Understanding the History of al-Tabari

Islamic History: the First 150 Years

© 2006 Abdur Rahman

Introduction

• In the first session, we looked briefly at the development of early Islamic historical writing

• In this session, I want to explore one of our most important writers

• Imam Abu Ja’far Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari

• Generally known as al-Tabari

Session Plan

1. Why al-Tabari?

2. The Life and Works of al-Tabari

3. Exploring the History of Prophets & Kings

Section I: Why al-Tabari?

Why al-Tabari?• Important for a number of reasons…• An early universal history (i.e. from Creation to his own

time)• Very popular in the Islamic world• A voluminous writer• Works of law, history and an important Exegesis of the

Quran• Founder of the (no longer extant) Jariri school of law• And, the library holds a complete copy of his important

historical work• We will be using the Leiden edition of the History, which has

recently been translated by a number of scholars• Edited by Ehsan Yarshater, the English translation stands at

some 30 odd volumes

Section II: The Life & Works of al-Tabari

Background• al-Tabari born in Amul• Capital city of Tabaristan, in what is now northern

Iran• Born in 839CE/224AH• A member of a moderately wealthy provincial family• Tabaristan very mixed• Non-Muslim Zoroastrians• Muslim groups: Shia, Khawarij, Mu’tazila and Sunni• Tabari seems to have been deeply connected to his

homeland• Remained unmarried

Education• Tabari seems to have been a very talented individual from a

young age• Seems to have left Amul for Rayy (near modern day Tehran)

to begin his studies at about 12• His studies included Quranic exegesis (tafsir), Prophetic

Traditions (hadith), history (including Prophetic biography), logic, Islamic law, etc

• Arrived in Baghdad shortly after the death of Ahmad ibn Hanbal (a famous scholar and founder of one of the four schools of law)

• After studying in Baghdad, he went to Egypt (stopping in Syria and Palestine on the way)

• Although his route unclear, he cites authorities from places such as Hims, Ramla (Ramallah) and Asqalan (Ashkelon)

Education

• In Egypt, Tabari seems to have furthered his study of Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh)

• Especially according to the Shafi’i School of law

• He was also exposed to the Maliki school’s teachings

• In essence, by the time he returned to Baghdad (c. 256AH/870CE) he had been exposed to the most important religious and intellectual ideas of the day

The Writings of al-Tabari• Tabari’s academic career seems to have spanned

some 50 years• A later historian, al-Farghinani, estimated that

Tabari wrote some 14 folios every day (from puberty to age 86)

• In other words, a total of 350,000 folios!• This seems a fantastic number, but in any case,

Tabari was an immensely productive scholar• His works were based in three main areas:

1. Jurisprudence (fiqh)2. Quranic Exegesis (tafsir)3. History (tarikh)

The Writings of al-Tabari

• Not all of Tabari’s writings have survived• His Quran commentary survives (and has

been translated into English)• A fair amount of his legal writings survive• He founded his own legal school (known as

the Jariri school), though it did not long survive him

• His main work, and our present subject, was his History of Prophets & Kings

• Let’s explore this work a little more closely now

A Brief Pause

• Turn to the person next to you and spend a couple of minutes summarising the lecture thus far.

• Questions?

Section III: Exploring the History of Prophets & Kings

Key Features• Al-Tabari is a Traditionist (Muhaddith) by training

and inclination• This has a number of implications…• History = the accurate transmission and criticism

of eye witness accounts• Throughout the History, Tabari places different

accounts side-by-side:Example

• These accounts could be quite short, as here…– ‘…on the authority of Ibn Jurayj - `Amr b.

Dinar – Abu Ja’`far, who said: Fatimah died three months after the Prophet … According to Ibn Jurayj – al-Zuhri - `Urwah: Fatimah died six months after the Prophet…’ (I.1869)

Key Features• Or, they could be very lengthy passages• These accounts placed next to each, often

without a clear idea of which one Tabari prefers

• However, his opinion shows through in his very selection: a very wide range of material in circulation at this time

• This style of historical writing can be confusing at first, but it is the dominant approach

• Moreover, when reading certain passages one can often get a strong sense of déjà vu

Key Features• This ‘hadith’ style has structural implications…• There is far more material on the Prophet’s life and

subsequent history than there is for earlier pre-Islamic periods

• In other words, he has access to more ‘reliable’ sources for these periods

• There are also ideological factors behind this approach• As a universal history, Tabari’s work surveys the entire

sweep of human history (as he understood it)• For Tabari, universal history was pre-destined to culminate

with the coming of Muhammad• However the Tarikh is a key source for understanding

Persian history (particularly during the Sassanid age)• He also has some useful insights into Byzantine affairs