THE SECOND/EIGHTH CENTURY saw major political upheavals in the Islamic world, notably the ‘Abbāsid Revolution of 132/750, which saw a change of dynasty and the partial replacement of one elite by another. In other ways, however, the century was a period of considerable stability and there are many areas in which we can see continuity across the divide of the Revolution. One of these areas is the sources of income of the élites. The early ‘Abbāsid élite depended on many of the same sources of income as their U mayyad predecessors. In many cases they owned the same estates and exploited them in the same ways.

The élite depended on two main sources of income. One of these were salaries, sometimes in kind, but more often in cash . References to these payments are largely incidental and we have no list of the salaries granted to members of the élite. We can be certain, however, that some of them received large regular payments from the treasury.

The other source of income was landed property, and in this case we are better informed about the sources and collection of these revenues.

Qaṭī ‘a and lqṭā’

Some of the lands acquired by members of the élite are described as qaṭī’a (pl. qaṭī’a’i’). This term is used in two quite separate senses in the second/ eighth century evidence. At one level it refers to the housing lots given to soldiers in frontier areas and elsewhere, which were usually small and not intended to be sources of revenue but there were also more extensive land grants also referred to as qaṭī’a’i’ and, on occasion, iqṭā’ (which should not be confused with the later iqṭā’, or fief). These land holdings could be either urban or rural.

Urban Qaṭā’i’

Urban property development, whether on qaṭī’a lands or not, was an important source of income for the Umayyad and early ‘Abbāsid élite. Investment in urban improvement schemes was not uncommon. In the early days at al-Baṣra, the bathhouse owned by Muslim ibn Abī Bakra was one of only three in the city, and its owner is said to have made 1,000 dirhams per day from it until more were built, at which point the revenues declined sharply.As governor of al-Kūfa, Khālid ibn ‘AbdAllāh al-Qasrī, one of the most energetic property developers of his age, built shops roofed with arched vaults of fired brick and plaster. A recently discovered inscription at Bet Shean records how the local governor, at the behest of the caliph Hishām, rebuilt a sūq the ruins of which are still visible.