The household (Ar. bayt ; Ott. Turk. qāpı ; mod. Turk. kapı ) was a conglomeration of patron-client and kinship ties that played a key role in the administration of virtually all premodern Muslim polities. The use of the household as an administrative structure dates to the earliest civilizations in Mesopotamia. Thus, the royal palace in the Neo-Assyrian Empire, which ruled much of the Near East c. 911-609 B.C.E., was divided into bābanu ("our gate") and bītanu ("our house"), signifying the dichotomy between the outer, public space and