The Early Islamic Empire at Work : Volume 1: Transregional and Regional Elites Connecting the Early Islamic Empire Frontmatter Table of Contents Introduction: Transregional and Regional Elites Connecting the Early Islamic Empire Heidemann Stefan Studying Elites in Early Islamic History: Concepts and Terminology Hagemann Hannah Lena Mewes Katharina Verkinderen Peter Arabia and Iraq Insult the Caliph Marry al Ḥasan and Redeem Your Kingdom: Freiheitsgrade of Kindī Elites During the 7th to 9th Century Leube Georg Landowners in Lower Iraq during the 8th Century: Types and Interplays Lucas Noëmie The Rise and Fall of the Early ʿAbbāsid Political and Military Elite Kennedy Hugh The East Who Were the Mulūk Fārs Paul Jürgen An Empire of Elites: Mobility in the Early Islamic Empire Khan Ahmad Preliminary Notes on the Term and Institution of al Shākiriyya in Early Islam (ca. 14 218 H 635 36 833 CE) Mainly According to the Arabic Sources Elad Amikam The Eastern Mediterranean and the North Khurāsānī and Transoxanian Ostikans of Early ʿAbbāsid Armenia Vacca Alison The Governors of al Shām and Fārs in the Early Islamic Empire A Comparative Regional Perspective Gundelfinger Simon Verkinderen Peter Muslim Elites in the Early Islamic Jazīra: The Qāḍīs of Ḥarrān al Raqqa and al Mawṣil Hagemann Hannah Lena Christian Elite Networks in the Jazīra c.730 850 Wood Philip The West Establishing Local Elite Authority in Egypt Through Arbitration and Mediation Sijpesteijn Petra The Civilian Ruling Elite of the Ṭūlūnid Ikhshīdid Period Lev Yaacov Connecting the Ibāḍī Network in North Africa with the Empire (2nd 3rd 8th 9th Centuries) Aillet Cyrille Indices Index of names Index of places Index of subjects Transregional and regional elites of various backgrounds were essential for the integration of diverse regions into the early Islamic Empire from Central Asia to North Africa. This volume is an important contribution to the conceptualization of the largest empire of Late Antiquity. While previous studies used Iraq as the paradigm for the entire empire this volume looks at diverse regions instead. After a theoretical introduction to the concept of elites in an early Islamic context the papers focus on elite structures and networks within selected regions of the Empire (Transoxiana Khurāsān Armenia Fārs Iraq al Jazīra Syria Egypt and Ifrīqiya). The papers analyze elite groups across social religious geographical and professional boundaries. Although each region appears unique at first glance based on their heterogeneous surviving sources its physical geography and its indigenous population and elites the studies show that they shared certain patterns of governance and interaction and that this was an important factor for the success of the largest empire of Late Antiquity