the development of arabic historiography

THE DEVELOPMENT OFARABIC HISTORIOGRAPHY

By JOSEPH DE SOMOGTI, Vienna

Historia est magstra vitae ("History is the teacher of life").Everything that exists can only be correctly understood by itspast. Therefore, history is no abstract study but provides thekey to the right appreciation of everything that is actual, that ispart and parcel of our own present. Consequently, the preciseand true recording of. past events and conditions is of greatsignificance for the conscious formation of the future. That is whyhistorical interest is one of the oldest mental activities of man-kind, which can be found even in the remotest periods of reli-gious, national, or any other type of human society.

If the degree of evolution of any of these social types is to bemeasured by the development of its historiography, a prominentplace is due to Islam among the cultures of mankind.

THE BEGINNINGThe beginnings of Arabic, and in general Muslim, historiographyare still a moot point. At the end of the nineteenth century IgnaceGoldziher1 established the theory that its pioneers had been thePersians, for the Arabs themselves had no historical sense what-ever, and Arabic historiography started in the second half of the,second/eighth century under the 'Abbasids only who werepolitically as well as culturally influenced by the Persian Sasanids.In Goldziher's view the Arabs were first prompted to compiletheir own historical traditions by the chronicle of Persia entitledKbuday-ndma, begun by order of Khusrau Anushlrwan and con-tinued under all the later kings of Persia, which became known tothe Arabs through 'Abdallah ibn al-Muqqafla's (died in 140/7 j 7)Arabic translation under the tide Styar mtduk al-ajam ("The livesof the Kings of Persia "). It is also remarkable that a considerablenumber of the Arab compilers of pre-Islamic tradition were

1 In his paper extant in Hungarian only A tSrtimtiris a% arttb trodaJomban("Historiography in Arabic literature"), Hungarian Academy of Science,189), pp. 20-41. His theory was summarised in English by die presentwriter in his paper "The Kitib al-monta^am of Ibn al-Jaud", JJLAJ.(1932), pp. 49-50.

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scholars of Persian extraction, as was the case with Abu 'Ubayda,the greatest authority on the history of the jdbiliyya (died inz 10/82 j) or with the two genealogists Muhammad ibn al-Kalbl(died in 146/763) and his son Hisham (died in 204/819). Likewisewe owe to Arabicized Persians the majority of the historicaltraditions in the Kitdb al-agbdni. Later, when independent Arabichistoriography started, we meet again with Persian names likeMuhammad ibn Ishaq (died in IJ 1/768), the author of the firstbiography of Muhammad, or Hamza al-Isfahanl (died before360/970) who wrote his annals on the basis of Persian sources,or again Muhammad ibn Jarir at-Tabari (died in 310/923), "thefather of Arabic historiography".

Contrary to Goldziher, modem research has established thetheory that the origins of Arabic historiography are originallyrooted in Arabian soil, in the collections and commentaries of thenarratives, customs, and institutions of Arab paganism (aJ-akbbdr)on the one hand, and in the genealogical studies (al-ansdb) on theother hand. Even if many representatives of both these fields ofresearch were actually of Persian origin, yet the autochthonousArab character of these studies is indubitable. Whereas historicalsense was lacking with the South Arabians,1 the Beduin of NorthArabia was ever proud of his descent and the deeds of his fore-fathers, just as was the case with Biblical Jewry.

THE ORIGINAL TYPES OF ARABIC HISTORIOGRAPHYBe that as it may, it is certain that from the beginning of Islamwe perceive the awakening of Arab historical interest in the strictsense of the word. When the Arabs founded their own empireand North Arabia stepped on to the stage of history, the im-portance of the study of history, this "royal science" as it wascharacterized by al-Jahiz,2 became apparent. At the outset, thehistorical interest of the Arabs focused on two subjects: thebiography of the Prophet Muhammad {stra rasSl AJJdb) and thefirst wars of Islam {al-magfxoQ). The study of both these subjectsstarted as early as the first Umayyads, but it was only in thereligious atmosphere of the 'Abbisids that it fully flourished.Both subjects were all the more important for the young com-munity of Islarn because the Qur'an contains no exhaustiverecords of either of them.

