History of Al-Tabari
Series · 20
books · 912-2009
Books in series
#1
The History of al-Tabari, Volume 1
General Introduction and from the Creation to the Flood
912
Volume I of the thirty-eight volume translation of Tabari's great History begins with the creation of the world and ends with the time of Noah and the Flood. It not only brings a vast amount of speculation about the early history of mankind into sharp Muslim focus, but it also synchronizes ancient Iranian ideas about the prehistory of mankind with those inspired by the Qur'an and the Bible. The volume is thus an excellent guide to the cosmological views of many of Tabari's contemporaries. The translator, Franz Rosenthal, one of the world's foremost scholars of Arabic, has also written an extensive introduction to the volume that presents all the facts known about Tabari's personal and professional life. Professor Rosenthal's meticulous and original scholarship has yielded a valuable bibliography and chronology of Tabari's writings, both those preserved in manuscript and those alluded to by other authors. The introduction and first volume of the translation of the History form a ground-breaking contribution to Islamic historiography in English and will prove to be an invaluable source of information for those who are interested in Middle Eastern history but are unable to read the basic works in Arabic.
#2
The History of Al-Tabari, Volume 2
Prophets and Patriarchs
1973
This 1989 second volume of Professor Williams' translation of al-Tabarī's account of the early 'Abbāsī empire focuses on the reigns of the son - al-Mahdī - and grandsons - al-Hadi and Hārūn al-Rashīd - of Caliph al-Mansūr, the subject of the first volume. This was the 'Golden Prime' of the empire, before the civil war between the sons of al-Rashīd and the movement of the capital away from Baghdad. Also considered is the story of the Persian aristocratic family, the Barmakis, who became the real rulers under the indolent al-Rashīd, until he destroyed them in a rage which astonished his contemporaries. The events are narrated through the reminiscences of eyewitnesses, woven together by the great historiographer al-Tabarī (d. 923). The translator of the volume is an Islamicist who has lived many years in the Arab world and has a rare knowledge of its culture and literature.
#3
The History of Al-Tabari, Volume 3
The Children of Israel
912
تاریخ طب‍ری، ی‍ا، «تاریخ ال‍رس‍ل وال‍م‍ل‍وک» جلد سوم، ت‍ال‍ی‍ف: «م‍ح‍م‍د بن ج‍ری‍ر طب‍ری»؛ ت‍رج‍م‍ه: «اب‍ول‍ق‍اس‍م پ‍ای‍ن‍ده»، نشر: «بنیاد فرهنگ ایران»، چاپ نخست: 1352، چاپ پنجم: 1375، نشر: اساطیر، متن این جلد: از صفحه 790 تا صفحه 1218 است
مطالب این جلد: «ذکر نسب رسول خدای و بعضی اخبار پدران و اجداد ایشان»، «عبدالله پسر عبدالمطلب بود»، «عبدالمطلب پسر هاشم بود»، «هاشم پسر عبدمناف بود»، «عبدمناف پسر قصی بود»، «قصی پسر کلاب بود»، «کلاب پسر مره بود»، «مره پسر کعب بود»، «کعب پسر لوی بود»، «لوی پسر غالب بود»، «غالب پسر فهر بود»، «فهر پسر مالک بود»، «مالک پسر نضر بود»، «نضر پسر کنانه بود»، «کنانه پسر خزیمه بود»، «خزیمه پسر عدرکه بود»، «عدرکه پسر الیاس بود»، «الیاس پسر مضر بود»، «مضر پسر نزار بود»، «نزار پسر معد بود»، «معد پسر عدنان (نبی) بود»، «ازدواج پیامبر با حضرت خدیجه»، «اخبار پیامبر تا هنگام بعثت»، «روز و ماه و سال بعثت پیامبر خدا»، «سخن از وقتی که تاریخ نهادند»، «حوادث سال نخست هجرت»، «خطبه پیامبر در جمعه نخستین»، «سال دوم هجرت»، «حوادث سال دوم هجرت»، «جنگ بدر بزرگ»، «جنگ بنی قیقاع»، «غزوه سویق»، «سال سوم هجرت»، «خبر کعب بن اشرف»، «غزوه قرده»، «قتل ابی رافع یهودی»، «جنگ احد»، «حوادث سال چهارم هجرت»، «حکایت عمرو بن امیه ضمری»، «حکایت بئر معونه»، «برون شدن قوم بنی نضیر»، «سخن از غزوه سویق»، «سال پنجم هجرت»، «جنگ خندق»، «سخن از جنگ بنی قریظه»، «سخن از حوادث سال ششم هجرت»، «سخن از غزوه ذی قره»، «سخن از غزوه بنی المصطلق»، «قصه دروغزنی»، «سخن از سفر حدیبیه»، «ذکر گوینده این سخن»، «سخن از حوادث سال هفتم هجرت و جنگ خیبر»، «سخن از غزای وادی القری»، «سال هشتم هجرت»، «سخن از حوادث سال هشتم هجرت»، «سخن از غزای موته»، «سخن از فتح مکه»، «سخن از جنگ با هوازن در حنین»، ا. شربیانی
#4
The History of Al-Tabari, Volume 4
The Ancient Kingdoms
912
This volume covers the years 21-23/641-43 of the caliphate of Umar b. as-Khattab. It can be divided into two distinct and almost equal parts: The first concerning the Muslim conquest in Iran and the east, and the second concerning Umar himself, his assassination, and an assessment of caliph and the man.
