The First Dynasty of Islam: The Umayyad Caliphate ad 661-750

particular time, the desire to escape taxation and the hope of finding
a new livelihood in the towns, most likely by enrolment in the army,
were undoubtedly to the forefront. A similar phenomenon is attested
in Egypt, where, however, the peasants sought to avoid taxation by
leaving their own tax districts and fleeing to another or into a
monastery (monks initially having exemption from taxation). It
seems that the early Marwanid period, with its increased
centralisation, saw a greater efficiency in tax collection and that the
cultivators regarded flight from their lands as the only means of
escape. The question of the nature of the taxes involved will be taken
up later.
Al-Hajjaj, faced with a decline in the revenue from taxation,
reacted by rounding up the 
mawali
 in the towns, driving them out
and forcing them to pay their taxes, stamping their hands as a token
of the tax having been paid (in Egypt ‘passports’ have been found
which indicate that the bearer has paid his taxes). The result was the
hostility not only of the 
mawali
 who were treated in this way, but
also of the religious opponents of the Umayyads who saw the policy
as an attack on the principle of an Islam open to all and conferring
equality of rights. This was the first sign of the conflict between the
demands of Islam and the need of the government for revenue which
was to become increasingly important for the Umayyads.
18
Notes
1. See Genealogical Table 3.
2. J.Wellhausen, 
Arab kingdom,
 183, 188–90; A.A.Dixon, 
Umayyad
caliphate,
 124–28; G.Rotter, 
Bürgerkrieg,
 166–9; article “Amir b. Sa‘id al-
Ashdak’ in 
EI2
.

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‘Abd al-Malik and al-Hajjaj 
71
3. I.Goldziher, 
Muslim Studies,
 ii, 44 ff.; K.A.C.Cresswell, 
A short
account of early Muslim architecture,
 17 ff.; S.D.Goitein, ‘The sanctity of
Jerusalem and Palestine in early Islam’ in his 
Studies in Islamic history and
institutions;
 O.Grabar, ‘The Umayyad Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem’, 
Ars
Orientalis,
 3 (1959); for the argument that the inscription date refers to the
beginning of the building, see G. Rotter, 
Bürgerkrieg,
 227–30.
4. M.A.Cook and P.Crone, 
Hagarism,
 18 and note 25; C.Kessler, “Abd al-
Malik’s inscription in the Dome of the Rock: a reconsideration’, 
JRAS,
(1970).
5. P.Crone, 
Slaves on horses,
 37–41, 49–57.
6. J.Wellhausen, 
Arab kingdom,
 371–3; P.Crone, 
Slaves on horses,
 37–40.
7. Article ‘Diwan’ in 
EI2;
 M.Sprengling, ‘Persian into Arabic’, 
AJSL
(1939 and 1940).
8. Article ‘Barid’ in 
EI2;
 for the late Roman 
cursus publicus,
 in which
system the saddle horses used for the express post were called 
veredi,
 see
A.H.M.Jones, 
The later Roman Empire, 284–602,
 830–34. See also
F.Dvornik, 
Origins of intelligence services
 (I owe this reference to Dr
D.O.Morgan).
9. J.Walker, 
A catalogue of the Arab-Byzantine and the post-reform
Umaiyad coins;
 P.Grierson, ‘The monetary reforms of ‘Abd al-Malik’,
JESHO,
 3 (1960).
10. K.A.C.Cresswell, 
A short account of early Muslim architecture,
 43 ff.;
J. Sauvaget, 
La mosquée omeyyade de Medine
.
11. Article ‘al-Hadjdjadj b. Yusuf in EI2.
12. J.Wellhausen,