Rulers and Cities in the Early Islamic World

The relations between rulers (caliphs, governors etc) and the cities of the lands they controlled in the early Islamic world is a problematic subject. This paper will look at two connected aspects of this relationship. The first is the unanswered (and, it must be said, largely unasked question) of how rulers made money out of early Islamic cities. The second is how far, if at all, the rulers attempted  to control the design and physical appearance of cities. Working largely from textual sources, this paper  will try to use the limited textual evidence to shed new light on these questions.