#5
The History of Al-Tabari, Volume 5
The Sasanids, the Byzantines, the Lakmids, and Yemen
912
This volume of al-Tabari's History has a particularly wide sweep and interest. It provides the most complete and detailed historical source for the Persian empire of the Sasanids, whose four centuries of rule were one of the most glorious periods in Persia's long history. It also gives information on the pre-Islamic Arabs of the Mesopotamian desert fringes and eastern Arabia (in al-Hira and the Ghassanid kingdom), and on the quite separate civilization of South Arabia, the Yemen, otherwise known mainly by inscriptions. It furnishes details of the centuries'-long warfare of the two great empires of Western Asia, the Sasanids and the Byzantine Greeks, a titanic struggle which paved the way for the for the subsequent rise of the new faith of Islam. The volume is thus of great value for scholars, from Byzantinists to Semitists and Iranists. It provides the first English translation of this key section of al-Tabari's work, one for which non-Arabists have hitherto relied on a partial German translation meritorious forms time but now 120 years old. This new translation is enriched by a detailed commentary which takes into account up-to-date scholarship.
#6
Muhammad at Mecca
1953
W. Montgomery Watt's book was written in response to the need for a fresh life of the Holy Prophet set in a fuller historical context.
#7
The History of Al-Tabari, Volume 7
Foundation of the Community
912
The contents of this volume are extremely The specific events in this earliest period set precedents for what later became established Islamic practice. The book deals with the history of the Islamic community at Medina during the first four years of the Islamic period—a time of critical improtance for Islam, both as a religion and as a political community. The main events recounted by Tabari are the battles between Muhammad's supporters in Medina and their adversaries in Mecca. Tabari also describes the rivalries and infighting among Muhammad's early supporters, including their early relations with the Jewish community in Medina.
#8
The History of Al-Tabari, Volume 8
The Victory of Islam
912
Volume VIII of al-Tabari's great 40-volume history of the Arabs covers the history of the Muslim community and the biography of Muh'ammad in the middle Medinan years. During this period, Meccan resistance to Islam collapsed, Muh'ammad returned triumphantly to his native city, and the Muslim community weathered controversy in Muhammad's private life.
#9
The History of Al-Tabari, Volume 9
The Last Years of the Prophet
912
This volume deals with the last two and a half years of the Prophet's life. In addition to the three major expeditions to Hunanyn, Ta'if, and Tabuk, it describes in detail the circumstances surrounding the illness from which he died and the subsequent crisis of leadership faced by the nascent Muslim community. The author depicts with admirable fairness all the various opinions and divisions that existed within the community. He also presents a vivid picture of the Prophet's physical appearance, his personal life, and his marriages. Among other topics discussed in this volume are all the deputations that came to Medina; a summary of all the expeditions and raiding parties; and his scribes, freedmen, horses, camels, goats, swords, coats of mail, and so on. It also covers the apostasy of Musaylimah, Aswad, and Tulhahah and the Prophet's attempts to deal with them. The translation not only preserves the original lively flavor of al-Tabari but also, in its annotations, draws extensively on both parallel Arabic sources and the intensive research of recent years. Readers who seek a deeper understanding of the Prophet's personality and of the reasons for antagonisms engendered among various factions will find this volume most informative.
