Les cadis d'Iraq et l'etat abbasside (132/750-334/945).

• Author: Vikor, Knut S.
• Position: Book review

Les cadis d'Iraq et l'etat abbasside (132/750-334/945). BY MATHIEU TILLIER. PIFD, vol. 235. Damascus: INSTITUT FRANCAIS DU PROCHE-ORIENT, 2009. Pp. 869. [euro] 25.

Probably the most researched moment in Islamic history is the "'Abb[a.bar]sid revolution," the transfer from the "Arab, tribal" caliphate of Damascus to the "Muslim centralized" rule in Baghdad in 750 C.E. But how drastic was this change in terms of state power and government? That is one of the questions this book seeks to elucidate by focusing on one of the key elements of any system of rule, the judiciary.

We have only vague and fairly approximate knowledge of the origin and function of the early Shari'a courts and their q[a.bar]d[.bar]i judges. The most elaborate discussion has been Emile Tyan's Histoire de l'organisation judiciaire en pays dIslanz from 1960; this was, however, to a large degree based on the normative adab, al-q[a.bar]d[.bar]i literature, that is, on how the judge should behave rather than on what he actually did. Mathieu Tillier expands the source base for his discussion to analyze biographical literature, chronicles, and other stories to create an overview of this historical development through the life histories of the individual q[a.bar]d[.bar]i who have entered history.

The result is a massive, but very readable, eight-hundred-page tome, where happily analysis and conclusions have taken center stage over detail. It is divided into three main parts with three chapters each, largely but not purely chronological. The first pail, focusing on the transition to and early 'Abb[a.bar]sid rule, discusses the selection and removal of q[a.bar]d[.bar]i; the second part deals with the functioning of the judiciary in Iraq during the caliphate, treating its development at the height of the caliph's power; while the third, on the relations between the caliph and the judges, looks toward the end of the caliph's real authority in Baghdad and the coming of the B[u.bar]yid and other military rulers.

The first conclusion from this study is to play down the concept of "revolution." The 'Abb[a.bar]sid take-over certainly led to changes in the judiciary, but they were gradual and are better described as "reform" than as an abrupt break. Only in the course of time, over the first half century of their power, did the caliphs institute what may be called an 'Abb[a.bar]sid model of legal organization, and, even then, changes took place gradually through the ninth and early tenth...