A second type of Arabian historiography is that in which an author combines the different traditions about one occurrence into one continuous narrative, but prefixes a statement as to the lines of authorities used and states which of them he mainly follows. In this case the writer recurs to the first method, already described, only when the different traditions are greatly at variance with one another. In yet a third type of history the old method is entirely forsaken and we have a continuous narrative only occasionally interrupted by citation of the authority for some particular point. But the principle still is that what has been well said once need not be told again in other words. The writer therefore keeps as close as he can to the letter of his sources, so that quite a late writer often reproduces the very words of the first narrator.

From very early times the Arabs had great delight in verses and tales, and the development of their language was certainly much influenced by this fact. In ancient times story-tellers and singers found their subjects in the doughty deeds of the tribe on its forays, in the merits of horse or camel, in hunting adventures and love complaints, and sometimes in contests with foreign powers and in the impression produced by the wealth and might of the sovereigns of Persia and Constantinople. The appearance of the Prophet with the great changes that ensued, the conquests that made the Arabs—till then a despised race—lords of half the civilized world, supplied a vast store of new matter for relations which men were never weary of hearing and recounting. They wished to know everything about the apostle of God, whose influence on his own time was so enormous, who had accomplished all that seemed impossible and had inspired the Arabs with a courage and confidence that made them stronger than the legions of Byzantium and Ctesiphon. Every one who had known or seen him was questioned and was eager to answer. Moreover, the word of God in the Koran left many practical points undecided, and therefore it was of the highest importance to know exactly how the Prophet had spoken and acted in various circumstances. Where could this be better learned than at Medina, where he had lived so long and where the majority of his companions continued to live? So at Medina a school was gradually formed, where the chief part of the traditions about Mohammed and his first successors took a form more or less fixed. Soon divers fathers of Islam began to assist memory by making notes, and their disciples sought to take written jottings of what they had heard from them, which they could carry with them when they returned to their homes. Thus by the close of the 1st century many dictata vfeτQ already in circulation. For example, Hasan of Basra (d. 110 a.h.; 728 a.d.) had a great mass of such notes, and he was accused of sometimes passing off as oral tradition things he had really drawn from books; for oral tradition was still the one recognized authority, and it is related of more than one old scholar, and even of Hasan of Basra himself, that he directed his books to be burned at his death. The books were mere helps, and what they knew these scholars had handed on by word of mouth. Long after this date, when all scholars drew mainly from books, the old forms were still kept up. Tabari, for example, when he cites a book expresses himself as if he had heard what he quotes from the master with .whom he read the passage or from whose copy he transcribed it. He even expresses himself in this wise: “Omar b. Shabba has related to me in his book on the history of Basra.”

Historians before Tabari

Naturally, then, no independent book of the 1st century from the Flight has come down to us. But in the 2d century real books began to be composed. The materials were supplied in the first place by oral tradition, in the second by the dictata of older scholars, and finally by various kinds of documents, such as treaties, letters, collections of poetry, and genealogical lists. Genealogical studies had become necessary through Omar’s system of assigning state pensions to certain classes of persons according to their kinship with the Prophet, or their deserts during his lifetime. This subject received much attention even in the 1st century, but books about it were first written in the 2d, the most famous being those of Ibn al-Kalbi (d. 146 A.H.), of his son Hishâm (d. 204), and of Al-Sharki ibn al-Kotâmi. Genealogy, which often called for elucidations, led on to history. Belâdhori’s excellent Λnsdb al-Ashraf (Genealogies of the Nobles) is a history of the Arabs on a genealogical plan.

The oldest extant history is the biography of the Prophet by Ibn Ishâk (d. 150). This work is generally trustworthy. Mohammed’s life before he appeared as a prophet and the story of his ancestors are indeed mixed with many fables illustrated by spurious verses. But in Ibn Ishâk’s day these fables were generally accepted as history—for many of them had been first related by contemporaries of Mohammed— and no one certainly thought it blameworthy to put pious verses in the mouth of the Prophet’s forefathers, though, according to the Fihrist (p. 92), Ibn Ishâk was duυed by others with regard to the poems he quotes.

