Evolution of the Arabic Tradition of History Writing: Essay on Historiography

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Abstract

History writing or Historiography is a study of historical writings means the art of writing history or the history of history. like many other disciplines, it was begun in the late 18th century. However, history writing is as old as humankind. Certainly, historians of the ancient past had a sense of history writing of their precursors.

Introduction

The term ‘history’ is derived from the Greek word ‘Istoria’ meaning inquiry, research, exploration, investigation, or information, and in the broad sense history is a systematic account of the origin and development of civilization, a record of the unique events and tendencies in its existence. in Arabic, the word history is written as “tarih” which is derived from the verb verraha succeeding from the word yeah in Ethiopian and Hebrew. It means determining the time and chain of incidents. Thinking and learning are what distinguish us from other elements. The most significant thing about learning is to learn more about our previous blunders. We live on this beautiful planet every day but knowing about our predecessor’s past actions enhances our proficiency.

“The past resembles the future more than one drop of water resembles each other”

Asserting this Ibn Khaldun emphasizes the importance of history in a nutshell. The acquired knowledge and familiarity of civilizations preserved artifacts, souvenirs, and scriptures. Later generations learned from the precise recordings of past incidents are in fact very important for the future. Processing of historical records and attitude towards its recording needs investigation.

Evolution of Arabic tradition of history writing

The beginning of the Arabic tradition of history writing is still a debatable point. At the end of the 19th century, historians ascertained the hypothesis that its root is in Persian and Arabs had no historical sense though Arabic historiography started in the second half of the eighth century under the Abbasids.

The need for history writing was not neglected by Arabs historians. During or after the times of the prophet Muhammad, Muslims in particular, Arabs had an interest in “gahiliyyah” mainly in the relative way to the reformation of Islam. As the availability of sources is rare at that period, one of the main purposes of grabs linguists was to preserve and protect it from the corruption of none Arab people. One of the advantages of this campaign is that this led to a collection of Oral traditions that are widely popular among the Arabs and in the fiction sources historians looked upon the oral sources.

They separated facts from popular legends and fiction, However, they took the trouble to segregate historical diamonds from the dust, stones, and pebbles.

The Early Arabic History Writing

The origin of history writing in Arabic is laying the first stone in the Quran and Hadis which is furthermore known as prophetic tradition also. It created a historical sense among the Muslims and it grew stronger with time one of the tough jobs is to verify the authenticity of the tradition, the teachings of the Quran life of the prophet, and Arabic terminology spoken and written during the prophet. The beginning of Arabic historiography was traced to be in the second century of Islam.

Eighth and Ninth Century Historians:-Method of history writing

A substantial amount of historical literature was produced by Muslim scholars in the 2nd century of Islam. The oral tradition was critically examined by prolific historians. These prolific writers and historians were inspired by the prophet Muhammed to compile their endeavor on history, the information contained within was carefully analyzed, and facts were segregated, From the oral, popular legend, and fiction.

Ali bin Muhammad al-madainiMadaini was one of the most prominent writers at that time he had composed hundreds of books and his work on the history of the caliphate and monographs on the history of Basra and Khurasan was very important for future historians. He gained fame for his work, however, none of his other works survived except for the history of the caliphate and monographs on the history of Basra and KhurasanMuhammad bin Omar al Waquidi

Inspired by Al-Madini, Waquidi Composed Some important works that left sustaining and critical accuracy of historical knowledge for future historians. Waquidi History was written in a plain narrative style. He died in 823 A.D. but his famous work “Kitab al- maghazi gives a brief account of the campaign led by the prophet.

