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Ancient imperial heritage and Islamic universal historiography: al-Dīnawarī’s secular perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2007

Hayrettin Yücesoy
Hayrettin Yücesoy
Affiliation:
Department of History, Saint Louis University, 3800 Lindell Boulevard, Saint Louis, MO 63108, USA E-mail: yucesoyh@slu.edu
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Abstract

This article examines the historical work of the ninth-century Muslim scholar Abū anīfa al-Dīnawarī. Adopting the format of universal history, al-Dīnawarī constructed a historical narrative beginning with the first human Adam, continuing through the rise of Islam and culminating in the Caliphate. This paper argues that al-Dīnawarī’s work, appropriately entitled Longer narratives, represented an attempt to configure Islamic polity into world history through a reorientation of Sasanian imperial ideology and geographical consciousness in order to fit Islamic sensibilities. As an early example of belles-lettres (adab) oriented (belletrist, adabī) universal historiography, al-Dīnawarī’s work comes across as a perceptive outlook on history, which proved relevant to dynasties of diverse origins struggling to carve a space for themselves in the Persianate political landscape of the late and post-‘Abbāsid world.

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Articles
Information
Journal of Global History , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , July 2007 , pp. 135 - 155
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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References

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7 Wahb b. Munabbih (d. c. 728) and unayn b. Isāq (d. 873) might have written something similar to universal history. See Rosenthal, Franz, A history of Muslim historiography, Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1968, pp. 42, 80.Google Scholar Ibn Isāq’s (d. 761) Sīrat Rasūl Allāh (Life of the Prophet) can be considered a proto-universal history, though its main subject seems to be the history of prophets. See Gibb, Hamilton A. R., Studies on the civilization of Islam, Shaw, Stanford J. and Polk, William R., eds., Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1962, p. 112Google Scholar; Khalidi, Arabic, pp. 35–6.

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9 Al-Balādhurī’s (d. 892) Ansāb al-ashrāf (Genealogies of the notables), which includes the biography of the prophet and extended biographies of the early Islamic nobility, represents a mature example of another ground-breaking style initiated by Ibn Sa‘d (d. 845).

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11 For a full index of references see Kratchkovsky, Abū anīfa, p. 93.

12 Orientalist scholarship was for this very reason suspicious of universal historiography’s ‘Islamic’ credentials. See Gibb, Studies, p. 118 (‘intrusive elements’).

13 See Robinson, Islamic, pp. 36–7, 41–2, 76; Scott Meisami, Julie, Persian historiography to the end of the twelfth century, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1999, p. 14.Google Scholar

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15 Al-Dīnawarī’s dramatic narrative seems to have overshadowed the detail of events, which prompted modern scholars to accuse al-Dīnawarī of laxity. For dismissive views of al-Dīnawarī, see Lewin, ‘Dīnawarī’; also Brockelmann, Carl, ‘Dīnawarī’, Encyclopaedia of Islam, 4 vols. and Supplement, Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1913–1938, 2, p. 977Google Scholar; Kratchkovsky, Abū anīfa, p. 50; ‘Abd al-‘Azīz al-Dūrī, Ba th fī nash’at ‘ilm al-tārīkh ‘inda al-‘Arab, Beirut: Dār al-Mashriq, 1983, p. 55; Pellat, Charles, ‘Denavarī’, Encyclopaedia Iranica, Yarshater, Ihsan, ed., Boston: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1983–Google Scholar(online edition, henceforth EI r). For alternative, and more recent, views, see Khalidi, Arabic, pp. 39ff.; Elton Daniel, ‘Historiography: early Islamic period’, (EI r); Donner, Narratives, pp. 255ff.; Robinson, Islamic, pp. 83ff.

16 Robinson, Islamic, p. 98.

17 Haytham b. ‘Adiy (d. 821) also is mentioned as a pioneer. For further discussion, see Khalidi, Arabic, p. 80; Robinson, Islamic, pp. 74ff. Meisami, Persian, p. 9.

18 Khalidi, Arabic, p. 129.

19 For isnād see Donner, Narratives, pp. 255ff.

20 Khalidi, Arabic, pp. 86–7.

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22 Khalidi, Arabic, pp. 110–11.

23 For the critique of rulers see, El-Hibri, Tayeb, Reinterpreting Islamic historiography: Hārūn al-Rashīd and the narrative of the ‘Abbāsīd caliphate, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999, pp. 59ff., 95ff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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25 The knowledge of the mandylion legend is apparent here.

