Violent order: religious warfare, chivalry, and the Ayyar phenomenon in the Medieval Islamic world

Contents:

Defining the ayyars -- The volunteer warriors for the faith (mutaṭawwiʻa) -- Ayyars activity in Sistan and the rise of the Ṣaffarids -- The ayyars versus the government : the Ṣaffarids and the Ṭahirids -- The ayyars and the Caliph -- The beginning of the ayyars-Sufi connection, and the decline and fall of the ayyarsrealm -- The ayyars, Sufism, and chivalry -- The ayyars in the tenth and eleventh centuries : chivalry (futuwwa) and violence.

Originally presented as a Ph.D. thesis, Harvard University, 2002.