The Life of the Prophet by Ibn Okba (d. 141), based on the statements of two very trustworthy men, Orwa ibn az-Zobair (d. 94) and Az-Zohri (d.124), seems to be quite lost, Sprenger having vainly made every effort to find a copy. It was still much read in Syria in the 14th century. But we fortunately possess the Book of the Campaigns of the Prophet by Al-Wâkidi (d. 207) and the important Book of Classes of his disciple Ibn Sa'd. Wâkidi had much more copious materials than Ibn Ishâk, but gives way much more to a popular and sometimes romancing style of treatment. Nevertheless he sometimes helps us to recognize in Ibn Ishâk’s narrative modifications of the genuine tradition made for a purpose, and the additional details he supplies set various events before us in a clearer light. Apart from this his chief merits lie in his studies on the subject of the traditional authorities, the results of which are given by Ibn Sa t d, and in his chronology, which is often excellent. A special study of the traditions about the conquest of Syria made by De Goeje in 1864 led to the conclusion that Wâkidi’s chronology is sound as regards the main events, and that later historians have gone astray by forsaking his guidance. This result has been confirmed by certain contemporary notices found by Nöldeke in 1874 in a Syriac MS. of the British Museum. And that Ibn Ishâk agrees with Wâkidi in certain main dates is important evidence for the trustworthiness of the former also. For the chronology before the year 10 of the Flight Wâkidi did his best, but here, the material being defective, many of his conclusions are precarious. Yet, though we have good ground for doubts, we are seldom able to construct a better chronology. Wâkidi had already a great library at his disposal. He is said to have had 600 chests of books, chiefly dictata written by or for himself, but in part real books by Abù Mikhnaf (d. 130), Ibn Ishâk (whom he uses but does not name), 'Awâna (d. 147), and other authors. Abù Mikhnaf left a great number of monographs on the chief events from the death of the Prophet to the caliphate of Walid II. These were much used by later writers, and λve have many extracts from them, but none of the works themselves, except a sort of romance based on his account of the death of Hosain, of which Wüstenfeld has given a translation. With regard to the history of 'Irak in particular he was deemed to have the best lights, and for this subject he is Tabari’s chief source, just as Madâini, a younger contemporary of Wâkidi, is followed by preference in all that relates to Khorâsân. Madâini’s History of the Caliphs is the best if not the oldest published before Tabari; but this book has quite disappeared and is known only by the excerpts given by later writers, particularly Belâdhori and Tabari. From these we judge that he had great narrative power with much clear and exact learning, and must be placed high as a critical historian. His plan was to record the various traditions about an event, choosing them with critical skill; sometimes, however, he fused the several traditions into a continuous narrative. A just estimate of the relative value of the historians can only be reached by careful comparison in detail. This has been essayed by Brünnow in his study on the Khârijites (Leyden, 1884), in which the narrative of Mobarrad in the Kâmil is compared with the excerpts of Madâini given by Belâdhori and those of Abιi Mikhnaf given by Tabari The conclusion reached is that Abιi Mikhnaf and Madâini are both well informed and impartial.