1 C. Rhodokanakis, AItsabMstb$ Ttxtt, 1 (19x7), 36, n. 4.* C as-Suyflft Mtajar, 1, 3J7, 11.

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The form of information of both types of historical matter wasthe baditb, which was typical for the extra-Qur'anic tradition (surma)concerning the Prophet Muhammad. Every single item of it hadan isndd (" ascription") going back through a chain of informantsto the first person who had obtained it from his immediatepersonal experience, and the main or the text of tradition.

It needs no explanation that this method of passing on tradi-tions is rather imperfect since it left the door open to thestreaming-in of spurious and fictitious traditions. Yet it remainedfor several centuries the only method of gathering historicalmaterials. The first Arab historians needed to do nothing butgather, sift, and arrange the vast material of tradition.

The earliest traditions of historical content are included in allthe large collections of baditb. Every such collection has specialchapters both on the sira and the magba\i. Later, by the com-pilation of the various single items of information pertinent tothese subjects, independent works on both of them came intobeing. The prototype and eponym of the stra literature was StraMuhammad rasu/ Allah of Ibn Hisham (died in 218/833), whichwas the revision of the similar work of Muhammad ibn Ishaq(died in 151/768). The Prophet's biography then gave rise tocollecting biographical materials first on the Prophet's Com-panions (asbdb) and later on all the prominent figures of earlyIslam. Ibn Sa'd (died in 230/845) was the first prominent repre-sentative of this biographical literature, his Kitdb at-tabaqdtal-kabir ("The Large Book of Classes") comprising the bio-graphies of Muhammad, his Companions, and the later dignitariesof Islam till 230/845).1

The prototype and eponym of the magba\i literature was theKitdb aJ-magba\iof al-Wiqidl (died in 207/822). It gave rise to thewriting of works on the subsequent epochs of Islamic history.Al-Mada'inI (died in 234/849) wrote a Ta'rikb al-kbulafd ("His-tory of the Caliphs"), and al-Baladhuri (died in 279/892) hisKitdb futiib al-bulddn (" The Book of the Conquests of the Lands ").

However, as early as the Umayyad period there appeareda third, intermediate type between the stra and the magba\i

1 D. S. Margoliouth, Lttturts on Arabit Historians (1930, pp. 8-9, pointed

oat that there developed four methods of gathering biographical materials:the "arbitrary" (e.g. the selection of 100 poets and musicians in the KitdbaJ-agbdml), the geographical (in ath-Tha'alibl's Kitdb jaffmat ad-dabr), thechronological (in adh-Dhahabrs Jabaqdi al-bttff&$, and the alphabetical (inYaqQt's IrsbadaJ-aib ild ma'rifat td-adlb).

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THE DEVELOPMENT OF ARABIC HISTORIOGRAPHYliterature, that of historical monograph which deals with generalhistorical events, but confined to a certain event or period. Thefounder of this type was Abu Mihnaf (flourished in the first/seventh century), to whom several such works are ascribed.Az-Zubayr ibn Bakkar's (died in 256/870) AJ-Mwaffaqiyat, atextbook of historical narratives compiled for the prince al-Muwaffaq, son of the Caliph al-Mutawakkil, belongs to thiscategory. Of course, most of this kind of literature is biased andunreliable.

THE CLASSICSBias is especially conspicuous with the historians of non-Araborigin, most of whom were partisans of the tendency calledSbu'ubiyya which disputed the dogma of the superiority of theArabs. Perhaps the most impartial among the Persian scholarswas af-Jabari (died in 310/923) who wrote the first and foremostgeneral history in Arabic His work, the Kitdb akbbdr ar-rusulval-muluk ("The Book of Information on Prophets and Kings")treats of the history of mankind from the creation to his own time.In recording Biblical history he regularly indicates the supposedsynchronisms of the Iranian legends; however, his narrative ofthe first three centuries of Islam is classical. He made use of allthe available literature of his time, and adopted an annalistic formin dividing his material according to the Muslim years but simul-taneously grouping it into larger parts according to the reignsof the several rulers as welL His work contains hardly anythingelse but dynastic history, yet as such it has remained unique untilour days. His work was both continued and abridged by severalhands, and was supplemented by the history of Maghrib by 'Arib(lived about the middle of the fourth/tenth century).

