In the Histories it is reported that in the days of the early Persian [Sassanian] kings and until the reign of Chosroes Anūshirvān the revenue of these provinces was assessed at one-third or one-fourth or one-fifth of the crop, according to its abundance, and this custom of Fārs was similar to that in usage in other parts of the kingdom. When, however, Anūshirvān established his land-tax (kharāj) in all his kingdoms, the land-tax of Fārs amounted to 36 million [silver] dirhams, equivalent to 3 million [gold] dīnārs.* In the early days of Islām, after Fārs had been conquered [by the Arabs], for a time there was nothing but massacre and pillage and all things were taken by force, but at length matters quieted down, and the ruin and disorder that had overspread the land began to be amended. Then finally, in the reign of the Caliph ‘Abd-al-Malik, Hajjāj [Viceroy of ‘Iraq] dispatched his brother Muḥammad to be Governor of Fārs, who founded Shīrāz and built many towns throughout the province; at this time the total revenue from the customs* of Fārs, which included the one-tenth on the sea ships, amounted in all to three million dirhams. Next, in the geography of Qudāmah* it is stated that the land-tax of Fārs in the reign of Hārūn-ar-Rashīd was registered at two million dīnārs. Then during the troubles of the reign of Amīn, with the massacre of the people and the disorders, all the registers were carried off and burnt; but as soon as Māmūn found himself firmly established in the Caliphate he ordered new assessments to be drawn up, when it was established that the total of the revenue of the provinces of Fārs, Kirmān, and ‘Omān was to amount to 2,600,000 dīnārs. This assessment was effected in the year 200 (815). Next, in the reign of the Caliph Muqtadir [295 to 320 (908 to 932) the Wazīr] ‘Alī ibn ‘Īsā made a [new] general assessment, and the copy of the portion relating to Fārs, with which province Kirmān was also reckoned, is as follows: The total revenue of Fārs, Kirmān, and ‘Omān, in regard to the yearly receipts from the customs, amounted to 2,331,880 red gold dīnārs. Of this total the portion paid over by Fārs with its dependencies, including the customs collected at [the port of] Sīrāf and the one-tenth levied on the sea-shipping, amounted to 1,887,500 dīnārs. And of this last total Fārs with its dependencies, excluding the Sīrāf customs, paid in 1,634,500 dīnārs, while Sīrāf, with the one-tenth levied on the sea ships, paid 253,000 dīnārs.

[Of the grand total first given] Kirmān and ‘Omān together paid 444,380* dīnārs, but of this sum Kirmān with its dependencies contributed only 364,380, this being reckoned as excluding the revenues of [the towns of] Fahl and Fahraj, and also not counting the [revenue of] districts collected in the name of individual Amīrs by their agents, and further not including the revenues set aside for the two sanctuaries [of Mecca and Medina] and which Mūnis the chamberlain [of the Caliph Muqtadir] was responsible for collecting. [The sum therefore above given is] the net remainder which is paid over to the Divān. But taking the places in ‘Omān by themselves, these paid 80,000 dīnārs.

In [early] times the Amīrs [of Fārs] called themselves the Sons of the Caliph, for none would call himself merely Amīr. Further, they had seized, on their own behalf, upon much property that of right belonged to the State, and this mostly by force of arms; then those parcels of land which had now come to belong to them were ever after­wards reckoned to be their own fiefs, those who had come into possession taking for themselves the revenues, though before these had all belonged to the State. At the time when ‘Aḍud-ad-Dawlah came to power he made buildings [and constructions] without number, such as dams [on the rivers for irrigation which watered] the lands he brought under cultivation. Wherefore in his days the sum-total of the revenues of Fārs, Kirmān, and ‘Omān, including the one-tenth derived from the seaports at Sīrāf and Mahrūbān, amounted to 3,346,000 dīnārs. Of this sum Fārs, with the one-tenth levied on the ships which sailed from Sīrāf and Mahrūbān, paid 2,150,000 dīnārs; while from Shīrāz and [the new suburb of] Gird Fanā Khusrū came 316,000 dīnārs. Then Kirmān with [the port of] Tīz and its districts gave 750,000 dīnārs; while the towns in ‘Omān, not including Fara‘,* paid in 130,000 dīnārs.