Book: The Islamic Law on Land Tax and Rent

The book “The Islamic Law on Land Tax and Rent: the Peasants’ Loss of Property Rights as Interpreted in the Hanafite Legal Literature of the Mamluk and Ottoman Periods” focuses in particular on the interrelated areas of property, rent and taxation of arable lands.

This book, first published in 1988, argues that a close inspection of the development of Hanafite law in the Mamluk and Ottoman periods reveals changes in legal doctrine which were not restricted to civil transactions but also concerned the public law. It focuses in particular on the interrelated areas of property, rent and taxation of arable lands, arguing that changes in the relationship between tax and rent led to a redefinition of the concept of landed property, a concept at the very heart of the Islamic legal system. This title will be of particular interest to students of Islamic history.

About Author

Baber Johansen was appointed Professor of Islamic Religious Studies at Harvard Divinity School in 2005. Prior to his appointment, he served as Directeur d’études at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (Centre d’étude des normes juridiques), Paris (1995-2005), and Professor for Islamic Studies at the Freie Universität Berlin (1972-1995). In 2006 he was appointed an affiliated professor at Harvard Law School and acting director of its Islamic Legal Studies Program for 2006 to 2010. In 2007 he was affiliated with the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, and from July 2010 to June 2013, he was the director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies. He is also a faculty associate of Harvard’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and a member of its Executive Committee.

Table of Contents

Preface;

Acknowledgements;

Notes on Transcription;

Preliminary Remarks;

1. The Birth of the Kharāj Payer
2. The Contract of Tenancy (Ijāra): The ‘Commodification’ of the Productive Use of Land
3. The Share-cropping Contract (al-Muzāraba): Combining Dependent Labour with the Means of Production
4. The ‘Death of the Proprietors’
5. The Ottoman Muftis’ New Doctrine on Tax and Rent
6. Summary and Conclusion;

Bibliography;

Name Index;

Subject Index

Bibliographic Information

Title: The Islamic Law on Land Tax and Rent the Peasants’ Loss of Property Rights as Interpreted in the Hanafite Legal Literature of the Mamluk and Ottoman Periods

ٍAuthor: Mahdi Muntazar Qaem

Publisher: Routledge

Language: English

Length: 290 pages

ISBN: 978-1138232433

Pub. Date: 2018-04-10