Title

Cyprus and its legal and historiographical significance in early Islamic history

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-1-2016

Publication Title

Journal of the American Oriental Society

Volume

136

First Page

535

Last Page

550

Abstract

During the early Islamic period Cyprus was a frontier territory unlike most-control, influence, and tax revenue over the island were shared mutually by both the Byzantine and Islamic states-and the historiographical record demonstrates that its legal and administrative status was fraught with challenges. The present study is based on the surviving Arabic material in Abū Ubayd al-Qāsim b. Sallām's (d. 224/838) Kitāb al-Amwāl, subsequently transmitted in Kitāb Futüh al-buldān of al-Balādhuri (d. ca. 278/892). It argues that the problematic nature of Cyprus in this period, coupled with Abu cUbayd's unprecedented access to genuine correspondence of jurists from the end of the eighth century, led the author to enshrine important documentary evidence that did not survive elsewhere. Furthermore, it suggests that the continued source-critical and comparative analysis of early Arabic narrative source material can still yield fruitful information for an understanding of the earliest centuries of Islamic history despite the sources' many limitations.

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