Among the contemporaries of Wâkidi and Madâini were Ibn Khidâsh (d. 223), the historian of the family Mohallab, whose work was one of Mobarrad’s sources for the History of the Khârijites ; Haitham ibn 'Adi (d. 207), whose works, though now lost, are often cited; and Saif ibn Omar at-Tamimi, whose book on the revolt of the tribes under Abιibekr and on the Mohammedan conquests was much used by Tabari. Saif, however, seems to have been little esteemed; Belâdhori very seldom cites him, and nothing can be found in Arabic literature about his life and those of his authorities. He is barely mentioned in the Fihrist, the writer plainly having nothing to tell of him, and blundering in the one thing he does say by representing his disciple Sho'aib as his master. Hâjji Khalifa knows nothing but his name. His narratives are detailed and often tinged with romance, and he is certainly much inferior to Wâkidi in accuracy. Besides these are to be mentioned Abû Obaida (d. 209), who was celebrated as a philologist and wrote several historical monographs that are often cited, and Azraki, whose excellent History of Mecca was published after his death by his grandson (d. 244). With these writers we pass into the 3d century of Islam. But we have still an important point to notice in the 2d century; for in it learned Persians began to take part in the creation of Arabic historical literature. Ibn Mokaffa' translated the great Book of Persian Kings, and others followed his example. Tabari and his contemporaries, senior and junior, such as Ibn Kotaiba, Ya'kübi, Dinawari, preserve to us a good part of the information about Persian history made known through such translations. But even more important than the knowledge conveyed by these works was their influence on literary style and composition. Half a century later began versions from the Greek either direct or through the Syriac. The pieces translated were mostly philosophical; but the Arabs also learned something, however superficially, of ancient history.

The 3d century was far more productive than the 2d. Abu Obaida was presently succeeded by Ibn al-A'râbi (d. 231), who in like manner was chiefly famous as a philologist, and who wrote about ancient poems and battles. Much that he wrote is quoted in Tabrizi’s commentary on the Jfamasa, which is still richer in extracts from the historical elucidations of early poems given by Ar-Riyâshi (d. 257). Of special fame as a genealogist was Ibn Habib

(d. 245), of whom we have a booklet on Arabian tribal names published by Wüstenfeld (1850). Azraki again was followed by Fâkihi, who wrote a History of Mecca in 272, and Omar b. Shabba (d. 262), who composed an excellent history of Basra, known to us only by excerpts. Of the works of Zobair b. Bakkâr (d. 256), one of Tabari’s teachers, a learned historian and genealogist much consulted by later writers, there is a fragment in the Köprülü library at Constantinople, and another in Göttingen, part of which has been made known by Wüstenfeld (Die Familie Al-Zobair, Göttingen, 1878). Ya'kübi or Ibn Wâdih wrote a short general history of much value, published by Houtsma (Leyden, 1883). About India he knows more than his predecessors and more than his successors down to BèrünL Ibn Khordâdbeh’s historical works are lost. Ibn c Abdalhakam (d. 257) wrote of the conquest of Egypt and the West. Extracts from this book are given by De Slane in his Histoire des Berbères, and others by Karie and Jones, from which we gather that it was a medley of true tradition and romance, and must be reckoned, with the book of his slightly senior contemporary, the Spaniard Ibn Habib, to the class of historical romances (see below, p. 5). A high place must be assigned to the historian Ibn Kotaiba (d. 276), who, as Rosen has well shown, wrote a series of books with a view to raising the scholarship of the large class of kdtιbs or official scribes. To this series belong his very useful Handbook of History (ed. Wüstenfeld, Göttingen, 1850) and his t 0yun al-Akhbar, though the latter book according to the arrangement falls rather under the class of litterae humaniores. Much more eminent is Belâdhori (d. 279), whose book on the Arab conquest (ed. De Goeje, Leyden, 1865-66) merits the special praise given to it by Mas'üdi. Of his great Ansol) al-Ashrdf a large part exists at Paris in the valuable collection of M. Schefer and another part was published by Ahlwardt in 1884. A contemporary, Ibn abi Tâhir Taifür (d. 280), wrote on the 'Abbâsid caliphs and was drawn on by Tabari. The sixth part of his work is in the British Museum. Of the universal history of Dinawari (d. 282), entitled The Long Narratives, an edition by Girgas is now (1887) in the press.

Tabari.

