outside the country constituted a state monopoly.

The emergence of a unified Islamic state contributed to the formation of a common internal market, stretching from Spain in the west to the western borders of India in the east. Merchant caravans moved throughout this vast territory, without encountering customs barriers or any other obstacles along the way. It was only from the 9th century, as the Caliphate disintegrated into separate independent regions with their own ruling dynasties, that some difficulties began to arise for the implementation of international and domestic commercial enterprises.

The legality of trade income has never been questioned in Islam. After all, many of the Prophet’s companions were traders, and the Prophet himself took part in trade operations. People who were especially zealous in their faith and prone to asceticism thought about the limits of what was permissible in acquiring material wealth through trade, but for most Muslims, trade, like any professional activity, was never considered alien to orthodoxy. At all stages of the history of the Caliphate, especially since the 9th century, trade flourished throughout the Islamic world. The Arab conquests led to some change in the direction of trade in agricultural products, and whereas previously food products were sent from Egypt to Constantinople, they were now sent to the holy cities of Arabia or to neighboring areas of the empire. Thus, agriculture was not affected by the change in the political map of the Near and Middle East.

Widespread trade relations between the provinces of the Caliphate and intensive cultural exchange led to the growth of old and the formation of new centers of commodity production and trade located on trade routes - large cities with hundreds of thousands of inhabitants, much larger in size than the medieval cities of Europe. The largest among them were in Iraq - Baghdad, Kufa and Basra, in Syria - Damascus and Antioch, in Egypt - Fustat and Alexandria, in North Africa - Qairavan and Fez, in Iran - Shiraz, Isfahan, Ray, in Khorasan - Nishapur and Merv , in Mavarannahr - Samarkand and Bukhara.

With the growth of domestic and international trade, the merchant became an increasingly important and visible figure in the life of the city.

He was opposed by a predatory and irresponsible class of officials and mercenary guards, whose military leaders, sometimes in alliance with the clergy - experts in legal sciences and Islamic law - increasingly pushed the trading aristocracy into the background. It is curious that in medieval chronicles the biographies of ulemas, officials and military leaders occupy a significant place, while biographies of large merchants are quite rare. Nevertheless, it was the flourishing of trade relations that had a decisive influence on the economic development of the countries of the Caliphate before its collapse at the end of the 9th and beginning of the 10th centuries, and the scale of trade transactions in the Muslim state far exceeded trade transactions in medieval Europe. There were some corporate forms of organization. Merchants were under state control, like the guilds of late medieval Europe, and their associations played a significant role in the public and private lives of their members. Later, some such associations began to take on the religious form of Sufi brotherhoods, which allowed them to resist hostile forces that were ready to encroach on their property and life itself. Merchants took pride in belonging to a particular corporation. By paying taxes to the military administration, these craft and trading corporations could jointly resist feudal tyranny. Members of the craft and trade association (“sinf”) collectively paid taxes, and when collecting them, they established fair, equal rules for everyone. There was some kind of joint cultural life going on there with holidays, processions and prayers.

There were special officials appointed by the police and performing their duties under the supervision of judges (qadis) who were responsible for enforcing the rules of trade. Initially they were called "market heads". Over time, their functions expanded and they began to be called “mukhtasibs,” that is, officials responsible for “hisba” (literally, “counting, calculation” and “reward in heaven”), that is, obliged to encourage “good” and prevent the commission of “bad” " They had to monitor compliance with all rules of public morality, professional ethics and the behavior of Muslims. They were charged with the responsibility of monitoring the correctness of weights and measures in order to protect consumers from deception, and in times of famine, from illegal price increases. In the 11th century, special manuals appeared in the Arab East that defined the functions of the “mukhtasibs”.

Among the traders, two layers were clearly distinguished: small traders and merchants (“Tajir”, pl. “Tujar”), who were engaged in large-scale commerce. All imported foreign goods were placed in special warehouses, “hazelnuts,” and after paying a duty to the state they were transferred for sale to local small traders. Large merchants were usually not allowed to enter the domestic market on their own.

International transcontinental trade routes passed through the regions of the Caliphate, connecting the countries of the Mediterranean and Southern Europe with India and the Far East. Large cities were located along these routes, serving as transshipment and exchange points for large wholesale trade. Unfortunately, we can judge the scale of trade operations only indirectly and mainly from data from extensive geographical literature and from numerous semi-folklore descriptions of long overseas travels. Under the Abbasids, one of the main centers of international trade was Baghdad, which gave way to Cairo in the 11th century.

