ABSTRACT
Few societies in history can have been subject to such swift changes and been so ill-equipped to deal with them as were the Muslim Arabs. That Umayyad legal practice achieved a workable synthesis of the diverse influences at work in the Islamic empire was a real achievement. During the Medinan period, then, the principles of the Quranic legislation were developed by the Prophet and his successors to the degree that was required by the practical problems confronting the Muslim community in Medina. The basic policy of the Umayyads, dictated by necessity, was the preservation of the existing administrative structure in the provinces. Umayyad practice thus naturally absorbed many concepts and institutions of foreign origin. The legal status of non-Muslim subjects in Islam was modelled largely on the position of the non-citizen groups in the Eastern Roman empire. Among the army of officials created by the Umayyad administration was the qadi, a judge of a special kind.
