ABSTRACT
The community which came into being after the proclamation of Muhammad's message, and which we know chiefly in its Umayyad form, presents in fact an ambiguous character. On the one hand, Islam asserts the quality of all Muslims, further reinforced by the fundamental differentiation which it made between Muslims and non–Muslims. On the other hand, the community which based itself on this new religious allegiance had hardly any respect for the principles of a strictly egalitarian organisation. A fundamental characteristic of medieval Islamic society would thus have been, after as well as before the 'Abbasid 'revolution', not to be able to do without a powerful military 'order', since this was necessary both for maintaining the established regime and also for the protection of the frontiers. This characteristic showed itself in the early days by the predominance of Arabs, who had the two–fold merit of being armed defenders of Islam and of belonging to the chosen race.