Maritime trade was greatly developed in the Caliphate. The main ports for overseas trade operations were Basra and Siraf. Trade ships departed from Basra (more precisely from the Basrian port of Ubulla) to the Persian Gulf or from Siraf, calling at Oman and Aden on the coast of Arabia to the shores of East Africa and the island of Zanzibar. Moving east, they reached India, Malaya, the islands of Indonesia and China (Canton). For their part, Indian and Chinese merchants occasionally visited the ports of the Caliphate, and more often arrived in Ceylon or the ports of the Malay Archipelago, where they met with Muslim merchants and exchanged goods with them. After the unrest in China at the end of the 9th century, accompanied by Muslim pogroms in Canton, these intermediate meeting places began to play an important role. Trade with European countries became widespread only in the 11th century, and trade with Byzantium was constantly hampered by wars. Nevertheless, trade operations with Byzantium never stopped. There were also extensive trade relations with the Khazars (in whose capital Itil there was a Muslim colony), Turkic nomads and Russia.

Overseas goods brought to Baghdad were partially bought up by the caliph and the court aristocracy, but most of them were sent to the ports of Syria and Egypt and intended for sale in the Christian countries of the Mediterranean, while the rest went by land and sea to Constantinople, and from there they were transported to the countries of Eastern Europe and to Byzantine Italy. Some goods were transported overland to the cities of Mawarannahr, the famous center of international trade, and further along the Silk Road to China. Leather goods, furs, timber for shipbuilding, and iron for making weapons were imported from Europe to Muslim countries. Teak and chestnut wood, used in the construction of ships, was also transported across the Indian Ocean, and especially valuable wood species and ivory were shipped from Africa. The slave trade also flourished. Slaves were brought from Black Africa, especially from the island of Zanzibar (Ar. "Zanj"), Eastern Europe and Turkic Central Asia. Venetian slave traders played an important role in the trade in human goods.

Europe imported from countries Islamic world not only luxury goods, spices and foodstuffs (such as dates and salt), but also goods needed for factory production, such as alum from Egypt. For both European and Muslim merchants, the meaning of trade was to play on the difference in prices in the countries of the East and West. There was no problem of conquering markets or competition in the Middle Ages. The balance of import and export of goods was constantly maintained, and all payments were made in cash.

Merchants of all religious and national groups participated in the trade of the Muslim East: Muslims, Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians. Thus, in trade operations in the Indian Ocean, the leading role belonged to the Persians and Arabs, and outside the Indian Ocean, Jews and Christians dominated, transporting their goods on Muslim ships. Trade with Western countries was traditionally largely in the hands of southern Italian and Venetian merchants and Jews from Spain and southern France, famous for their entrepreneurial spirit. Extensive information about Jewish trade between the countries of the West and the East is contained in the materials of the Cairo Geniza (the storage place in the synagogue for documents of sacred and secular content).

In the 10th-11th centuries, the lack of strong power in the Caliphate and wars in its eastern provinces, as well as the Fatimid trade policy and the strengthening of Italian cities, contributed to changes in trade routes in the Indian Ocean. Yemen became an important center on the route between the Red and Mediterranean Seas. Trade routes with southern Italy passed through the Maghreb, and from the 8th - 9th centuries through Spain. Mostly the most valuable items and light weight products were transported through Spain: spices (especially pepper), incense, narcotic substances, gems and pearls, as well as fine silk fabrics imported from China.

During the Crusades, trade in the Mediterranean was controlled mainly by Christian merchants, and with Africa and Asia, until the Portuguese discoveries, by Muslim merchants. Transactions took place in Egypt, which served as a transshipment point for goods, and in Syria, with Muslim and Jewish merchants holding in their hands the trade of Asia with the countries of the Mediterranean.

Craftsmen and traders of the same profession were usually located, as in European cities, in a separate quarter, and the medieval Muslim city developed as a conglomerate of closed and sometimes even hostile areas, sometimes separated by walls with gates locked at night, and sometimes by wastelands or ruins of destroyed structures.

Some neighborhoods were populated along ethnic or religious lines. For example, the al-Karkh quarter in Baghdad was inhabited almost exclusively by Shiites. The exception was food suppliers who lived in all neighborhoods in large cities. In the center of the city, near the large mosque, suppliers of textile goods were usually located with central warehouses, large shops and a covered bazaar. Money changers and goldsmiths usually sat here. Near the city gates there were markets for trading with nomads, as well as “hazelnuts” or caravanserais for storing goods and trading with foreign merchants.

On both sides of the streets, windowless houses were usually built in which the townspeople kept their property and their families were located here. The inhabitants of the house could not be seen from the outside; the only part of it open to the air was facing the patio or passage to the roof, where the inhabitants spent the hot southern nights. Of course, every city had some form of economic administration, the functions of which included monitoring the serviceability of roadways, water supplies and cleaning the city from garbage. There were also police who monitored the good behavior of the townspeople, order and protected the peace of the residents.