All these histories are more or less thrown into the shade by the great work of Tabari, whose fame has never faded from his own day to ours, and who well deserves to have this article on early Arabic histories placed under his name. Abû Ja'far Mohammed b. Jarir at-Tabari (so his full name runs) is described as a tall lean figure, with large eyes, brown complexion, and hair which remained black till his death. His learning was astounding and feλv could speak so well. Born 224 a.h. (838-9 a.d.) at Amol in Tabaristân, he came to Baghdad as a young man and heard there the most famous teachers of the age. He travelled through Syria and Egypt (where he was in 263), and finally settled down in Baghdad, where he remained till his death in 310 (922 a,d.), always active and surrounded by pupils. He is said to have written forty pages daily for forty years. This no doubt is an exaggeration, but certainly he must have been a man of most persistent industry. His two chief works are a great Commentary on the Koran and his Annals. There is an anecdote to the effect that each originally filled 30,000 leaves, but that his pupils found them too extensive to be written to his dictation, and that he then resolved to condense them to a tenth of their original size, exclaiming, “God help us! Ambition is extinct.” One cannot say how far this story is true, but it is probable enough that his materials, at least for the Annals, were many times greater than the book itself.

Where the same topic comes up in the Annals and in the Commentary we often find different traditions quoted, or the same tradition derived through different channels, and this shows the copious variety of his sources. Various parts of the Annals give the impression of being condensed. The Commentary was published before the Annals, and is better composed. It is the head corner-stone of Koran exegesis, as the Annals are of historiography. It came into general use mainly through the abridgment of Baghawi in the beginning of the 6th century of the Flight, being itself too large to be much read. The great book exists complete in the viceregal library at Cairo, and ought to be published at once.

The Annα⅛ are a general history from the creation to 302 A.H., and are in the course of publication at Leyden. They will fill some 7000 to 7500 pages, one and a half printed pages corresponding roughly to one leaf of Tabari’s original MS. Tabari added a supplement about his authorities, an abridgment of which is to follow the Leyden edition. It contains biographical notices of traditionalists, contemporaries of Mohammed, and their successors to the second half of the 2d century. Other works by Tabari will be spoken of in detail in the preface to the Leyden edition.

The success of the Annals and Commentary was due above all to the author’s personality. The respect paid to him by his contemporaries appears in various anecdotes preserved in his biography. His pupils had an unbounded admiration for his extraordinary knowledge, and what he said seemed to them the best that could be said. In truth, both his great works were the best of their kind, especially the Commentary, which, in the judgment of all impartial critics, has not been equalled, before or since, in completeness, learning, and independent judgment. A contemporary says that “it would be worth a journey to China to procure the book.” So general was this view that the opinion of Tabari was quoted as a legal authority.

The inferiority of the Annals as a literary composition may be due partly to the author’s years, partly to the inequality of his sources, sometimes superabundant, sometimes defective, partly perhaps to the somewhat hasty condensation of his original draft. Nevertheless the value of the book is very great: the author’s selection of traditions is usually happy, and the episodes of most importance are treated with most fulness of detail, so that it deserves the high reputation it has enjoyed from the first. This reputation rose steadily; there were twenty copies (one of them written by Tabari’s own hand) in the library of the Fâtimite caliph 'Aziz (latter half of the 4th century), whereas, when Saladin became lord of Egypt, the princely library contained 1200 copies (Ma⅛rizi, i. 408 sqj). Only princes and rich men could own a book which in the time of 'Aziz cost one hundred dinars. We know that it had a place in most great libraries in other countries, for we find that it was used in all lands. Thus the fact that no complete copy can now be found anywhere, and that the Leyden edition rests on odd volumes lying in various places, gives a striking image of what the East has suffered from barbarism.

The Annals soon came to be dealt with in various ways. They were published in shorter form with the omission of the names of authorities and of most of the poems cited; some passages quoted by later writers are not found even in the Leyden edition. On the other hand, some interpolations took place, one in the author’s lifetime and perhaps by his own hand. Then many supplements were written, e.g., by Ferghâni (not extant) and by Hamadhâni (partly preserved in Paris). ‘Arib of Cordova made an abridg ment, adding the history of the West and continuing the story to about 365. Ibn Mashkawaih wrote a history from the creation to 369 a.h., with the purpose of drawing the lessons of the story, following Tabari closely, as far as his book is known, and seldom recurring to other sources before the reign...