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28 See Crone, Patricia, God’s rule: government and Islam, New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2004, pp. 5–6.Google Scholar

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37 DA, p. 30.

38 See Budge, E. A., The life and exploits of Alexander the Great, New York: Benjamin Blom, 1968, 1, pp. xix–xxvGoogle Scholar; Woodman Cleaves, Francis, ‘An Early Mongolian version of the Alexander romance’, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Society, 22, 1959, pp. 1–99CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Andrew Boyle, John, ‘The Alexander legend in Central Asia’, Folklore, 85, 1974, pp. 221–8.Google Scholar

39 See his discussion of Kaykāvūs and Kaykhusro, pp. 13–14, and even of the Queen of Sheba, Solomon, and others pp. 19–20, 23, 72, 74, 77, 78, 80, 108, 394–5, 396, 389.

40 Divine favour is indicated in a rich range of adjectives and phrases throughout the work. See pp. 12, 28, 34, 43, 75, 77, 118, 134.

41 Meisami, Persian, pp. 145 and 162.

42 For siyāsa, see Patricia Crone, God's rule, pp. 145ff.; Ann, K. S., Theory and practice in medieval Persian government, Burlington VT: Ashgate, 1980Google Scholar; Aziz al-Azmeh, , Muslim kingship, London: I. B. Tauris, 1997.Google Scholar From a historiographical perspective, Khalidi, Arabic, pp. 83ff.

43 The overall stance of the Qur’ān concerning kingship is neutrality. Although some verses accuse kings of oppression (e.g. Qur’ān 27: 34), in general the Qur’ānic discourse recognizes kingship as a legitimate political organization. See for instance Qur’ān 2: 246–8, 251, 258; 3: 26; 4: 54; 5: 20; 12: 76, 101; 38: 35.

44 Khalidi, Arabic, p. 79.

45 Al-abarī, The history of al-abarī, Franz Rosenthal,tr.,Ihsan Yarshater, gen. ed., 38 vols., Albany: SUNY Press, 1985–99, 1, pp. 168–9.

46 DA, pp. 11, 12, 40, 74, 107, 110. Modern historians have been curious about his only paragraph-long reference to Muhammad. See Kratchkovsky, Abū anīfa, p. 53; al-Dūrī, Ba th, p. 55; Donner, Narratives, pp. 134–5; Lewin, ‘Dīnawarī’.

47 DA, pp. 17–23.

48 DA, pp. 25, 29, 30. Al-Tha‘ālibī’s description of Adam, Joseph, David, Solomon, Alexander and Muhammad as prophets who combined kingship with prophecy echoes al-Dīnawarī’s outlook. See Crone, God’s rule, p. 11.

49 See Khalidi, Arabic, pp. 173–4; Rosenthal, Franz, ‘The influence of the biblical tradition on Muslim historiography’, in Lewis, Bernard and Holt, P. M., eds., Historians of the Middle East, London: University of Oxford Press, 1962, p. 40.Google Scholar Rosenthal, A history, p. 141.

50 DA, pp. 25, 29–30ff.; and pp. 49–50.

51 DA, pp. 13, 74, 75, 83.

52 For divine favour see Inlow, E. B., ‘The divine right of Persian kings’, Journal of Indian History, 45, 1967, pp. 39ff.Google Scholar; Frye, R. N., ‘The charisma of kingship in ancient Iran’, Iranica Antiqua, 4, 1964, pp. 36ff.Google Scholar

53 DA, pp. 75, 77, 86.

54 The problem of predestination or fate is one of the most significant theological debates in medieval Islam, which we cannot address in this article. As a starting point see EI 2, ‘Qadar’.

55 DA, pp. 30-2, 111–12, 119. For justice,see Rosenthal, F., ‘Political justice and the just ruler’, Israel Oriental Studies, 10, 1980, pp. 92ff.Google Scholar; Khadduri, Majid, The Islamic conception of justice, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984.Google Scholar

56 DA, pp. 120–1, 134, 140.

57 DA, pp. 32, 120–1.

58 DA, pp. 145, 147, 174, 252–3, 389.

59 DA, pp. 32, 43–4, 100.

60 DA, pp. 4–8, 17–8, 24, 40–41, 74, 108–10.

61 DA, pp. 332, 380, 395.

62 The reference is to Sir Halford John Mackinder’s article, ‘The geographical pivot of history’, Geographical Journal, 23, 1904.