A wealthy city dweller lived surrounded by a large number of servants and owned one or more slaves. Slaves were primarily used for domestic services as artisans, but almost never worked in agriculture. Arab medieval folklore is full of stories about the negligence of slaves and their waywardness, which the owners often treated with a certain amount of humor. In the service of the caliph or other high-ranking persons, they could achieve high position. This is exactly what happened with many Turkic and African slaves, from whom the detachments of the court guard were recruited. Sometimes they were appointed managers of estates, and sometimes their fate was tragic: they were castrated and placed as eunuchs in harems. Children from slave concubines and their masters usually received freedom, just like the slaves themselves after the death of their masters.

Mixed marriages and extramarital relationships between slave owners and their female slaves may explain the relatively low prevalence of racial prejudice in medieval Islamic society, and the caliphs themselves were often the fruits of such relationships.

The largest part of the land fund and irrigation structures in the main areas of the Caliphate was the property of the state. The minority of the land fund consisted of the lands of the caliph's family (Sawafi) and lands located in private property. These lands (mulk) were bought and sold. The institution of mulk, corresponding to the Western allod, was legally recognized under Caliph Mu'awiya I. Under the Umayyads, insufficiently developed forms of feudal property dominated - in the form of state and mulk lands. But during this dynasty, the beginnings of conditional feudal land ownership also appeared: plots of land (katia) given to military people for service, and larger territories (hima) transferred to Arab tribes, both nomadic and agricultural.

The land was cultivated mainly by peasants who were subjected to feudal exploitation, although some Arab landowners continued to combine feudal exploitation of peasants with exploitation of slave labor. On state lands, slave labor is also used when digging and periodically cleaning canals and canals. The size of land taxes (kharaj) increased sharply under the Umayyads. Part of the funds collected from state lands went in the form of salaries to military officials and in the form of pensions and subsidies to members of the families of the “prophet” and his “companions.”

The situation of peasants on state lands and on the lands of individual feudal lords was extremely difficult. Arab authorities back in the 7th century. introduced the practice of making it mandatory for peasants to wear lead tags (“seals”) around their necks. The place of residence of the peasant was recorded on these tags so that he could not leave and evade paying taxes. Kharaj was collected either in kind, in the form of a share of the harvest, or in money, in the form of constant payments from a certain land area, regardless of the size of the harvest. The last type of kharaj was especially hated by the peasants. How difficult the Kharaj was for the masses can be seen in the example of Iraq. This rich region with many cities, with developed commodity production, transit caravan routes and an extensive irrigation network under the Sassanids (in the 6th century) generated annually up to 214 million dirhams in taxes. The conquerors raised taxes so much that it caused the decline of agriculture in Iraq and the impoverishment of the peasants. The total amount of taxes at the beginning of the 8th century. compared to the 6th century. decreased threefold (to 70 million), although the amount of taxes increased.

The revolt of Abu Muslim and the fall of Umayyad power

The Umayyads continued the policy of great conquests and constant predatory raids on neighboring countries by land and sea, for which a fleet was built in the Syrian ports under Muawiya. By the beginning of the 8th century. Arab troops completed the conquest of North Africa, where resistance was provided not so much by Byzantine troops as by warlike and freedom-loving nomadic Berber tribes. The country was greatly devastated. In 711-714. The Arabs conquered most of the Iberian Peninsula, and by 715 they had largely completed the conquest of Transcaucasia and Central Asia.

The dissatisfaction of the broad masses of the people in the conquered countries with the Umayyad policies was enormous. All that was needed was a reason for a widespread movement to begin. The dissatisfied were led by followers of the Shiites and Kharijites, and in the 20s of the 8th century. Another political group appeared, which received the name Abbasid, since it was led by the Abbasids, wealthy landowners in Iraq, descendants of Abbas, Muhammad's uncle. This group sought to exploit the discontent of the broad masses in order to seize power. The Abbasids laid claim to the caliphal throne, pointing out that the Umayyads not only were not relatives of the prophet, but were also descendants of Abu Sufyan, worst enemy Muhammad.

Most of the dissatisfied people were in the east of the Caliphate, in the Merv oasis. The preparations for the uprising here were led by a certain Abu Muslim, a Persian by origin, ex-slave, who saw the Abbasids and their supporters as a strong ally. But the goals of Abu Muslim and the Abbasids coincided only at the first stage. Acting on their behalf, Abu Muslim sought to destroy the Umayyad Caliphate, but at the same time to alleviate the plight of the people. Abu Muslim's preaching was an exceptional success. Arab sources colorfully describe how peasants moved from the villages and cities of Khorasan and Maverannahr (i.e. “Zarechye.” The Arabs called Maverannahr the lands between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya) to designated places on foot, on donkeys, and sometimes on on horseback, armed with whatever they could. In one day, peasants from 60 villages near Merv rose up. Artisans and merchants also came to Abu Muslim; many local Iranian landowners (dekhkans) also sympathized with his fight against the Umayyads. The movement under the black banner of the Abbasids temporarily united people of different social classes and different nationalities.