At-TabarTs younger contemporary, al-Mas'udl (died in345/956), was a type different from the learned Baghdad theo-logian who, besides his general history, also wrote one of themost comprehensive commentaries of the Qur'an. If at-Tabarlmay be called a bookworm, al-Mas'udl was a typical globetrotterwho would in our days certainly make his mpt-lr as the foreigncorrespondent of some large newspaper. He was a many-sidedwriter and a keen observer of geographical, ethnographical, andcultural conditions although his extant works are less systematicthan those of at-Tabarl and are full of grotesque narratives.Unfortunately, many works of his are lost, but we possess hisgeneral historical abridgement Muriij adb-dbabab wa ma'ddin al-

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' awdbir ("Golden Meadows and Precious Stone Mines") whichhe finished in 345/936. His contemporary was Hamzat al-Isfahani (died before 360/970), one of the most important repre-sentatives of Persian history in Arabic, which he in his main workTawdrikb sini multik al-ard wal-aninyd ("Histories of the Years ofthe Earth's Kings and the Prophets") recorded on Persianauthorities.

During the later period of the 'Abbasids there arose the neces-sity of further and more up-to-date works on general history aswell as yet further compilations of biographies. At-TabarTsgreat work was down to the early 'Abbasids generally consideredas both the completion of all previous gatherings and the soundbasis of subsequent general historiography. Owing to the un-questionable authority of his work on the first three centuriesof Islamic history, it was but summarized and referred to for thisperiod by the later historians. The most prominent of them wasIbn al-Athir (died in 630/1232), whose Al-kdmil fi 't-ta'riki("The Perfect in History") continued at-Tabarfs work for overthree centuries, so that these two works, taken together, are ourmost reliable classical authorities on the general history of thefirst six centuries of Tsl5m. However, Ibn al-Athir's work wasfor the first three centuries no mere abridgement of at-Tabari'schronicle, for he also completed it from other pertinent sources.1

Owing to the voluminous character of these works, a greatmany compendia were written to satisfy the interest in historyof both the scholar and the general reader, as well as to furnishinformation on special matters. Thus, the Kitdb tajdrib al-umamwa ta'dqib al-bimam ("The Book of the Experiments of thePeoples and the Succession of Cares") of Ibn Miskawayh (diedin 421/1030) is our most important source on the history ofadministration in the fourth/tenth century, and the Kitdb mukb-tasar ad-dvwal ("The Book of the Abridged History of theEmpires") of the Syrian bishop Abul-Faraj Barhebraeus (died in1286), which was an Arabic abridgement of his Syriac chronicle,

. supplemented by Arabic medicinal and mathematical literature.The study of general history aroused interest in the com-

pilations of the vitae iUustrium virorum. The biographical materialof the Kitdb aJ-agbdru of Abul-Faraj al-Isfahanl (died in 356/967),and the list of authors known as Kitdb aJ-fifyist of Ishaq an-Nadim (died probably about 385/995), belong to this category.

1 C Ch. Brockelmann, Das Verbatims von Ibn-tl-Attirs YJml fit-tSrib ?*

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The classical works of the biographical literature are, however^of much later dating. These are the Kitdb wafqydt al-a'yan waanbd abnd ataman ("The Book of the Deceases of the Nota-bilities and the Records of the Sons of the Time") of IbnKhallikan (died in 681/1282), a general biographical dictionarywhich does not include the Prophet's Companions and the sub-sequent generation as well-known material, the Ta'rikb al-bukamd(" History of the Scholars") of al-QiftJ (died in 646/1248),and the Kitdb 'uyim al-anbdji tabaqat al-afibbd("Book of the ChiefRecords in the Classes of Physicians") of his older contemporary,Ibn abl Usaybi'a (died in 668/1270), two excellent collections ofthe biographies of learned people.

CITY AND PROVINCIAL MONOGRAPHSIn the course of time, parallel with these two types, a third typeof historiography, in a way a mixture of the former two, cameinto being. As a consequence of the geographical spread ofIslam, an increasing number of city and provincial monographswere written with the object of comprising in one work thebiographies of all the scholars and other illustrious men whoeither hailed from the city concerned or officiated there.

