Political Administration and Social Conditions under the Umayyads

Abstract

The administrative divisions of the empire in Umayyad and even ‘Abbāsid times corresponded in general to the provinces of the preceding Byzantine and Persian empires. They comprised: (1) Syria-Palestine; (2) al-Kūfah, including al-‘Irāq; (3) al-Baṣrah with Persia, Sijistān, Khurāsān, al-Bahrayn, ‘Umān and probably Najd and al-Yamāmah; (4) Armenia; (5) al-Ḥijāz; (6) Karmān and the frontier districts of India; (7) Egypt; (8) Ifrīqiyah; (9) al-Yaman and the rest of South Arabia.¹ Gradually combinations were made and five viceroyalties resulted. Mu‘āwiyah combined al-Basrah and al-Kūfah into one viceroyalty,² that of al-‘Irāq, which included most of Persia and eastern Arabia and had al-Kūfah for its capital. Later the viceroy of al-‘Irāq was to have a deputy governor for Khurāsān and Transoxiana, usually residing at Marw, and another for Sind and Panjāb. Likewise al-Ḥijāz, al-Yaman and Central Arabia were combined into another viceroyalty. A-Jazīrah (the northern part of the land between the Tigris and Euphrates) with Armenia, Ādharbayjān and parts of eastern Asia Minor formed the third. Lower and Upper Egypt constituted the fourth. Ifrīqiyah, which embraced northern Africa west of Egypt, Spain, Sicily and other adjacent islands formed the fifth viceroyalty with al-Qayrawān as its seat of government.