Frontiers and the State in Early Islamic History: Jihad Between Caliphs and Volunteers

Jihad and warfare aimed at expanding the political authority of the Muslim caliphate was the primary occupation of the caliphate in its first century. As the state lost focus on the expansion of its frontiers and the proper conduct of jihad, non-state actors, particularly religious authorities, stepped in to claim authority over frontier warfare. Recent scholarship of the last few decades on the impact of this transference of authority exhibits a trend in the study of early Islamic history of viewing the frontiers as important instigators for major developments that shaped the center of the Islamic world. This article examines recent scholarship on the history of jihad as practiced on the frontiers of the Islamic world and the use of frontier warfare and the proper conduct of jihad as a legitimizing factor for the caliphate and provincial rulers.