As a matter of course, this type of historiography started withthe history of Makka, but later extended gradually to everyprovince and practically all the cities concerned. F. Wustenfeldin his four-volume collection Die Cbroniken der Stadt Mskka(Leipzig, 18 j 7-61) collected the historical monographs of Makka.As-Sakhawi in \mTldn at-tattbikb, pp. 121 ff., enumerates the citymonographs in an alphabetical order, but a great many of themhave been lost. A thing apart is the Ta'rikb Baghdad of AbuTahir Tayfur (died in 280/893) because it records the politicalhistory of the 'Abbasid capital; his work was the main source ofat-Tabarl.

We are more fortunate with the city monographs of the post-classical period, many of which have been printed. The mainsource for the history of Baghdad is the Ta'rikb Baghdad'(" Historyof Baghdad") of al-Khatib al-Baghdadl (died in 463/1071), chieflya history of scholars, which was continued by as-Sam'anl (diedin 562/1167). A similar work was compiled by Ibn 'Asakir (diedin 571/1176) concerning Damascus in his Ta'rikb madtna Dimasbq .("History of the City of Damascus").

Provincial history seldom goes beyond the compilation of378

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-'biographies. 'Utnara (died in 569/1173) wrote the history ofYaman in his Td'rfkb al-Yaman. Among the many historiesof Egypt a prominent place is due to the Futub Misr wal-Magjmb ("The Conquest of Egypt and Maghrib") of Ibn 'Ab-Halliairam (died in 2j7/871) on the Muslim conquest of Egyptand the Maghrib, and the work of the Melkite patriarch ofAlexandria, Eutychius Sa'Id ibn al-Bitriq (died in 328/939)entitled Nagm al-jaubar ("Arrangement of Gems"). From amongthe Spanish Arab historians we quote Ibn Hayyan (died in469/1076), whose Kitdb al-muqtabis ft ta'rikb al-Andalus("TheSearcher in the History of Andalusia") is our main authorityon early Anrlaimian history.

IBN AL-JAUZl AND HIS GRANDSONFrom the fifth/eleventh century on, compilation became a moreand more prevalent method in all the domains of Arabic scientificliterature. The number of encyclopaedists increased rapidly. Theywrote voluminous compilations of every branch of knowledgeof their time. In historiography they started a new method ofexposition in combining in the same work general history andhistorical biography.

The pioneer of this new historiographical method, which Ishould call combinative, was the famous Baghdad polymath andencyclopaedist Ibn al-jauzl (J97/1200).1 From among the largenumber of the literary products of this extremely many-sidedauthor the most important historical work is doubtless the Kitdbal-munta^am wa multaqaf al-multcK(am ft akbbdr al-rmduk wal-umam("The Book of Rightly-ordered Things and the Collection ofNecessary Things Dealing with the History of Kings andNations"). It consists of sixteen volumes,2 and combines thegeneral history of Islam with historical biography till j 74/1178-9.

On the whole, the exposition of general history is muchshorter than the obituary notices taken together in any year con-cerned. For the first three centuries of the history of Tsiam, Ibnal-Jauzf s work is nothing but a more or less consistent abridge-ment of a$-TabarTs chronicle, and even for the later period it

1 For his life and a detailed analysis of his 'work see my paper quotedabove, pp. 49-76.

1 Vols. j (Part n) to 10 were published in 13J7-9/193&-40 by the

Osmaniya Printing Press at Hyderabad. The Index of Names (JPibrisf) tothese volumes was published by the same editor in 1360-1/1941-2.

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can only be used together with Ibn al-Athlr's AJ-kdmil in order I *to get a reliable and complete survey of the history of Islam.Nevertheless, Ibn al-Jauzi is more detailed in two points thanhis predecessors are: in the biographical notices on the caliphs,which are inserted into the records of the events of the years oftheir accessions, and in the administrative history of the caliphatein general and the province of Iraq in particular. The Qarmatdandoctrine is dealt with in a special chapter.1

The historical biography in the Kitdb al-mmtaqam consists ofobituary notices of all the persons of consequence who died inthe years concerned. They are appended to the general historicalnarrative of the several years, and are far more elaborated thanthe records of general history are. They bear the title Dbikr mantvwuffiya ft badbibTs-sana mitt al-akdbir ("Record of such Nota-bilities as Died in This Year"). These obituary notices comprisethe lives of all sorts of people: caliphs, high officials, scholars,and men of piety. Ibn al-jauzl's biographical records are socarefully compiled and elaborated that one ran hardly get rid ofthe impression that their author had the object of writing abiographical history of the caliphate. *

