The early Islamic judicial system can be reconstructed from narrative texts that were definitively fixed either during the last quarter of the ninth century or the tenth century. Literature specialising in judicial history such as the semi-biographical genre of akhbār al-qudāt assumed its definitive shape during the post-mihna period, when the victory of Sunnism progressively imposed new political and institutional order. In this literature, judges/ qādīs appear as the main representatives of Islamic law in a Muslim context while other religious groups remain underrepresented. However, documentary sources dating from earlier periods challenge this picture. Administrative papyri, originating mostly from Upper Egypt, describe judicial instances where provincial governors play a major role. Although these papyri paint an inconclusive picture of the early Islamic judicial system, they nevertheless offer illuminating insights about the actual judicial practice.

In what follows, I shall examine excerpts from judicial letters of Qurra b. Sharīk, Umayyad governor of Egypt from 90/709 to 96/714. Although most of these letters were published decades ago, I believe they still merit a detailed contextual study within the historical framework of the Umayyad legal administration. The letters concern correspon¬dence between Qurra and Basilios, pagarch of Aphroditō. Only letters addressed by Qurra to Basilios survive. Amongst the numerous papyri discovered in the early twentieth century, ten or so were of a “judiciary” nature, dealing with instructions from the governor to Basilios regarding lawsuits.

Qurra's letters date from the middle of the Umayyad period when Muslim people remained a numerical minority in the predominantly Christian Egyptian province. In Egypt, Umayyad governors relied on an administrative structure which can loosely be described as an extension of the Byzantine system. Egyptian territory was divided into eparchies and pagarchies. Each of the five eparchies was ruled by a dux (Arabic: amīr), whose main remit was fiscal administration. These duces presided over the pagarchs (Arabic: ṣāhib), who numbered between 50 and 60 within the Egyptian province. Pagarchs ruled towns and the surrounding territory. Although Muslims represented only a small minority of the population, they occupied dominant positions within society. The ruling classes were not assimilated into the previous local political and social order. The Muslims in fact succeeded in forming a new social structure whereby the numerical majority - the conquered Christian population - was eventually reduced to that of a minority.