ABSTRACT
The granting of the title of Amīr al-umarā (Amir of Amirs) to Ibn Rā’iq in 324/936 marked the end of the armies of the Caliphs. It was a story which had begun when the Caliph ‘Umar (13-23/634-44), or whoever was responsible, established the dīwān and settled the Muslims in the amsār. When this happened, certain rules were established which were to guide the military and political development of the early Muslim State. Above all, there was the idea that there should be an army paid cash salaries out of the proceeds of general taxation. It was inevitable that Caliphs who wished to make their authority real and effective would wish to take control of this process. As the numbers of Muslims increased, it was inevitable, too, that only some of them would be paid soldiers: the Muslim community would become divided between soldiers and civilians. Given the importance of the military in the fiscal and hence political structure of the state, this came also to be a distinction between rulers and subjects.