Ibn al-JauzTs Kitdb al-muntaâm was regarded as a standardwork on general history and historical biography by several laterauthorities, who adopted his method of combining historicalnarrative and obituary notices in the same digest. First of all,Ibn al-Jauzi influenced his own grandson Sibt ("grandson") ibnal-Jauzi (died in 657/1256), who exactly followed his grand-father's method in his MJr'dt asâmdn ("The Mirror of Time")of forty volumes.3 In his work he continued the Kitdb al-mmta%am until the year of his death, and enlarged it with addi-tional matters often disregarded by his grandfather. In its pre-Islamic part Sibt ibn al-Jauzi is more detailed than his grandfatherin his work; his cultural curiosity can bear comparison with that

1 See my paper A Trtatist on tbt Qarmafians in tbt Kitdb al-rmtntaâm of

Ibn aJ-JtaeQ, slSO (1932), pp. 1-18. F. Rosenthal, A. History of Muslim Historiogfopbj (1952), p. 124, holds

the opinion that the Kitdb cd-mtmta%am "actually reached the lowest level towhich Muslim historiography, in its main representatives, ever sank". Inmy view, the real value of the Kitdb d-mtmtas^tm is in its rich and carefullycollected historical biographies, from which a great deal of importantinformation can be obtained for general history as welL

J Its last portion extending to A.H. 495-654 was edited as a feraimil*reproduction of MS. no. 1360 of the Londberg Collection belonging to YaleUniversity by J. R. Jewett, 1907.

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of al-Mas'udL Also in the Islamic chronicle the Mir'dt as^ais fuller than the Kitdb al-mmtaspm.* Its speciality is the localhistory of Syria, especially of Damascus.

IBN AL-JAUZ?S FOLLOWERSApart from his own grandson, Ibn al-jauzl had a direct followerwhose name is not known generally. He was Ibn as-Sa'I (diedin 643/1x45-6), a pupil of Ibn an-Najjar, who was considered byall his biographers as a trustworthy historian. For this reason itis a pity that all his works but one have been lost. This exceptionis a single volume of what appears to have been his main work.This is voL DC of his AJ-jdm? al-mukbtasar fi 'mo>dn at-td'rikb wa'uytin as-siyar ("A Compendious Digest of the Titles of Historyand the Chief Biographies"),1 a twenty-five volume work ongeneral history, which extended to 656/1258, that is, the yearwhen Baghdad was destroyed by the Mongols of Hulaghii Khan.Therefore, it covered the same period as the Mir'dt ataman ofSibt ibn al-jauzl, and continued Ibn al-jauzl's Kitdb al-mmta%amfor a period of eighty years.

The title of Ibn as-SaTs work clearly indicates that he closelyfollowed the method of exposition adopted by Ibn al-jauzl inhis Kitdb al-rnmtcqam. He wrote "A Compendious Digest of theTitles of History", that is, a record of general history, and the"Chief Biographies", that is, the obituary notices on the personsof consequence who died in the years concerned. Like Ibnal-jauzl, he also divided his work into chapters dealing with theseveral years, and subdivided every chapter into Hawdditb as-sana{"Events of the Year"), and Dbikr man tvwuffiyaft bddbib?s-sanamin aJ-akdbir ("Record of such Notabilities as Died in ThisYear"), the wording of the sub-titles being exactly the same asin the Kitdb al-mmta^am of Ibn al-Jauri.

Like his illustrious predecessor, Ibn as-Sa'I also records themost important political events, the changes in the high officesof Baghdad, the great plagues and the subsequent high prices,and enumerates the notabilities who made the pilgrimage in thatyear. But, unlike Ibn al-Jauzi, he is not so conscientious in thequoting of his authorities. Judged by the only extant volumewe might consider it a pity that the whole work or at least the

1 Cf. F. Rosenthal, op. tit. pp. 126-7.

2 Edited by Maftafi Jawid and the Father Amstase-Maric of St

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THE DEVELOPMENT OF ARABIC HISTORIOGRAPHYvolumes continuing Ibn al-Jauzi's Kitdb d-mmta%am have not remained to us.

