ISSN: 2664-8148 (Online)
Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
International Journal (LASSIJ)
https://doi.org/10.47264/idea.lassij/3.2.8
Vol. 3, No. 2, (July-December) 2019, iii-iv
https://www.ideapublishers.org/lassij
Book Review
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Tarikh e Rusul wal Muluk. By Abu Ja’far Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari. Karachi:
Nafees Academy, 2004. Seven Volumes, 4967 pages, Urdu Translation by Muhammad
Siddiq Hashmi.
Altaf Qadir,
Humboldt Fellow, Georg-August-University Göttingen, Germany.
Received: April 1, 2020 Published Online: May 23, 2020
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Many of us are somewhat familiar with history of the Muslims either due to our situatedness in the
discourse and/or personal interests. Surely a good number of us are familiar with Abū Jaʿfar
Muḥammad ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī’ (839-923), a Persian scholar of Islam, who wrote a ‘universal
history’ entitled Tarikh e Rusul-wal-Muluk (Annals of the Prophets and Kings) also known as
Tarikh e Rusul-wal-Umam by some. Tabari was unique in many ways. He was a Persian of Amol,
Tabaristan and was educated in different cities of the declining Abbasid caliphate of 9th century
and died in Baghdad during the 3rd decade of 10th century. He had access to many sources which,
unfortunately, are wiped out by the storms of time and hence counterfactual verification is but a
whisper of the dead. Still, the stories he narrated can be trusted as similar stories are narrated by
other contemporary sources. He has tried to write a comprehensive history of the prophets, kings
and caliphs which extends from the story of creation of universe, its objective, the biblical prophets
and history of the Islamic world up to his own time (915), i.e., eight years before his death. His
work is still one of the most important sources about the early Muslim period including
the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties. One of his uniqueness is evaluation of historical sources that
were either available to him in writing or made accessible through correspondence. For narrating
the story of Central Asia, especially Khorasan, he has entirely relied on the Arab historian al-
Madāʾinī (752 - 843). Many earlier works like writings of Abu Mahnaf (d. 744), al-Wāqidī (747-
823) and Saif ibn ʿUmar (d. 796) were his sources of his proclaimed universal history. During his
ahadith learning process, he was able to receive the transmission rights from his teachers and was
also able to resort to oral traditions. His orientation is entirely theological and hence he has narrated
the history of the Sassanid Empire in that context, though from late antique sources. He has divided
all people into three categories on the basis of their deeds i.e., pious who are destined to better
reward in this World and paradise in hereafter; vice who are further divided into two i.e., those who
are punished here and those who will be punished in the hereafter. For the period before the advent
of Islam, his centre of history is Prophets. This approach is also very much true about later period
when Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), Pious Caliphs, Umayyad and Abbasid caliphs
were at centre without any slight discussion of Umayyad in Spain which he has missed to mention
probably due to two factors: he did not get access to information which he considered reliable for
writing and/or he did not consider them a religiously legal entity worthy of discussion. Furthermore,
his methodology of work is indicative of focus on ‘great men’ with no or rare discussion on those
classes and people who were producing wealth which elevated socio-political elite to ‘greatness’.
Though for many people his discussion of ‘irrelevant’ details looks boring but there rests an actual
beauty of the work as one comes to know different parameters and trends that were working in
society. Such ‘irrelevant’ facts add to understanding the Arab society that was transmitting due to
her interaction with sedentary societies of Persia and Syria. This is indicative of a ‘new middle
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Book Review: Tarikh e Rusul wal Muluk
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class’ emerging out of the economy of war and booty which consequently not only changed the
entire social fabric but also resulted in a long series of fights between the ruling elite and different
social classes. I use the term ‘social classes’ though their slogan was mainly religion. It’s job of
historians to dig out such social forces from unclear historical treatises and interpret according to
new understanding. At least, from my personal understanding I put Kharajites in this category.
Narrating poetry in reference to different episodes of time is an added beauty of his work. While
referring to few individuals of Arab and Turks aristocracy, he has written the names of four and
five generations which indicate that both Umayyad and Abbasid caliphs relied on some families
for many generations. These included families of Qutayba bin Muslim Bahili and Muhlib bin Abi
Sufrahas as well as a few Turks families who were brought to prominence by Al-Mu'tasim (r. 833-
842). The emergence of regional leaders like Tahirids, Safarids, Tulunids and others are though not
detailed according to modern trends but their attitude on different times indicates the declining
position of central authority of the caliph. The strong Arab Asabiyyah or social solidarity which
was once core power of Umayyad caliphate declines during their later years and is further
accelerated in Abbasid reign. This is evident from role of Abu Muslim Khorasani and his associates
in the Abbasid movement. Within a few generations, the Turks got prominence and they not only
played the role of king makers but also assassinated a few Abbasid caliphs whom they considered
hurdle in their way or less useful for preserving their interests. Though, Tabari does not explain or
discuss many issues with details or clear comment but any reader with historical understanding and
insight into the time realizes the changing trends of the Abbasid caliphates. Such deep-rooted trends
can be inferred from his narrative of Zanj/Zang uprising (869-883) and Qaramtians which covers
volume seven of the work. From the rank and file of these movements one can get insight into the
social discontent confronted by the then social and political structures. Along that, the development
of fiqh and squeezing space for Non-Muslims is evident from a variety of restrictions on their dress,
movement, festivals and use of animals which they previously enjoyed. Perhaps it was realization
on the part of Caliphs that they could sustain their entity with support of theological dogmas after
their political decline.
Tabari writes in a chronological order, provides many statements of a single narrative in a
descriptive manner without any preference or discussion thus gives variety of options to researcher.
An interesting point is his balanced view for most part of his history when he was relying on others
for his information. However, he has become a party and has used derogatory language for the
opponents of Caliph when he was narrating his own anthropological observations of time.
Interestingly, he seems sympathizer of the Alvis if not aligned during first 200 years of their
emergence. However, his language changes when he discusses their uprising during his own life
time. There might be two reasons: realization of the fact that Alvis did not had strength and
resolution to get power and/or his own association with Abbasid Vizier, who employed him to
teach his son. The time of his life is also marked with limited details as compared to earlier period
of the Muslims. There are two possibilities for lack of details. Since he has written from perspective
of power centre and many areas were practically independent of the central authority, he was least
interested in writing about those areas. Secondly, perhaps during his lifetime he was more focused
on the uprising of Zanji/Zangi and Qarmatians instead of other developments. To sum up, despite
the reductionist approach in writing his ‘universal’ history, he has provided much important
material for the researchers to ponder on and interpret that period with new methodologies.
Acknowledgement:
I am grateful to Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Bonn, Germany for the research fellowship.
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LASSIJ, 2019, 3(2), iii-iv iv
