Rauk (Egypt)

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The rauk (also: rawk or rōk ) (from Coptic rōsh , land surveying , which in turn is derived from demotic ruḫ , land distribution ) referred to the categorization of agricultural land for fiscal purposes in the time of medieval Egypt . It included the measurement of the parcels ( misāha ), the determination of ownership and ownership and the determination of the tax value ( ʿibra ).

The result of the measurement was documented by an officer ( māsiḥ ) in a register ( mukallafa ). The areas were given in the unit faddān . The tax base is the estimated annual tax return on a parcel. This was given in the fictitious currency of the army dinar ( dīnār ğayšī ), the value of which was in turn based on the value of the gold dinar or the value of grain. An essential component of the tax income of a rural parcel was the property tax ( kharaj ), which should be based on the profitability of the arable area. Since productivity could fluctuate greatly over time (e.g. due to a change in the condition of the irrigation system or a change in soil quality), the current condition of the parcel was assessed to determine the tax value and the property tax was based on current productivity.

The tax value served the ruler on the one hand as a basis of assessment for the collection of taxes and on the other hand as a measure of the value of the agricultural land to be awarded to persons e.g. B. as a tax lease area or as Iqtaland . Since the introduction of military Iqta system in Egypt by Saladin , in which officers instead of a olds lifetime Iqtaland received a ranking depending on specified taxable value for their services, were rauk performed as a basis for a redistribution of Iqtalandes.

The execution of 6 rauk are handed down:

  1. rauk by Ubayd Allah ibn al-Habhab , Tax Inspector ( ʿāmil al-kharaj ) of the Province of Egypt at the time of the Umayyad Caliphate , carried out 105-7 AH / 724-5
  2. rauk by Ahmad ibn al-Mudabbir , Tax Inspector of the Province of Egypt at the time of the Abbasid Caliphate , carried out around 253 AH / 867-8
  3. rauk by al-Afdal ibn Badr al-Jamali , vizier of the Fatimid Caliphate , carried out 501 AH / 1107-8 ( rauk al-Afḍalī )
  4. rauk of Saladin , Sultan of Egypt ( Ayyubids ), performed 572-7 AH / 1176-81 ( rauk al-Ṣalāḥī )
  5. rauk of Ladschin , Sultan of Egypt ( Mamluken ), performed 697 AH / 1298 ( rauk al-Husāmī )
  6. rauk by Nāsir Muhammad ibn Qalāwūn , Sultan of Egypt (Mamluken), performed 715 AH / 1315 ( rauk al-Nāṣirī )

literature

  • Michael Brett: The Origins of the Mamlūk military system in the Fatimid period . In: Egypt and Syria in the Fatimid, Ayyubis and Mamluk Eras, ed. v. U. Vermeulen and D. de Smet, Uitgeverij Peeters, leuven 1995, pp. 39-53.
  • Heinz Halm : Rawk . In: Encyclopaedia of Islam , Second Edition, Volume 8 (VIII) (Ned-Sam): 1995, pp. 467-468.
  • Hassanein Rabie: The Size and Value of the Iqta in Egypt 564-741 AH / 1169-1341 AD In: Studies in the economic history of the Middle East, ed. v. MA Cook S., London 1970, Oxford University Press, pp. 129-138.
  • Sato Tsugitaka: State and Rural Society in Medieval Islam. Sultans, Muqta's, and Fallahun . Brill, Leiden 1997, ISBN 978-90-04-10649-9 .