Ibn as-Sa'Is Al-Jdm? d-mukbtasar was continued by his pupil.Ibn al-Futl (died in 674/1275) in about eighty volumes, fromwhich the Mukbtasar akbbdr d-khulafd d-Abbdsiyyin ("A Com-pendious Record of the 'Abbasid Caliphs") is extant1 As hisother extant works3 prove, he was a conscientious recorder ofthe events under the last 'Abbasids and in the first period of theMongol domination till 700/1300, of which so few Arabicsources are known.

ADH-DHAHABl

Perhaps the best-known employer of Ibn al-Jauzi's method wasthe Damascene adh-Dhahabi (died in 748/13 48). J Besides anumber of historical special works, he comprised in his mainwork Tdrikb d-isldm ("History of Islam") the whole history ofIslam of seven centuries. Having adopted Ibn al-Jauzi's com-binative method, he developed it by dividing the history intodecades. Each decade (Jabaqa, "class") contains first the generalhistory and then the obituary notices (d-mutawafftma), the latterpart taking on an average six or seven times as much space asthe former. For the first three centuries the Ta'rikb d-isldm toois nothing but a mere extract of at-Tabari's Kitdb akbbdr ar-rusttfwd-mulUk; however, his general historical narrative of the sub-sequent four centuries is much more detailed, especially asregards the Saljuqs, the Ayyxibids, and the Mongol invasion.4 Inlocal history he treats of both Damascus and Baghdad. He alsoturned his attention more to Western Islam than at-Tabad, Ibnal-Athir, and Ibn al-Jauzi had done. He also sketched the evolu-tion of several Islamic sects like the ShTa and the Batiniyya. It

1 Published in BOllq, 1309 and 1310A.H. in two volumes. Cf. alsoG. Sarton, Introduction to tbt. History of Scimet HI (Jbt Fottrttmtb Ontmy)(1947-8), p- 9?8-

1 Al-baw&Btb aJ-jdm'a vat-tajirib an-ndfi'a min al-mi'a assiibi'a (a history

of the 7th/i3th century), printed in Baghdad, 13)1/1932. See my paper "The Ta'rikh al-islim of adh-Dhahabl", J.B^LS. (1932),.

pp. 81 jj j ; G. Sarton, op. at. pp. 963-7; Fr. Rosenthal, op. at. pp. 129-30.4 On the Mongol invasion see my following papers: "Adh-Dhahabfs:

Ta'rikh al-islim as an Authority on the Mongol Invasion of the Caliphate",.J.1LAS. (1936), pp. 595-604; "A Qaslda on the Destruction of Baghdad bythe Mongols", BS.OJ. (1933), pp. 41-8; "Ein arabischer Berkht uber die:Tataren", Dtr Islam (1937), pp. 105-30; "Adh-Dhahabrs Record of theDestruction of Damascus by the Mongols in 699-700/1299-1301", IguctGohkgbtr Mtmorial Volum, Part 1 (1948), pp. 353-86.

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is true he was not always impartial. His own pupil as-Subklreproached him with depreciating the Shafi'ites, Hanafites, andAsh'arites and praising the theological tendency known as al-Mujassima. like Ibn al-Jaua, adh-Dhahabl also records the

- prices of the chief foods in Baghdad and Damascus as well assuch natural and social phenomena as famines, contagions orearthquakes, and collects such curiosities as would today belongto the newspaper column " News from All Quarters ". like Ibnal-jauzl, adh-Dhahabl also conscientiously cites his sources,the chief ones of which were the great works of his predecessorsat-Tabari, Ibn al-Athlr, Ibn al-Jauzi, and Sibt ibn al-Jauzi. Hisnumerous obituary notices comprise all classes of people, includ-ing many theologians, poets, astronomers, and physicians.

