Constructing Al-Azd:

Chapter one addresses issues related to sources and methodology, issues which are extremely complex for the period under study. It argues for a traditional critical methodology which focuses on collections of information and their transmission in attempts to use their information for historical reconstruction. Chapter two examines a number of issues related to the origins of the Azd grouping and its development up through the period of the conquests, highlighting the patterns of its interaction with the outside world which set the base for the politics of the early caliphate. The focus of the third chapter is on the garrison towns of Kufa and Basra during the critical Sufyanid period. Chapter four concerns the Muhallabid family which played a critical role in Azdi history, while chapters five and six will examine the Azd in Mosul and Khurasan, respectively.