#10
The History of al-Tabari, Volume 10
The Conquest of Arabia
912
Volume X of al-Tabari's massive chronicle is devoted to two main subjects. The first is the selection of Abu Bakr as the first caliph or successor to the Prophet Muh'ammad following the Prophet's death in 632 C.E. This section of the History reveals some of the inner divisions that existed within the early Muslim community, and sheds light on the interests and motivations of various parties in the debates that led up to Abu Bakr's acclamation as caliph.
The second main subject of Volume X is the riddah or "apostasy"—actually a series of rebellions against Muslim domination by various tribes in Arabia that wished to break their ties with Medina following the Prophet's death. The History offers one of the more extensive collections of accounts about this early sequence of events to be found in the Arabic historical literature. It provides richly detailed information on the rebellions themselves and on the efforts made by Abu Bakr and his Muslim supporters to quell them. It also tells us much about relationships among the tribes of Arabia, local topography, military practice, and the key personnel, organization, and structure of the early Islamic state.
The successful suppression of the riddah marked the transformation of the Muslim state from a small faith community of importance only in West Arabia to a much more powerful political entity, embracing all of the Arabian peninsula and poised to unleash a wave of conquests that would shortly engulf the entire Near East and North Africa. The riddah era is, thus, crucial to understanding the eventual appearance of Islam as a major actor on the stage of world history.
#11
The History of Al-Tabari, Volume 11
The Challenge to the Empires
912
Although this volume deals with the part of al-Tabari's History covering the years 12 and 13 (633-35), in the caliphates of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq and 'Umar b. al-Khattab, the narratives contained in it, which are lengthy and detailed, are concerned with the first Muslim conquests in Iraq and Syria. Although it might be expected, therefore, that this volume would be a basic source for these conquests, the actual value of the bulk of the reported traditions is in considerable doubt because most of the material is derived from a later Kufan traditionist, Sayf b. 'Umar (d. 170-93/786-809), who apparently exaggerated and distorted his material considerably. Indeed, Sayf's transmissions clearly reveal the tendency of his party, an anti-Shi'ite faction based on the Arab Mudar tribal group in al-Kufah that had lost out with the fall of the Umayyads and the coming of the 'Abbasids to power. Although Sayf's transmissions thus have limited value as far as the earliest conquests themselves are concerned, they are of the utmost value in revealing the content and character of Islamic historical debates in the late 2nd/8th century. In addition, they permit us to elucidate and reconstruct an early harmonizing tendency in Islam that undoubtedly had a significant effect on the way later Muslims viewed their earliest history.
The translation is preceded by an introduction analyzing the tendencies of Sayf and his party as revealed in this volume. Extensive notes accompany the text for the benefit of historians in other fields, as well as of Islamic specialists.
#12
The History of al-Tabari Vol. 12
The Battle of al-Qadisiyyah and the Conquest of Syria and Palestine A.D. 635-637/A.H. 14-15
1991
The present volume of the History of al-Tabari deals with the years 14 and 15 of the Islamic era, which correspond to A.D. 635-637. The nascent Islamic state had just emerged victorious from the crisis that followed the Prophet's death in 632 and had suppressed what was known as the riddah ("apostasy") rebellion in the Arabian peninsula. Under the leadership of 'Umar b.'al-Khattab, the second caliph, or successor to the Prophet Muhammad, the Muslims embarked on the conquests that would soon transform the whole of the Middle East and North Africa into an Arab empire. Most of the present volume describes the battle of al-Qadisiyyah, which took place on the border between the fertile Iraqi lowlands ( al-sawad) and the Arabian desert and resulted in the decisive defeat of the Persian army. The Muslim victory at al-Qadisiyyah heralded the downfall of the Sasanian dynasty, which had ruled Persia and Mesopotamia since A.D., the third century; it also paved the way for the conquest of Iraq and facilitated Islamic expansion in Persia and beyond.
