Between Rebels and Rulers in the Early Islamicate World
Power, Contention and Identity
Will be published approx. on 30. June 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
384 pages
978-1-3995-3019-4 (ISBN)
Description
Between Rebels and Rulers in the Early Islamicate World offers the first dedicated examination of the phenomenon of rebellion across the early Islamicate world. It combines discourse analysis with a return to long-neglected social-historical analysis in its study of contention and the ways in which it was narrated and enacted. These approaches are pursued through fourteen case studies, ranging geographically from North Africa to Central Asia and chronologically from the sixth to tenth centuries CE. These diverse examples reveal several patterns: first, rebellion operated as a normative means of negotiating power and obtaining justice. Secondly, the main constituencies of rebellion were local elites, both Muslims and non-Muslims, Arabs and members of pre-conquest societies, separately or together. Accordingly, this volume challenges the 'othering' of rebels found in written sources and reflected in scholarship and reframes them and their discourses as integral parts of an imperial system. And thirdly, this book shows how social ties provided a framework for the mobilisation of rebellious constituencies and the resolution of conflict.
Reviews / Votes
This collective volume with its extensive temporal and regional treatment of cases of contention, rebellion and revolt in early Islamic history, paired with the detailed and thought-provoking approach to each specific case, will become the reference book on the topic. -- Maribel Fierro, Instituto de Lenguas y Culturas del Mediterraneo y Oriente Proximo Through fourteen case studies, ranging geographically from North Africa to Central Asia and chronologically from the sixth to tenth centuries CE, this book presents an innovative and long-overdue holistic approach to rebellions in the Islamicate medieval world. -- Petra Sijpesteijn, Leiden UniversityMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Edinburgh
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
13 black and white illustrations (3 tables, 9 line figures and 1 map)
Dimensions
Height: 155 mm
Width: 233 mm
Thickness: 26 mm
Weight
580 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-3995-3019-4 (9781399530194)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Hannah-Lena Hagemann is the Principal Investigator of the Emmy Noether research group "Social Contexts of Rebellion in the Early Islamic Period" (SCORE) at the University of Hamburg. She is author of The Kharijites in Early Islamic Historical Tradition (Edinburgh University Press, 2021) and co-editor (with Stefan Heidemann) of Transregional and Regional Elites: Connecting the Early Islamic Empire (De Gruyter, 2020). Alasdair C. Grant is Research Associate in the Emmy Noether project "Social Contexts of Rebellion in the Early Islamic Period" (SCORE) at the University of Hamburg. He is author of Greek Captives and Mediterranean Slavery, 1260-1460 (Edinburgh University Press, 2024).
Content
List of Illustrations
Abbreviations
Notes on Contributors
Acknowledgements
Map
Introduction: Approaching Rebellion in the Early Islamicate World
Hannah-Lena Hagemann and Alasdair C. Grant
I. Discourses of Rebellion
1. Islamic Scholarly Giants and (Anti-) Rebellion ?adiths
Marjan Asi
2. Early Iba?i Historiography: The Case of the Khawarij
Enki Baptiste and Adam Gaiser
II. Political Culture of Rebellion
3. The Revolt of Ya?ya b. Zayd b. ?Ali (d. 125/743): Bay?a, Disobedience and Rebellion in the Early Islamic Period
Natalie Kontny-Wendt
4. Poet, Scholar, Rebel? ?Imran b. ?i??an (d. 703), Kharijite Revolt and the 'Playbook of Rebellion' in the Umayyad Period
Hannah-Lena Hagemann
III. Contentious Communities
5. Sectarianism and Counterinsurgency in Sixth-century Roman Mesopotamia: A Case Study in 'Ruralisation'
Walter Beers
6. Religion and Rebellion: Mobilisation through Religious Image-building - The Cases of the Zanj and Qarami?a
Nimrod Hurvitz
IV. Contending the Province
7. Taxation, Rebellion and Withdrawal in Early ?Abbasid Armenia (136-58/754-75)
Alasdair C. Grant
8. Local Resistance and Arab Rebellion: The Conquest of Khurasan and Transoxiana in the Context of the First and Second Fitnas
Robert Haug
V. Contending the City
9. Negotiating Rebellion: The Revolt of the Jund of Tunis (793-4)
Alon Dar
10. Changing Patterns of Rebellion in Aghlabid Ifriqiya
Antonia Bosanquet
VI. Disputing Privilege
11. Wealth and the Image of the Umayyads in the Sermons Attributed to Abu ?amza (d. 748)
Andrew Marsham
12. A Generational Explanation of the Third Fitna (126-36/744-54)
Leone Pecorini Goodall
VII. Spaces of Rebellion
13. Three Ka?bas, Three Rebellions: Rebels and Sacred Architectures in the Early Islamic World
Muhamed Riyaz Chenganakkattil
14. Infrastructures of Contention: The Zanj Rebellion (255-69/869-83)
Philip Grant
Index
Abbreviations
Notes on Contributors
Acknowledgements
Map
Introduction: Approaching Rebellion in the Early Islamicate World
Hannah-Lena Hagemann and Alasdair C. Grant
I. Discourses of Rebellion
1. Islamic Scholarly Giants and (Anti-) Rebellion ?adiths
Marjan Asi
2. Early Iba?i Historiography: The Case of the Khawarij
Enki Baptiste and Adam Gaiser
II. Political Culture of Rebellion
3. The Revolt of Ya?ya b. Zayd b. ?Ali (d. 125/743): Bay?a, Disobedience and Rebellion in the Early Islamic Period
Natalie Kontny-Wendt
4. Poet, Scholar, Rebel? ?Imran b. ?i??an (d. 703), Kharijite Revolt and the 'Playbook of Rebellion' in the Umayyad Period
Hannah-Lena Hagemann
III. Contentious Communities
5. Sectarianism and Counterinsurgency in Sixth-century Roman Mesopotamia: A Case Study in 'Ruralisation'
Walter Beers
6. Religion and Rebellion: Mobilisation through Religious Image-building - The Cases of the Zanj and Qarami?a
Nimrod Hurvitz
IV. Contending the Province
7. Taxation, Rebellion and Withdrawal in Early ?Abbasid Armenia (136-58/754-75)
Alasdair C. Grant
8. Local Resistance and Arab Rebellion: The Conquest of Khurasan and Transoxiana in the Context of the First and Second Fitnas
Robert Haug
V. Contending the City
9. Negotiating Rebellion: The Revolt of the Jund of Tunis (793-4)
Alon Dar
10. Changing Patterns of Rebellion in Aghlabid Ifriqiya
Antonia Bosanquet
VI. Disputing Privilege
11. Wealth and the Image of the Umayyads in the Sermons Attributed to Abu ?amza (d. 748)
Andrew Marsham
12. A Generational Explanation of the Third Fitna (126-36/744-54)
Leone Pecorini Goodall
VII. Spaces of Rebellion
13. Three Ka?bas, Three Rebellions: Rebels and Sacred Architectures in the Early Islamic World
Muhamed Riyaz Chenganakkattil
14. Infrastructures of Contention: The Zanj Rebellion (255-69/869-83)
Philip Grant
Index