Adh-Dhahabl's Ta'rikb al-isldm was continued by at least sixauthors for the period A.H. 601-791. Because of its large extentit was abridged several times. The best known of these abridge-ments is doubtless the Kitdb duwal al-isldm ("The Book ofIslamic Empires") by adh-Dhahabl himself.1

THE EPIGONESWe have seen that Persian influence was strong in the genesisand the first period of Arabic historiography. In its post-classicalperiod Persian influence became prevalent again in an importantnew section of historiography, panegyrical biographies, whichhad the object of praising a prince or other notabilities in ornate,in many cases even rhymed, prose. Of course, they cannot beused as sources without criticism, yet they truly present theinternal conditions of the petty states which owed their existenceto the decline and fall of the 'Abbasid caliphate.

The prototype of the panegyric literature was the AJ-kitdbaJ-Yamiru("The Yaminite Book") of al-'Utbi (died in 413/1622),ruling with the life and reign of Mahmud al-Ghaznawi. Thebest work 00 the very popular hero of the Crusades, alahaddin(in Europe Saladdin), was written in the same style by al-Katibal-lfahanl (died in j 97/1201) under the title Kitdb al-fatb al-qussifil-fatb al-Qudsi ("Book of the Conquests of Syria and Palestine ").In the next century Abu Shama (died in 665/1267) wrote the livesand deeds of both the great Ayyubids Nuraddin and alahaddinin his Kitdb ar-raudatayn ftakbbdr ad-daulatayh ("Book of the Two

1 See my paper "Bin arabisches Kompendtum der WeltgescbJchte. DasKitab duwal al-islam des ad-gahabi", Islamite (1932), pp. 334-}).

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THE DEVELOPMENT OF ARABIC HISTORIOGRAPHYFlower-gardens in the Records of Two Empires"). Similarly,the biography of Timur was written by Ibn 'Arabshah (died in *854/1450) in his 'Aja'ib al-maqdurjinawa'ib Timiir ("WonderfulThings Destined in the Calamities of Timur"). A thing apartis an-Nasawfs (died in 639/1241) Sirat as-sulfdn JaldJaddmMmkubhrfi ("Life of the Sultan Jalaladdln Mankubirti") for itsimpartiality. The first Arab author to write an autobiographywas Usama ibn Munqidh (died in 584/1188) in his Kitdb ai-ftibar ("The Book of Regard").

There belong to the same class the numerous dynastic his-tories, the best known of which is the Kitdb mufarrij al-kurubfiakhbdr Bam Ajyub ("The Book Dispelling the Griefs in theHistory of the Ayyubids ") of Silim al-Hamawri (died in 697/1298)on the Ayyubids.

Ibn Khallikan's method of compiling biographical dictionarieswas followed by a$-afadl (died in 764/1363) in his AJ-vdfibil-wafaydt ("The Fulfiller of 'The Deceases'"). Although itstitle implies that it is a supplement of Ibn Khallikan's work, yetit is an independent biographical lexicon of thirty or fifty volumeswhich starts with the Prophet Muhammad and gives the bio-graphies in alphabetical order.

Provincial history too flourished in the post-classical period.Al-MaqrM's (died in 845/1442) Al-maw

, THE DEVELOPMENT OF ARABIC HISTORIOGRAPHY

jbiography, the latter being dealt -with more extensively than the^/"former. The modem Western student is inclined to depreciate

Arabic historiography for the reason that in its whole history itconsists of nothing but compilatory chronicles and collectionsof biographies. It is true that the works of the Arabic historiansare the products of enormous diligence but devoid of independentthinking, smell of the lamp but are not illumined by the spirit.With one notable exception the Arabic historians were no prag-matical thinkers or students of social and cultural history. Butare they for that reason inferior to the medieval historians ofEurope? Were the latter perhaps anything more than merechroniclers of dynastic or ecclesiastical history?

Yet Arabic medieval historiography was in one respect de-cidedly superior to contemporary European chronicle-writing,and this was just in the collection of historical biographies.Although there are many biographies of European rulers orautobiographies from the Middle Ages, yet we do not know ofany such comprehensive and chronologically arranged collectionsof biographies or such extensive and alphabetically arrangedbiographical dictionaries as have survived by the score in Arabicliterature. Indeed, the genuine value of the general historicalworks starting with Ibn al-JauzTs chronicle is to be seen aboveall in their biographical chapters. These constitute a rich re-pository of information, from which precious data may bedrawn by Islamic scholars and students of general history flittrpNevertheless, they cannot be disregarded for their general his-torical content either. Deficient as they certainly are, they yetcontain a great deal of valuable historical information as well,which is suitable for comparison with, and supplementation to,the other pertinent sources of Arabic historiography.