The volume also deals with the conquest of Syria and Palestine and the Expulsion of the Byzantines from those regions. Particular attention is devoted to the traditions related to the conquest of Jerusalem at the hands of 'Umar b. al-Khattab, the first Muslim prayer on the Temple Mount, and its transformation into an Islamic sanctuary.
The volume contains colorful descriptions of the various battles, expatiations on the bravery of the Muslim warriors, and portrayals of the futile negotiations between the parties before the beginning of hostilities. It thus provides the reader with a fascinating insight into the later Muslim traditions related to those crucial events of early Islamic history.
#14
The History of al-Tabari, Volume 14
The Conquest of Iran
912
This volume covers the years 21-23/641-43 of the caliphate of 'Umar b. al-Khattab. It can be divided into two distinct and almost equal parts: the first concerning the Muslim conquests in Iran and the east, and the second concerning 'Umar himself, his assassination, and an assessment of the caliph and the man.
The volume begins with the caliphal order to the Muslim troops, recently victorious at the famous battle of Nihawand in 21/641, to penetrate farther into infidel lands in the east. The might of the Persian empire had been broken, and a golden opportunity offered itself to the Muslim community to expand its territories. The territorial gains thus achieved are recounted in this volume. Moving out of the garrison towns of al-Kufah and al-Basrah, the Muslim forces' conquests of Isfahan, Hamadhan, al-Rayy, Qumis, Jurjan, Tabaristan, Azerbaijan, Khurasan, parts of Fars province, Kirman, Sijistan and Makran as far as the Indus, are all described in these pages.
Contained in these accounts of far-reaching conquests are the peace documents, which are of considerable historical importance. They are typically the documents issued by the victorious Muslim commanders on the ground to the subjugated local inhabitants, laying out in precise terms the obligations of the latter toward their Muslim conquerors in return for safe conduct.
Leaving the Muslim forces on the bank of the Indus, Tabari switches his account to Medina, where in 23/643 'Umar b. al-Khattab was assassinated by a Christian slave. After full accounts of this deed, the reader is provided with details of the caliph's genealogy, his physical description, his birth date and age, the names of his children and wives, and the period of time he was a Muslim. A lengthy section follows, in which the deeds of 'Umar are recounted in anecdotal form. There are also quotations from his addresses to his people and some poetic eulogies addressed to him.
The volume ends with 'Umar's appointment of the electoral council, five senior figures in the Islamic community, to decide on his successor, and the fascinating and historically greatly important account of the workings of the council with all the cut and thrust of debate and the politicking behind the scenes. Thus was 'Uthman b. 'Affan appointed to succeed 'Umar.
#15
The History of al-Tabari, Volume 15
The Crisis of the Early Caliphate
912
Before the caliphate of the 'Uthman b. 'Affan, the Muslim community had grown from strength to strength in spite of a series of major crises—the Hirah, the death of the Prophet, the Riddah wars, the assassination of 'Umar by a Persian slave. But 'Uthman's reign ended in catastrophe. His inability to manage the social and political conflicts that were now emerging among various factions within the community led to his death at the hands of Muslim rebels. The consequences of this tragic event were not only a century of civil war, but also political and religious schisms of such depth that they have not been entirely healed even now. Most medieval Muslim historians told this story in an overtly partisan manner, but al-Tabari demands more of his readers. First of all, they must decide for themselves, on the basis of highly ambigous evidence, whether 'Uthman's death was tyrannicide or murder. But, more than that, they must ask how such a thing could have happened at all; what had the Muslims done to bring about the near-destruction of their community?
Al-Tabari presents this challenge within a broad framework. For, even while the internal crisis that issued in 'Uthman's death was coming to a head, the wars against Byzantium and Persia continued. The first expeditions into North Africa, the conquest of Cyprus, the momentary destruction of the Byzantine fleet at the Battle of the Masts, the bloody campaigns in Armenia, the Caucasus, and Khurasan are all here, in narratives that shift constantly between hard reporting and pious legend. Muslim forces retain the offensive, but there are no more easy victories; henceforth, suffering and endurance will be the hallmarks of the hero. Most evocative in the light of 'Uthman's fate is the moving account of the murder of the last Sasanian king, Yazdagird III—a man betrayed by his nobles and subjects, but most of all by his own character.
