The Politics and Culture of an Umayyad Tribe: Conflict and Functionalism in the Early Islamic Period, by Mohammad Rihan

The Politics and Culture of an Umayyad Tribe: Conflict and Factionalism in the Early Islamic Period, by Mohammad Rihan (London & New York: I. B. Tauris, 2014), viii + 231 pp., ISBN: 978-1-78076-564-8, £58.00 / $148.00 (hb) (First paragraph) Mohammad Rihan´s book is an erudite examination of the history of the Arab tribe ʿāmilah up to the end of the Umayyad period. By tracing the political trajectory of this tribe, the author aims to achieve a broader goal “ “to shed some light on the history of the Umayyad tribal world„ in general because, as Dr. Rihan insightfully notes, “[e]arly Islamic political history is to a large extent tribal history„ (p. 1).