63 Africa is a vast, isolated land. DA, p. 366. Also, pp. 20, 24, 28, 33, 35–7, 321. The neglect holds true also for the Syrian region, which is only cursorily treated. DA, p. 160.

64 Adler, William and Tuffin, Paul, The chronography of George Synkellos: a Byzantine chronicle of universal history from the creation, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002, pp. xxxii–iii.Google Scholar

65 See Fowden, Garth, Empire to commonwealth: consequences of monotheism in late antiquity, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993, pp. 12ff.Google Scholar

66 DA, pp. 11, 29–30, 38, 42.

67 DA, pp. 1–3.

68 Braude, Benjamin, ‘The Sons of Noah and the construction of ethnic and geographical identities in the medieval and early modern periods’, William and Mary Quarterly, 54, 1997, pp. 103–42.CrossRefGoogle ScholarSanders, Edith R., ‘The Hamitic hypothesis; its origin and functions in time perspective’, Journal of African History, 10, 1969, pp. 521–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar (I owe these references to the editors of the JGH.)

69 DA, pp. 1, 4, 6–7.

70 Al-Ya‘qūbī, Tārīkh, 1, pp. 15, 20.

71 Al-abarī, Tārīkh, 1, p. 125. Ibn Qutayba, al-Ma‘ārif p. 25: mentions the curse of Ham (‘Accursed is the father of Canaan’).

72 DA, pp. 1, 34.

73 Abū Isāq Ibrāhīm b. Muammad al-Fārisī al-Istakhrī, Masālik al-mamālik,M. J.De Goeje, ed., Biblioteca Geographorum Arabicorum, Lugduni Batavorum: E. J. Brill, 1927, 1, pp. 3–4; Janssen, Caroline, Babil, the city of witchcraft and wine: the name and fame of Babylon in medieval Arabic geographical texts, Ghent: University of Ghent, 1995, pp. 114–15.Google Scholar

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75 Daniel, Historiography; A. A. Duri, ‘The Iraq school of history to the ninth century – a sketch’, in Bernard Lewis and P. M. Holt, eds., Historians of the Middle East, p. 53.

76 Ibn al-Nadīm, al-Fihrist, p. 172; ‘Abd al-Qādir b. ‘Umar al-Baghdādī, Khizānat al-adab wa lub lubāb lisān al-‘Arab, ‘Abd al-Salām Muammad Hārūn, ed., Cairo: Dār al-Kātib al-‘Arabī lī al-Kitāba wa al-Nashr, 1967, 1, p. 54; ‘Alī b. Al-usay al-Mas‘ūdī, Murūj al-dhahab wa ma‘ādin al-jawhar, Barbier de Meynard and Pavet de Courteille, ed. Reviewed and corrected by Charles Pellat, Beirut: Lebanese University, 1973, vol 3, p. 442; Yāqū al-amawī, Mu‘jam al-buldān, Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, sl., 1, p. 124; Sezgin, GAS, 4, p. 338.

77 Katib Çelebi, Mustafa b. ‘Abdullah ajjī Khalīfa, Kashf al- unūn ‘an asāmī al-kutub wa al-funūn, Şerefeddin Yaltkaya and Rıfat Bilge, eds., Istanbul: Maarif Matbaası, 1941–43 (repr. İstanbul: Milli Eğitim, 1971), 1, p. 280. Abū Manūr al-Tha‘ālibī (d. 1038) describes his work, La ā’if al-ma‘ārif (Curious and entertaining information) as derived from history books ‘in accordance with long days’. Khalidi, Arabic, p. 129.

78 Daniel, ‘Historiography’.

79 See Robinson, Islamic, p. 75.

80 Meisami, Persian, pp. 10, 51, 68–79.

81 Daniel, ‘Historiography’.

82 Robinson, Islamic, p. 100.

83 Robinson, Islamic, pp. 100–01.

84 See ‘Awa’s introduction to Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, Tārīkh al-Fāriqī, B. A. L. ‘Awa, ed., Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-Lubnānī, 1974, pp. 21ff.

85 Daniel, ‘Historiography’; Meisami, Persian, p. 27.

86 Meisami, Persian, p. 29.

87 See, Rosenthal, A history, pp. 147–8.

88 Khalidi, Arabic, p. 129; Daniel, ‘Historiography’.