Milka Levy-Rubin. Non-Muslims in the Early Islamic Empire: From Surrender to Coexistence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011. 288 pages, endnotes, appendices, bibliography, index. Cloth US$94.00 ISBN 978-1-107-00433-7.

2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 93-95
Author(s):  
Scott Savran
Author(s):  
Hylke Hettema

Arab(ian) horse enthusiasts perpetuate an origin legend for the breed that counts five foundational mares in relation to Islamic Prophet Muhammad. Challenging both the concept of a gender preference for mares among Bedouin and/or Arab people in the early Islamic empire as well as the popular historiography of the Arab horse as a Bedouin breed promoted by Islam and in particular its prophet, this paper contextualises Al-Khamsa (the five) as evidence of matrilineal horse breeding strategy by surveying premodern Arabic material on horses.


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