The Great Redaction

From the “Fathers of Facilitation” to the “Sons of the State

The transition of the Ab-nā (Our Fathers) into the Abnāʾ (The Sons) represents a linguistic coup that fundamentally redefined South Arabian sovereignty under the Abbasid Caliphate. By deconstructing the "Baghdad Narrative," we uncover a shift from a system of Sovereign Paternal Facilitation—where Persian-descended elites functioned as independent trade …