#16
The History of Al-Tabari, Volume 16
The Community Divided
1996
This volume 16 of Tabari's great 40-volume history of the Arabs treats the Caliphate of 'Ali I, 656-651
#17
The History of al-Tabari, Volume 17
The First Civil War
1996
Many of the events treated in this volume have become part of the historical consciousness of Muslims. The first civil war of Islam, the Fitnah, is widely seen as of decisive importance in dividing the Muslims into three major traditions, Sunnis, Shi'is, and Kharijis, which have persisted until today.
#19
The History of Al-Tabari, Vol. 19
The Caliphate of Yazid B. Mu-Awiyah
1990
This volume deals with the caliphate of Yazid. Yazid was not accepted as a legitimate caliph by many of the leading Muslims of the time, and, therefore, al-Tabari has concentrated his account of Yazid's caliphate almost entirely on the opposition to him. This opposition had its leadership in two of the leading Islamic figures of the time, al-Husayn, the son of the caliph 'Ali, and Ibn al-Zubayr, a leading Muslim who felt that he had had some claims to the caliphate himself. The first revolt was led by al-Husayn. This revolt, although ineffectual in military terms, is very important for the history of Islam, as al-Husayn came to be regarded by Shi'ite Muslims as the martyred imam; his martyrdom is still commemorated every year by them. In his account al-Tabari has preserved for us some of the earliest historical writing on the subject. The amount of space he devotes to this event shows the importance it had already assumed by his own time. The second revolt, that of Ibn al-Zubayr, was much more serious in immediate terms. The revolt or civil war can be divided into two stages. This volume covers the first stage, ending with the timely death of Yazid, which saved Ibn al-Zubayr from defeat.
#22
The History of Al-Tabari, Volume 22
The Marwanid Restoration
2009
This volume chronicles the history of the Islamic state in the years A. H. 74-81 (A. D. 693-701), after the final defeat of Ibn al-Zubayr in Mecca put an end to twelve years of civil war and reunited the empire under the rule of the Marwanid caliph 'Abd al-Malik. Syria and the Hijaz enjoyed a period of relative peace during this time, and stability and consolidation were furthered by such basic administrative reforms as the institution of an official Islamic coinage. Pacification of Iraq, where Kharijite rebel bands still roamed and mutiny was spreading among the government forces, was entrusted by 'Abd al-Malik to the victorious general al-Hajjaj b. Yusuf. Al-Tabari gives a detailed account of this iron-fisted governor's administration, concentrating on his war against the redoubtable Shabib b. Yazid, a Kharijite guerilla leader with a band of a few hundred men who held out against all odds and twice even entered the capital at al-Kufah and prayed in its mosque. Vivid eyewitness reports from participants on both sides of this conflict provide a valuable picture of Arab life in Iraq at this time, as well as evidence for the ideology of the Kharijites and the sources of discontent in the wider society.
Attention is also given to developments in the frontier provinces of the east, eventually also placed under the authority of al-Hajjaj. In Khurasan, the vicious tribal feuds that had interrupted the policy of continued conquest were gradually resolved and campaigning resumed. In Sijistan, a crushing defeat of Arab troops led al-Hajjaj to outfit the "Peacock Army," a force of unprecedented size and impressiveness, which, when it rebelled under its leader, Ibn al-Ash'ath, was to offer the governor the gravest challenge of his career.
#32
The History of al-Tabari, Volume 32
The Reunification of the 'Abbasid Caliphate
1987
The 20 years' caliphate of al-Ma'mum began as a stormy period in Middle Eastern history; after the comparatively peaceful reign of his father Harun al-Rashid, the caliphate was plunged into violent civil warfare in both Iraq and Arabia, involving the sons of al-Rashid, rivals for the supreme authority, and various other sectarian rebels and aspirants for power. Yet once peace was secured and the caliphate lands united once more, al-Ma'mum's reign settled down into one of the most exciting and innovative of the mediaeval caliphate. The Caliph himself was a highly cultivated man who possessed a keen intellectual curiosity and who interested himself in the practical sciences, astronomy and mathematics. He also encouraged the translating of Greek philosophical, scientific and medical works from Greek and Syriac into Arabic and involved himself in theological controversies in which the dialectical techniques of the Greek thinkers were to figure. Tabari's history of this period constitutes a prime source for political and military history. His racy and vivid style, including many verbatim conversations and documents, brings the Caliphate of al-Ma'mum very much alive.
