The Financial Revenues of the Umayyad State in Damascus Through Its Territories in the East and the Islamic West (41-132 AH / 661-749 AD)

Abstract

      The sources of income for the Umayyad state, whether in the Islamic Levant or the Maghreb, varied between taxes, tribute, and the spoils of conquests. The spoils of conquests were diverse and included gold and silver bullion, and precious jewels, not to mention cash, horses, furniture, and others. The tax constituted an important source for the state treasury.  The Umayyads devoted a diwan to him called the Diwan al-Tharaj, and the state’s revenues from the tax amounted to many times what they were during the era of the Rightly Guided Caliphs. The tribute constituted an important source of income for the Umayyad state, which was imposed on the people of Dhimmah in the areas belonging to the Umayyads. The state’s governors followed an unfair financial policy that exhausted the common people and deteriorated their living conditions.The confiscation of the funds of the governors and workers in the states belonging to the state was one of the sources of income that it relied on in its financial policy, as the Caliphate tightened the noose on its governors and held them accountable for the funds they possessed in the East and the West, and followed a policy of centralization in the treasury, so the funds were transferred to Damascus, and there is no doubt that this  The policy aims to limit the role of governors and workers for fear of revolutions against them.