The research for this book developed from my combined interest in historical and Arabic studies. It was conducted at the Avicenna Institute of Middle Eastern Studies (Hungary), alongside finalising key stages at the Seminar für Arabistik/ Islamwissenschaft at Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. My previous research enterprises exploring the role of tribal groups in Arabia on the eve of Islam and how 13th- to 15th-century Arabic historiographers exploited each other's materials have also combined philological and historical tools. My choice of a topic to be analysed from both angles is thus hardly surprising. However, as I immersed myself in the text of Ibn Aʿtham al-Kūfī's Kitāb al-futūḥ and explored the scholarly literature on the main themes of early Islamic historiography, I became increasingly confronted with the need to change my approach somewhat. As I increasingly recognised the literary nature of these compositions, my attention turned towards an analytical method that is less historical and more literary in nature. Another crucial discovery I had to make concerned the foundational basis of my research. It became evident early on, after exploring the weaknesses of the standard edition of Kitāb al-futūḥ published in Ḥaydarābād, that due to the issues that I discuss in depth in this book, no rigorous philological analysis can be conducted relying solely on its text. All these realisations led me to partially change my intended focus, transforming my research into a somewhat different undertaking compared to what was initially planned. However, it retained a degree of continuity because, despite the shifting emphasis and partial methodological changes, I remained interested in exploring a narrative on the formative period of early Islam.

The following acknowledgements express but cannot completely convey the gratitude I feel for all of the encouragement and support that I have received from so many generous scholars and institutions along the long intellectual journey outlined briefly above.

First, I am deeply indebted to Professor Dr Miklós Maróth and Professor Dr Jens Scheiner, whose unwavering support has been invaluable from the very beginning. I am most grateful to Professor Maróth and the Avicenna Institute of Middle Eastern Studies. Professor Maróth has provided continuous support since my undergraduate years at Pázmány Péter Catholic University. He welcomed me as a colleague at the Avicenna Institute and also facilitated and encouraged my research pursuits.

The Image of an Earlier 4th/10th-Century Islamic Historiographer in Transition

The exploration of the rich historiographic tradition written in Arabic between the early 9th and mid-10th centuries went hand in hand with the emergence of modern historical scholarship in 19th-century Western Europe. The growing interest of European scholars in the past affairs of the Muslim world was hardly independent of the rise of the Western powers’ political influence in the Middle East. To be sure, some Islamic historical works, including the one this book will focus on, had already been introduced to the European audience at that time, but these early enterprises did not immediately result in the birth of the field of Islamic studies. The formation process of the discipline is intimately connected to the first editions of the Arabic texts of early and classical Arabic historiographers, which was enabled by the emergence of large manuscript collections all across Western Europe. The same process took place on the other side of the continent as well, where Russian scholars, mainly based in St. Petersburg, were likewise engaged in the exploration of Arabic and Persian historical and geographical manuscripts in order to extend their knowledge about the Central Asian territories, a region of fundamental interest to the Tsar's empire.

From the middle of the 19th century onwards, a substantial number of 3rd/9thand 4th/10th-century Muslim historical works were edited and appeared in print in surprisingly quick succession. Both universal and thematic chronicles alongside other books of a historical nature (List 1), including biographical and geographical dictionaries (List 2), came to the forefront of interest as the following two brief lists of the main authors aptly indicate:

List 1

• • Ibn al-Athīr's (d. 630/1233) al-Kāmil fī al-taʾrīkh, edited and published by Tornberg in Leiden between 1851–1876, fourteen volumes;

• • al-Azdī's (d. between c. 170–210/786–825) Futūḥ al-Shām, published by Lees in Calcutta in 1854, one volume;

• • the Futūḥ al-Shām ascribed to al-Wāqidī (d. 207/823), published by Lees in Calcutta between 1854–1862, three volumes;

• • al-Wāqidī's (d. 207/822) Kitāb al-maghāzī, partly edited and published by Kremer in Calcutta in 1856, one volume;

• • al-Balādhurī's (d. 279/892) Futūḥ al-buldān, published by de Goeje in Leiden in 1866, two volumes;

• • Miskawayh's (d. 421/1030) Tajārib al-umam, partly edited and published by de Goeje in Leiden in 1871, partial edition, one volume;

New Edition of the Ridda Narrative (Based on MSs FB MS. Orient. A 1592 and Khudā Bakhsh 1042)