HUM 2 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Quran, Polytheism, Laisse
Document Summary
Based on personal loyalties between vassal & lord. Homage - i am your man (cf mafia) Service in exchange for protection & reward (gits or holding land in fief from your lord. He is your lord, he is your vassal . Govt and cities and law courts and bureaucracies, etc. Our poet does not do that, assumes muslim society is feudal. No written law, no law courts, no bureacracy, no taxes. No way for king to enforce his will; no national army. King depends on support of barons & their militias. Tenuous balance of power between the king and the barons. Feudal relationships al the way up and down society - including god as the ultimate lord: Fighting for the warrior class becomes a devotional activity. Gesture you make for homage is the same when you do to god. They can be absolved of sin just by fighting. They don"t have to feel repentance, or feel sinful.
