Table of Contents

• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1. Pre-Islamic Arabia
  • The Period of Antiquity (to A.D. 300)
  • The Second Himyarite State (A.D. 300–600)
  • The Decline of Himyar
  • The Lakhmids of Hira
• 2. The Development of Merchant Capital in Mecca
  • The Genesis
  • The Development
  • The Rise of Mecca’s Power
  • Culture as Ideology
• 3. Merchant Capital and Mecca’s Internal Development
  • Social and Economic Differentiation
  • Factional Conflict and the Rise of the Banu Umayya
  • Consolidation of the Position of the Banu Umayya
• 4. Merchant Capital and the Rise of Islam
  • The Institutional Environment of Islam
  • Muhammad in Mecca
  • Muhammad in Medina
  • The Winning of Mecca and Arabia
• 5. Islamic Expansion and the Establishment of the Islamic State
  • The Consolidation of Arabia: The Ridda War
  • Syria
  • Iraq
  • Egypt
• 6. The Emergence of the New Segment
  • Distribution of Wealth
  • The Shura and the Seeds of the Fitna
  • ʿUthman’s Caliphate
  • Growth of the Opposition
  • Open Revolt
• 7. The Civil War and the Struggle for Power
  • The Election of ʿAli
  • The Revolt of Talha and Zubair
  • Muʿawiya’s Strategy
  • Siffin
  • The Tahkim
  • The Internal Conquest: The Return of the Traditional Segment
• Epilogue
  • The Umayyad Caliphate
  • Islam, Capitalism, or Feudalism
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index

About the Author

Mahmood Ibrahim is Professor and Chair of History at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.