From Traders to Caliphs: Prosopography, Geography and the Marriages of Muammad's Tribe

When viewed prosopographically, the marriages of the Umayyad caliphs recorded within the Arabic genealogical literary tradition present us with a compelling insight into the evolution of the early Islamic polity. Following a brief outline of the methodology, this paper will then extract the marriages of the Umayyad caliphs and their sons and use these data to illustrate trends in marriage behaviour over the course of their dynastic reign. This will then be compared with the marriage behaviour of two other cohorts: those of Muhammad and the early Muslims, and those of the Quraysh of Muhammad's father's generation. By comparing the behaviour of these three groups we shall demonstrate the efficacy of the methodology and the accuracy of the source material and ultimately develop our narrative of Islamic history prior to the fall of the Umayyads.