However, there is one exception to this general characteriza-tion of Arabic historiography. This exception is a characterunique not only in Arabic but also in universal historiography.

IBN KHALDUNIn the second half of the eighth/fourteenth century a historianof Berber origin, Ibn Khaldun (died in 808/1405) raised the ideaof examining the process of historical events on the basis ofcausality in his Kitdb al-ibar wa diwan al-mubtada wal-kbabar ftajydm al-Arab wal-Ajam waJ-Barbar ("The Book of Instructive

and the Collection of the Subject and the Predicate38J siniiv

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in the History of the Arabs, Persians, and Berbers") in sevdnvolumes. Vols. II-VI contain the history of the Arabs, Naba-""\taeans, Syrians, Persians, Israelites, Copts, Greeks, Romans,Turks, and Franks, and voL vn the history of the Berbers andthe Muslim dynasties of North Africa. By this last volume hehas ever remained the greatest authority on the history of theBerbers, a topic more or less neglected by his predecessors. But,on the whole, his method is scarcely superior to that of thechroniclers. It is vol. i which has immortalized Ibn Khaldun'sname in the East and the West alike.

This is the philosophical introduction to his history calledAl-muqaddama ("Prolegomena"). A Preface is prefixed to itwhich treats of the general value of historical studies as well asthe scheme, sources, and method of his own work. There thenfollows in six sections the analysis of human society in its variousaspects. Section i treats of civilisation generally and of con-tact with the invisible world, Section z contrasts nomadismwith sedentary civilization. Section 3 would in medieval Latinliterature bear the tide De reffmine prittdpum, for it summarizesthe principles of government and administration. Section 4 con-trasts life in villages and in cities with each other. Section 5describes the various professions, and section 6 the varioussciences.

The late American historian of science, Professor GeorgeSarton of Harvard University, concisely characterized IbnKhaldun with the words: "Ibn Khaldun was certainly a socio-logically minded historian."1 According to Ibn Khaldun, theobject of history is the understanding of man's social status{al-ijma* d-insant), that is, civilization. Consequently, his workis nothing but an analysis of civilization.

His doctrine of the state was over-valued by many Westernscholars for originality, but Sir Hamilton A. R. Gibb pointedout2 that, on the contrary, Ibn Khaldun's doctrine of the state isa reconciliation of the ideals of the sbarTa with the facts ofhistory.

In his economic theories he was influenced by al-Ghazali.Four centuries before the Scotsman Adam Smith, the founderof the science of economics, Ibn Khaldun had already regardedlabour as the source of riches, which alone, with the exception of

1 Cf. G. Sarton, op. fit. m, 1767-9, with a list of the pertinent literature.

* In his essay "The Islamic Background of Ibn Khaldun's PoliticalTheory", BJ.OJ., vn (1933), 23-31.

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landed property, can bring fruits. Quite modem is his concep-w/*'tion that distinguishes between the direct source of income in

' agriculture, industry, and commerce, and the indirect sourceof income of civil servants and private employees. The Al-muqaddima also contains the first monetary history of Islam.

Although Ibn Khaldun was a theologian, he can be justlycalled the greatest medieval theorist of history. He is unequalledin Arabic literature, but even in universal historiography he wasthe first to lay the foundation of the pragmatic method and makesocial evolution the object of historical research.

Ibn Khaldun was the last prominent figure of classical andpost-classical Arabic historiography. He had no successor amongthe later historians, who were all annalists till the end of theeighteenth century, and followed European pragmatism fromthat time on.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDT OF ARABICHISTORIOGRAPHY

For Western research the critical examination of Arabic historio-graphy is a fecund and promising task. For the medievalhistory of the Middle East it provides valuable materials whichare unknown from other sources. Researches into its sourcesare vigorously going on. More and more new manuscripts arebeing discovered, studied, and edited. Thereby we attain to amore comprehensive and precise knowledge of Tslam, that factorwhich plays an increasingly important part in world politics andeconomics. That is why the study of Arabic historiography is sosignificant not only for the Orientalist expert but also for thegeneral historical and political sciences.

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