A discounted price is available when purchasing the entire 39-volume History of al-Tabari set. Contact SUNY Press for more information.
#40
The History of al-Tabari Volume XL Index
2007
The index volume to the 39-volume annotated English translation of al-Tabari's History ( Ta'rikh al-rusul wa'l-muluk ), comprising an Index of Proper Names and Subjects and an Index of Qur'anic Citations and Allusions .
Authors
Franz Rosenthal
Author · 7 books
Rosenthal was born in Berlin, Germany into a Jewish family, on August 31, 1914, and was the second son of Kurt W. Rosenthal, a flour merchant, and Elsa Rosenthal (née Kirschstein). He entered the University of Berlin in 1932, where he studied classics and oriental languages and civilizations. His teachers were Carl Becker (1876–1933), Richard Walzer (1900–75), and Hans Heinrich Schaeder (1896–1957). He received his Ph.D. in 1935 with a dissertation, supervised by Schaeder, on Palmyrenian inscriptions (Die Sprache der Palmyränischen Inschriften). After teaching for a year in Florence, Italy, he became instructor at the Lehranstalt (formerly Hochschule) für die Wissenschaft des Judentums, a rabbinical seminary in Berlin. In 1938, he completed his history of Aramaic studies, which was awarded the Lidzbarski Medal and Prize from the Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft. The prize money was withheld from him because he was Jewish, yet on Schaeder's initiative, he was given a prize medal in gold to compensate him for the loss. Shortly after the infamous Kristallnacht, Rosenthal left Germany in December 1938 and went to Sweden, where he was invited through the offices of the Swedish historian of religions H.S. Nyberg (1889–1974). From there he went to England, where he arrived in April 1939, and eventually came to the United States in 1940, having received an invitation to join the faculty of the Hebrew Union College (HUC) in Cincinnati, Ohio. He became a US citizen in 1943 and during the war worked on translations from Arabic for the Office of Strategic Services in Washington, D.C. Following the war, he returned to academia, first at HUC and then in 1948 moved to the University of Pennsylvania. In 1956, he was appointed the Louis M. Rabinowitz Professor of Semitic Languages at Yale. He became a Sterling Professor in 1967 and emeritus in 1985. Professor Rosenthal was a prolific and highly accomplished scholar who contributed much to the development of source-critical studies in Arabic in the US. His publications range from a monograph on Humor in Early Islam to a three-volume annotated translation of the Muqaddimah of Ibn Khaldun to a Grammar of Biblical Aramaic. For his translation of the Muqaddimah, he traveled to Istanbul and studied the manuscript there, among them Ibn Khaldun's autograph copy. His 1952 History of Muslim Historiography was the first study of this enormous subject. He wrote extensively on Islamic civilization, including The Muslim Concept of Freedom, The Classical Heritage in Islam, The Herb: Hashish versus Medieval Muslim Society, Gambling in Islam, On Suicide in Islam and Sweeter Than Hope: Complaint and Hope in Medieval Islam, as well as three volumes of collected essays and two volumes of translations from the history of the medieval Persian historian al-Tabari, Knowledge Triumphant: The Concept of Knowledge in Medieval Islam (Leiden: EJ. Brill, 1970). Rosenthal continued to publish in German and in English. His books have been translated into Arabic, Russian, and Turkish.
Clifford Edmund Bosworth
Author · 3 books
Clifford Edmund Bosworth FBA is an English historian and orientalist, specializing in Arabic and Iranian studies. He received his B.A. degree from Oxford University and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Edinburgh University. He held permanent posts at St. Andrews University, Manchester University, and the Center for the Humanities at Princeton University. He is the author of 100s articles in academic journals and composite volumes. His other contributions include nearly 200 articles in the Encyclopaedia of Islam and some 100 articles in the Encyclopædia Iranica, as well as articles for Encyclopædia Britannica and Encyclopedia Americana. He's currently a visiting professor at the University of Exeter, where he has held the post since 2004. His book The Islamic dynasties has been translated to Arabic and Persian. He is the chief editor of the Encyclopaedia of Islam and a consulting editor of Encyclopaedia Iranica.
