The prophetic traditions of the Quran and the Hadis inspire history-writing in Arabic. The detailed reference to the Prophet and their followers of the past mentioned in the Quran created a historical sense among the Muslims. This created awareness about time and historical facts among the Muslims, who then realized the need to complete them to benefit posterity.
The early Arabic historians made every effort to verify the authenticity of the materials before incorporating them in their works. They applied the critical method, called Silsilah-i-Isnad (chain of narrators), to check the authenticity of a report about a historical event.
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The Early Arabic History-Writing
Arabic historical writings first began to develop in the second century of Islam, or the 8th century AD. Arabic historians presented the life and activities of the Prophet Muhammad. Before that, for a century, the source of information was memory and the oral tradition. During the 8th and 9th centuries AD, number of works were produced by Muslim scholars. One of the early historians was Ali bin Muhammad al-Madaini, who was a profile writer, composed hundreds of books, including important books of Basra and Khurasan.
He inspired other scholars like Al-Balazuri, Al-Waqidi, and Ibn Sad. During the 10th century, Muhammad bin Jarir al-Tabari was known for his celebrated work, Tarikh al-Rasul wal-Muluk (History of the Prophets and Kings), a detailed and comprehensive chronicle of the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern history. Al-Masudi, a junior contemporary of al-Tabari, is another great Arabic historian who gave a new dimension to Arabic history-writing by adding geographic knowledge while presenting the historical facts.
Alongside the official historians, Abu Raihan al-Biruni and Izuddin Ibn al-Asir made some significant contributions to Arabic historiography. Al-Biruni applied mathematical and astronomical science to the determination of chronology in his Asir al-Baqia, while Al-Asir’s works mark the re-emergence of the scholar-historian.
Persian Historiography
The history-writing in Persian language started towards the end of the 10th century and many of the earlier works were translations of Arabic classics. The first notable translation in Persian from Arabic was Tabari’s Tarikh in 963 AD by Samanid Wazir Abu Ali al-Balami. Under the patronage of kings, it seems many historical works were written in Persian but few of them survive.
Abu Said Gardezi (Zain al-Akbar) and Abu Fazal Baihaqi (Tarikh-I ale Subuktigin) have made an outstanding contribution to the historiography in Persian. Gardezzi derived information mainly from Al-Biruni’s works, but in his work Zain al-Akhbar, he added additional materials on the reign of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna. The importance of Baihaqi’s work is based on the fact that the source was the official document and his diary.
It is worth mentioning that Al-Biruni’s Zain al-Akhbar and Baihaqi’s work Tarikh-I ale Subuktigin were produced in the tradition of Arabic writers on Islamic history, and they do not seem to have been influenced by the ancient Persian historiography. They were very particular about establishing the authenticity of an event before incorporating it into their works. Unlike the ancient Persian historians, their works were free from mythological elements and fictions.
Thus, different Arabic and Persian scholars contributed to history-writing.