Iqta'

An iqta (Arabic: اقطاع, romanized: iqṭāʿ) and occasionally iqtaʿa (Arabic: اقطاعة)^[1] was an Islamic practice of tax farming that became common in Muslim Asia during the Buyid dynasty. Iqta has been defined in Nizam-al-Mulk's Siyasatnama. Administrators of an Iqta were known as muqti or wali. They collected land revenue and looked after general administration.^[2] Muqtiʿs (مقطع, "holder of an iqtaʿ") had no right to interfere with the personal life of a paying person if the person stayed on the muqtiʿ's land. They were expected to send the collected revenue (after deducting collection and administration charges) to the central treasury. Such an amount to be sent was called Fawazil. Theoretically, iqtas were not hereditary by law and had to be confirmed by a higher authority like a sultan or king. However, it was made hereditary in Islamic India by Firoz Tughlaq.^[2]

Individual iqtaʿ holders in Middle Eastern societies had little incentive to provide public goods to the localities assigned to them. The overarching theme was state power where the iqtaʿ was revocable and uninheritable. Though not an investment in a particular holding of land, the iqtaʿ, as a fiscal device, gave soldiers a vested interest in the regime.

Iqtadar (person holding iqta) and the Sultan had a mutually dependent relationship. There could be three types of Iqtadars. First, those who were appointed by the Sultan in fully conquered territories. Second, who were appointed in partially conquered territories. These Iqtadars had to win the territories again, and hence the Sultan's control over them was relatively weaker. Third kind of Iqtadars were virtually independent, as they were appointed in unconquered territories.^[2]