From Arabian Tribes to Islamic Empire

Patricia Crone (1945 - 2015) was Professor Emerita in the School of Historical Studies at The Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, USA.

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

’This volume, given the author’s importance to the field of early Islamic history, is destined to be one of the most useful in the Variorum series.’ Journal of Islamic Studies '[These articles] serve as a reminder, if one is needed, of the range and incisiveness of Crone’s work on early Islamic history. They also sit together well, presenting a coherent set of perspectives on the problem implied in the book’s title - that of the political consequences of the Arabian origins of Islam.' Journal of Semitic Studies