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This chapter describes how, shortly after the advent of Islam, the ultimate responsibility for blood-money payment was transferred to state administration, and how the method of payment was modified accordingly. With a view to assisting the ruler supervising the payments, the Umayyads regulated that instead of direct payment by the ‘āqila, the injured party were to receive their dues from money deducted from the annual stipends to which the ‘āqila members were entitled by virtue of their being registered in the military dīwān, the Muslim army. The introduction of this Umayyad innovation by the caliph Mu‘awiyya is presented, as well as historical evidence of its actual practice throughout the Umayyad empire.
Offering the first close study of the ʿAqila, a group collectively liable for blood money payments on behalf of a member who committed an accidental homicide, Nurit Tsafrir analyses the group's transformation from a pre-Islamic custom to an institution of the Shari'a, and its further evolution through medieval and post medieval Islamic law and society. Having been an essential factor in the maintenance of social order within Muslim societies, the ʿAqila is the intersection between legal theory and practice, between Islamic law and religion, and between Islamic law and the state. Tracing the history of the ʿAqila, this study reveals how religious values, state considerations and social organization have participated in shaping and reshaping this central institution, which still concerns contemporary Muslim scholars.
The Arab conquests in North Africa began soon after the fall of Alexandria to the army commanded by Amr ibn al-As in 21/ 642. In classical times North Africa had become a vast frontier, which stood against the sporadic attacks of peripheral Berber tribes. The fading of caliphal administration in western North Africa allowed for the re-emergence of tribal leaders who, sources claim, profited from the ideological framework of Kharijism to consolidate their rule. The Umayyads changed the physiognomy of Cordoba by erecting new buildings and fostering its extraordinary expansion. Archaeology is also a good indicator of the unrelenting Islamisation of the Iberian Peninsula. The most serious rebellions against the rule of the Aghlabids in Ifriqiya were led by members of the Arab army. It is no coincidence that both Ifriqiya and al-Andalus witnessed the proclamation of two rival caliphates in the early fourth/tenth century.
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