Reinterpreting Islamic Historiography

Harun Al-Rashid and the Narrative of the Abbasid Caliphate
Erscheinungsjahr 2006
ISBN: 978-0-521-03304-6
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 246 Seiten, Paperback, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 408 g

Reihe: Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization

The history of the early 'Abbasid Caliphate has long been studied as a factual or interpretive synthesis of various accounts preserved in the medieval Islamic chronicles. Tayeb El-Hibri's book breaks with the traditional approach, applying a literary-critical reading to examine the lives of the caliphs. By focusing on the reigns of Harun al-Rashid and his successors, the study demonstrates how the various historical accounts were not in fact intended as faithful portraits of the past, but as allusive devices used to shed light on controversial religious, political and social issues of the period. The analysis also reveals how the exercise of decoding Islamic historigraphy, through an investigation of the narrative strategies and thematic motifs used in the chronicles, can uncover new layers of meaning and even identify the early narrators. This is an important book which represents a landmark in the field of early Islamic historiography.

Autoren/Hrsg.

El-Hibri, Tayeb

Morgan, David

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein Historiographie
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Asiatische Geschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations and note on the dates; Genealogical table: the line of the early 'Abbasid caliphs; 1. Historical background and introduction; 2. Harun al-Rashid: where it all started and ended; 3. Al-Amin: the challenge of regicide in Islamic memory; 4. Al-Ma'mun: the heretic Caliph; 5. The structure of civil war narratives; 6. Al-Mutawakkil: an encore of the family tragedy; Conclusion; Select bibliography; Index.