Arabic Historical Thought in the Classical Period

Cover......Page 1
Front page
......Page 6
Contents......Page 10
Preface......Page 12
CHAPTER 1. The birth of a tradition......Page 16
CHAPTER 2. History and Hadith......Page 32
From Hadith to history......Page 43
Sacred history......Page 45
Muhammad ibn Ishaq (d. 151/761)......Page 49
The isnad debate of the third/ninth century......Page 54
Sacred history continued: the scholarly consensus of Waqidi and Ibn Sad......Page 59
Tribal history: genealogy......Page 64
Tribal history continued: genealogy reformulated......Page 69
The genealogies of al-Baladhuri......Page 73
Tribal history continued: the conquests......Page 77
The conquests: three representative histories......Page 80
The histories of prophets......Page 83
Tabari, the imam' of Hadith historiography......Page 88
Concluding observations......Page 96
The rise of Adab......Page 98
The Umayyad state secretaries......Page 104
From Adab to history: the second-fourth centuries AH (eighth-tenth AD)......Page 111
Adab, Hikma and history: Jahiz......Page 119
Adab, Hadith and history: Ibn Qutayba......Page 123
Intention, space, time and number......Page 126
Intention......Page 128
Space......Page 130
Number......Page 137
Three aspects of historical thought: pattern, argument and style......Page 139
Mas'udi: Adab, Hikma, history......Page 146
The khabar: jurists and theologians......Page 152
The khabar: four formulations of the fifth/eleventh century......Page 157
'Abd al-Jabbar......Page 158
Baghdadi......Page 161
Basri......Page 163
Ibn Hazm......Page 164
The four formulations examined......Page 165
Miracle and custom......Page 166
Time and the philosophers......Page 173
History and the philosophers......Page 177
History as administrative experience: Miskawayhi (d. 420/1030)......Page 185
History and natural science: Biruni......Page 191
The background......Page 197
Images of a new age......Page 199
Images of a new society......Page 203
The institution of rank......Page 204
Sultans and 'ulama'......Page 206
Siyasa and shari'a......Page 208
History and self-consciousness......Page 215
Biographical dictionaries......Page 219
Bezels of wisdom, glimpses of the Unseen......Page 225
Patterns of change......Page 230
The sense of place......Page 234
Ibn Khaldun......Page 237
Conclusion......Page 247
Bibliography of primary Arabic sources......Page 250
Index......Page 258