The History of the Prophets and Kings (Arabic: تاريخ الرسل والملوك Tārīkh al-Rusul wa al-Mulūk), more commonly known as Tarikh al-Tabari (تاريخ الطبري) or Tarikh-i TabariorThe History of al-Tabari (Persian: تاریخ طبری) is an Arabic-language historical chronicle completed by the Muslim historian Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari (225–310 AH, 838–923 AD) in 915 AD. It begins with creation, and charts Muslim and Middle Eastern history from the myths and legends associated with the Old Testament through to the history of the Abbasid era, down to the year 915. An appendix[1] or continuation,[2] was written by Abu Abdullah b. Ahmad b. Ja'far al-Farghani, a student of al-Tabari.[3][4]
16-volume book on the history of Tabari
| |
| Author | al-Tabari |
|---|---|
| Original title | تاريخ الرسل والملوك تاریخ طبری |
| Language | Arabic |
| Subject | History of the World, Islam and Arab Caliphates |
| Genre | Historical biography of events |
Publication date | 10th century |
| Pages | 16 volumes |
Al-Tabari's Tarikh is considered one of the main repositories of information about Islamic origins, and certainly among the most important half-dozen or so texts for the events of the Islamic eras it describes. Al-Tabari also organizes his material in an annalistic way, meaning that the events are arranged altogether chronologically (year after year) as opposed to biographically (i.e. narrating the life of one figure, then another, and so on), which makes it, compared to a number of other texts, much more useful to understand the broad historical themes that the text is conveying. Furthermore, Tabari's work is typically considered representative of the mainstream Islamic view as opposed to being closely tied to any particular sectarian interests. What is also helpful is that Tabari often supplies multiple conflicting versions of reports of events that he is aware of.[5] For these reasons, Fred Donner writes:
Consequently, it is reasonable to consider al-Ṭabarī's work as a representative product of the early Islamic historiographical tradition, if not, indeed, as the culmination and crowning glory of that tradition.[6]
Al-Tabari focuses on a limited number of themes. A significant amount of space is relayed for the pre-Islamic history of Persia; by comparison, very little space is devoted for the histories of Ancient Greece or the Roman Empire. Likewise, significant space is devoted to recounting Old Testament history, but very little to the life of Jesus and narratives concerning the history of the Christian community. Much more attention is given to Iran and Iraq compared to Syria and Egypt. He devotes much more space to documenting political uprisings (even minor ones) and battles compared to more mundane but significant matters of everyday society such as taxation, commerce, industry, agriculture, and so forth. This selectivity is likely a product of a combination of al-Tabari's own interests as well as what sources of information were themselves able for access to al-Tabari as he composed his history.[7]
Furthermore, al-Tabari also provides a master narrative or history from an Islamic perspective that is ultimately dedicated to demonstrating that Islam is the true religion. The main episodes of this master narrative are:[8]
Another feature of Al-Tabari's work was to introduce methods of hadith into it, meaning that he would supply isnads (chains of transmission) for the reports he mentions. This was important for the ta'rikh genre as it had, by then, been seen as lacking in rigor by Islamic scholars specialized in the hadith sciences (known as the muḥaddithūn). In one sense, Al-Tabari can be viewed as having combined the formats of khabar (report/account/narrative) and ḥadīth.[9]
A number of other master narratives of Islamic history were written in the era of Al-Tabari. The most well-known is Ibn Ishaq's Al-Sirah al-Nabawiyyah, which largely focuses on the life of Muhammad. Another is the Kitab al-MaghaziofAl-Waqidi, the Kitab al-futuh (Book of Conquests) of Ibn A'tham al-Kufi, and the Futuh al-buldanofAl-Baladhuri.[10] There was also one annalistic work predating that of Al-Tabari: the Ta'rikh Khalifa ibn Khayyat (d. 854). This work roughly uses the same outline/approach as does Al-Tabari, with the exception that it omits a discussion of pre-Islamic history. It is also much shorter in general than Al-Tabari's. Another known Ta'rikh is that of Al-Ya'qubi, which has a moderate Shiite orientation. Al-Ya'qubi covers some topics in more detail that are more briefly or not at all covered by Al-Tabari, including administration, and commentary on India, China, and Egypt. The Kitab al-ta'rikh of Ibn Habib (d. 852) covers early Islamic history with a focus on administrative matters. He also covers biographies of hadith scholars and the region of Al-Andalus. Other works to this effect were written as well.[11]
Tabari at times draws on the Syriac Julian Romance.[12]
Editions include: