INTRODUCTION In an influential contribution Parker [2000] wrote that "the writing of accounting history is increasingly dominated by writers in English discussing private-sector accounting in English speaking countries of the 19th and 20th centuries . . . the scope of accounting history is much wider than this" [p. 66]. This paper seeks to further advance our increasing knowledge of the history of accounting outside English-speaking countries in periods earlier than the modern era. It also contests de Ste. Croix's claim [1981, p. 114] that "there seems to have been no really efficient method of accounting, by double or even single entry, before the thirteenth century". Analysis of medieval bookkeeping systems in Muslim society throws doubt on this assertion. The paper seeks to explore the work of early Muslim scholars on accounting in the context of zakat (religious levy) and the expansion in the revenues and expenditures of the Islamic state, the struct...