Ṭabarī

تاريخ الرسل والملوك لابي جعفر محمد بن جرير الطبري

تاريخ الطبري

Tafsīr al-Qurʼān

Mu?ammad Ibn-?ar?r a?- ?abar?

طبري

Muḥammad Ibn-Ǧarīr aṭ- Ṭabarī

Muḥammad ibn Ğarīr Al- Ṭabarī

This volume 16 of Tabari's great 40-volume history of the Arabs treats the Caliphate of 'Ali I, 656-651

The Community Divided

Although this volume deals with the part of al-Tabari's History covering the years 12 and 13 (633-35), in the caliphates of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq and 'Umar b. al-Khattab, the narratives contained in it, which are lengthy and detailed, are concerned with the first Muslim conquests in Iraq and Syria. Although it might be expected, therefore, that this volume would be a basic source for these conquests, the actual value of the bulk of the reported traditions is in considerable doubt because most of the material is derived from a later Kufan traditionist, Sayf b. 'Umar (d. 170-93/786-809), who apparently exaggerated and distorted his material considerably. Indeed, Sayf's transmissions clearly reveal the tendency of his party, an anti-Shi'ite faction based on the Arab Mudar tribal group in al-Kufah that had lost out with the fall of the Umayyads and the coming of the 'Abbasids to power. Although Sayf's transmissions thus have limited value as far as the earliest conquests themselves are concerned, they are of the utmost value in revealing the content and character of Islamic historical debates in the late 2nd/8th century. In addition, they permit us to elucidate and reconstruct an early harmonizing tendency in Islam that undoubtedly had a significant effect on the way later Muslims viewed their earliest history. The translation is preceded by an introduction analyzing the tendencies of Sayf and his party as revealed in this volume. Extensive notes accompany the text for the benefit of historians in other fields, as well as of Islamic specialists.

The Challenge to the Empires

By 735 an Arab empire stretched from Arles and Avignon in southern France to the Indus River and Central Asia, and a vital young civilization fostered by a new world religion was taking root. Yet the Muslim conquerors were divided by tribal quarrels, tensions among new converts, and religious revolts. In 745 a vigorous new successor to the Prophet took control in Damascus and began to restore the waning power of the Umayyad dynasty. Marwan II's attempts were thwarted, however, by revolts on every hand, even among his own relatives. The main body of dissidents was a well-trained group of revolutionaries in Khurasan, led by the remarkable Abu Muslim. By 748 they had seized control of the province and drive the governor, Nasr b. Sayyar al-Laythi, to his death and were advancing westward. This volume tells of the end of the Umayyad caliphate, the Abbasid Revolution, and the establishment of the new dynasty.

The 'Abbasid Revolution A.D. 743-750/A.H. 126-132

The History of al-Tabari Vol. 27

جامع البيان عن تأويل آي القرآن

Jāmiʻ al-bayān fī tafsīr al-Ḳurʻān [li-] Abī Jaʻfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī ... wadaʻana biʻl-hm̄ashi Tafsīr gharaāʻib al-Kurʻān wa-raghāʻib al-Furḳān [li-] Niẓām al-Dīn al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥummad ibn Ḥusain al-Nīsābūrī ...

Ṭabarī

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