Thread by @shahanSean

Class consciousness Umayyad style (from 𝑎𝑙-𝐵𝑎𝑠̣𝑎̄ʾ𝑖𝑟 𝑤𝑎-𝑙-𝑑ℎ𝑎𝑘ℎ𝑎̄ʾ𝑖𝑟 of of Abū Ḥayyān al-Tawḥīdi, d. 1023):
Muʿāwiyah said to Ṣaʿṣaʿah ibn Sūḥān, ‘Describe humanity to me.’
He replied, ...

‘God created people according to classes: one group to worship, one to rule, one to attain knowledge and study law, one for valor and bravery, and another for trades and professions. Besides that the rest merely muddy the water and drive up inflation.’
archive.org/details/bsaer0…

Class consciousness Abbasid style @still_reading (from 𝐾𝑖𝑡𝑎̄𝑏 𝑎𝑙-𝐵𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑎̄𝑛 of Ibn al-Faqīh):
al-Faḍl ibn Yaḥyā [al-Barmakī, d. 808 CE] said,
“Humankind consists of four classes: kings, whose right to rule grants them preeminence; viziers, ...

whose acuity grants them distinction; the wealthy/upper class, whose affluence raises them to prominence; the people in the middle linked to them via education...

After them the rest of the people are ephemeral foam [cf. Q. 13:17], a torrent of scum, deplorable men and women tied to baseness, their only concerned only with food and rest.”
archive.org/details/Hamadh…