Machine generated contents note: pt. I DISCUSSION -- 1. The Egyptian Context: Geography and History -- 1.1. One land -- 1.2. The Nile -- 1.3. Irrigation and water distribution -- 1.4. Flora and fauna -- 1.5. The Fayyum -- 1.6. The pre-Islamic political and administrative structure -- 1.6.1. Political and administrative developments -- 1.6.2. The economy -- 1.6.3. Arabia and Egypt -- 2. Arab Egypt: The First Fifty Years -- 2.1. The Arab conquest of Egypt -- 2.2. Continuous vigilance -- 2.3. Controlling Egypt's might -- 2.4. Post-conquest Muslim rule and government -- 2.5. Arab settlement in the Egyptian countryside -- 2.6. The administrative structure -- 2.7. The fifty-year about-turn -- 2.8. Conclusion -- 3. The Second Fifty Years: Consolidation and Reform. 22. About the collection of jizya -- 23. Organizing the tax collection -- 24. Concerning a loan -- 25. Request for a deposit -- 26. Concerning the repayment of a debt -- 27. An order for veils -- 28. Purchase of radish oil -- 29. Purchase of different commodities -- 30. Letter related to tax collection -- 31. Petition for a fugitive -- 32. Sheep trade with Alexandria -- 33. Beginning of a letter to 'Abd Allah b. As'ad -- 34. Letter from 'Abd Allah b. As'ad -- 35. Restoring tax-collecting rights -- 36. Reporting on the completion of a tax collection -- 37. Letter from Najid b. Muslim to Sahl b. Habib -- 38. Letter to one of Najid's scribes -- 39. Letter from one of Najid's scribes.