The uprising began in 747. After a three-year struggle, the Umayyad troops were finally defeated. The last Umayyad caliph, Merwan II, fled to Egypt and died there. Abbasid Abu-l-Abbas, who committed a massacre of members of the Umayyad house and their supporters, was proclaimed caliph. The power of the Abbasids was not recognized by the Arabs on the Iberian Peninsula, where a special emirate was formed. Abbasids (750-1258) ( The Caliphate as a state collapsed by 945, after which the Abbasid caliphs retained only spiritual power in their hands; around 1132 the Abbasids regained political power, but only within Lower Iraq and Khuzistan.), having seized power in the Caliphate, deceived the expectations of the broad masses. Peasants and artisans did not receive any relief from the tax burden. Seeing in Abu Muslim a possible leader of a popular uprising that could break out at any moment, the second Abbasid caliph, Mansur (754-775), ordered his death. The murder of Abu Muslim (in 755) served as an impetus for the protests of the masses against the power of the Abbasids.

The Abbasids could not remain in Damascus, since there were too many Umayyad supporters in Syria. Caliph Mansur founded a new capital - Baghdad (762) near the ruins of Ctesiphon and began to allow Iranian farmers to govern along with representatives of the Arab aristocracy.

Development of feudal relations in the Caliphate in the middle of the 8th and 9th centuries. Popular movements

Under the Abbasids, most countries of the Caliphate continued to be dominated by feudal state ownership of land and water. At the same time, a form of conditional feudal land ownership quickly began to develop - an act (in Arabic - “allotment”), which was given to service people for life or temporary holding. Initially, iqta meant only the right to rent from land, then it turned into the right to dispose of this land, reaching its greatest distribution from the beginning of the 10th century. Land holdings of Muslim religious institutions - inalienable waqfs - also arose in the Caliphate.

On the basis of taxation, the entire territory was divided into lands taxed by kharaj (they mainly belonged to the state), lands taxed in the morning, i.e. “tithe” (most often these were mulk lands), and lands exempt from taxation (including included waqf lands, lands of the caliph family and iqta). The rent from the latter went entirely to the benefit of the landowners.

The entire second half of the 8th century. and the first half of the 9th century. passed in the Caliphate under the sign of the struggle of the people and, above all, the peasant masses against the power of the Abbasids. Among the uprisings against the Abbasid Caliphate, it is necessary to note the popular movement led by Sumbad in Khurasan in 755, which spread to Hamadan. The movement of the popular masses against the Abbasids unfolded with enormous force in 776-783. in Central Asia (Mukanna uprising). Almost simultaneously (in 778-779) a large peasant movement arose in Gurgan. Its participants were known as surkh alem - “red banners”. This is perhaps the first use in history of the red banner as an emblem of the people’s uprising against their oppressors. In 816-837 A large peasant war broke out under the leadership of Babek in Azerbaijan and Western Iran. In 839, in Tabaristan (Mazandaran) there was an uprising of the masses under the leadership of Mazyar. It was accompanied by the extermination of Arab landowners and the seizure of their lands by peasants.

The ideological shell of peasant uprisings in Iran, Azerbaijan and Central Asia in the 8th-9th centuries. was most often the teaching of the Khurramite sect ( The origin of this name is unclear.), which developed from the Mazdakite sect. The Khurramites were dualists; they recognized the existence of two constantly fighting world principles - light and darkness, otherwise - good and evil, God and the devil. The Khurramites believed in the continuous incarnation of the deity in people. They considered Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ, Muhammad, and after them various Khurramite “prophets” to be such incarnations of deity. A social system based on inequality of property, violence and oppression, in other words, class society, the Khurramites considered the creation of a dark, or devilish, principle in the world. They preached an active struggle against an unjust social system. The Khurramites put forward the slogan of common land ownership, that is, the transfer of all cultivable lands to the ownership of free rural communities. They sought the liberation of the peasantry from feudal dependence, the abolition of state taxes and duties, and the establishment of “universal equality.”

The Khurramites treated Arab domination, “orthodox” Islam and its rituals with implacable hatred. The Khurramite uprisings were movements of peasants who opposed foreign domination and feudal exploitation. Therefore, the Khurramite movements played a progressive role.