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Iqta Land Grant System (Ayyubid)
The Ayyubid iqta' land-grant system in Egypt and Syria, granting tax-collection and administrative rights to military commanders and officials in exc…
Timeline
- c. 1174–1187Egypt and Syria · EgyptSaladin consolidated scattered tax districts into rotatable iqta grants; holders had to maintain cavalry units and answer levies, replacing reliance on Fatimid bureaucrats and private estates.
- 1190–1199Acre and around Jerusalem · LevantAyyubid sultans used iqta revenues to support the siege of Acre and frontier garrisons; granted commanders held broad powers over taxation, justice, and military levy, forming a reciprocal bond between state and military elite.
- c. 1229–1250Egypt · EgyptIqta grants gradually tended toward hereditary and private ownership, weakening sultanic control; after the Mamluk coup of 1250, the land-grant system was reintegrated as the fiscal base of the military slave elite.
Sources
- The Cambridge History of Islam, Volume 1A — P. M. Holt, Ann K. S. Lambton, Bernard Lewis (1970)
- Saladin: The Politics of the Holy War — Malcolm Cameron Lyons, D. E. P. Jackson (1982)