Ebook: Religion and Politics Under the Early 'Abbasids: The Emergence of the Proto-Sunn Elite

The main concern of this book is the religious policies of the early Abb sid caliphs. It focuses on the religious trends which went into the making of Sunn Islam, and traces the emergence of the nascent Sunn elite in relation to the Abb sids. Various aspects of the caliphs' evolving relationship with the religious scholars are studied and the nature of caliphal patronage and its impact on the scholars, and ultimately on the evolution of early Sunnism, is explored. What emerges is a picture of close collaboration between the caliphs and the ulama, with the caliphs playing an active and multifaceted role in religious life. This book challenges the prevailing interpretations of the separation of religion and politics in early Islam, and offers new insights into the social and religious history of Islam's formative centuries."