Ibn sad wrote about the edicts, letters, and copies of the agreements available in that particular period. He was also inspired by al-madainiRosenthal, A History Of Muslim Historiography, 1968, Pp66-71

Historiography Development in Arabic History Writing pp7

Ahmad bin yahya Al- BalazuriBalazuri assembles all the important information that he collected from different sources in one place. He revised and eliminated inauthentic facts, and data from his work. His work Fatuh al baldan shows that before its ending it was more voluminous. He emphasized the Arab conquest of the nonarab lands in that particular time period. He mentions the life and achievement of the prophet and the significant events takes place during the time period of the caliph. He mentioned the conquest of Iran, makran, and Sindh provinces of India. He distinguished political events and accounts of conquests. Balazuri was one of the few writers of that specific period who mainly intensified the work, profession, and socio-economic and political condition/ participation of the common people. Through his work, one can certainly find some evidence about the social structure, job, need, and participation of the common people. In fact, in modern times, prolific writers or historians want to know about the condition of the lower strata of society. Like the representation of women in the political system, and the condition of women in that particular period. There are a lot of puzzles that were indeed left. While Describing Northern Balochistan called Hainan in that period mentioned the breeding of horses and emphasized the importance of horses in the warfare that was prevalent in those civilizations.

Tenth Century Historians:- Method and Style A tradition started with the work al-TabariAl Tabari prepared a mixture that is ahbar and isnad method and also mentions about the city monographs His Work Kitab Ahbar or Tarikh Al rasul wal muluk( that’s known as the history of the prophets and kings. he was one of the expert scholars of the prophetic tradition his work mentions the creation of the cosmos till his own time. He tried to utilize the sources as possible as he can, with an annalistic style of arrangement he categorized the reign of the rulers of that particular time period that’s why it looks more like a dynastic history book He mentioned the creation of the universe and the other cosmological activities that were in fact based on the oral tradition.

He verified all the evidence that he included in his work. He briefly mentioned the socio-religious changes brought up by the Islam

However, he didn’t drop his reputation in later times but his work was enhanced, broadened, supplemented, and outlined by his followers. Prolific writers like ibn Al asir used his work on the complete history and expanded on it over the last three centuries. This clearly shows the influence of the work of Tabari upon future historians.

Another tradition that is tabakat in the same period occurred in the bibliographical histories these works flourished as a result of the all types of sciences that were present in the Islamic period. That was also known as the era of the great debate.

One of the most disadvantages of these types of work is the difficulty in finding what we are looking for. One must require a great deal of knowledge to find out what type of article or biography he wants from these types of books. In fact, after the 12th century collected work get widespread in the Arabic Islamic scientific literature many authors, writers, and historians, and work consisted of many volumes about knowledge in each branch of general history tradition that came from al-tabari tradition.

However, ibn Al jawzi’s work is more comprehensive than its predecessor in two ways. For one events and reports were presented in the biographies of the caliphs Second, in the administrative history of the caliphate. One of the most important works is the obituary summaries given each year with the simplicity of the records in the widespread history section.

Musudi was the junior contemporary of Al-Tabari. Musudi was one of the intellectuals who enters Arabic Historiography. Al musubi is in fact privileged to be reckoned amongst the major Arabic historians. Musudi was not just a historian but he was also a geographer in his own way. He gained this precious proficiency through his voyage.

Musubi added a new dimension by combining geography with the history he added one of the reasons he has given by supporting his argument that human history exists in a definite environment that’s why it is crucial to add geography to history to know about the historical reason present in that specific period or the specific environment. He described the specific environment of the particular country with the history of the people in his work.

In his work “muruj al-zahab” which means “meadow of Gold”

Masudi often relinquishes in Cosmographical theory borrowed from the earlier works.

His one of main contributions was the implementation of the results of his wide voyage and journey, personal observation of history, and the recognition of cause and effect in the related phenomenon.

Al Masudi was the precursor of ibn Khaldun, one of the renowned late fourteenth-century arab historians. He was considered a philosopher of history and known as the father of modern sociology. Al Masudi Muruj Al Zabab was based on certain theoretical foundations that reflect the method and purpose of history.

All these made early Arabic historiography rich both in content and quality. It led to scholars to acknowledge it as a science in its own way. From the third to the sixth century of the Islamic era. A large number of historical works had been written. These also include one of the most important works of history of different regions of the Islamic world in fact local histories were now created in the third century of Islam.

One of the most significant development takes place in the fourth century of Islam because the recording of political history passed mainly into the hands of officials and courtiers. They mainly use official documents and their own personal contact. The information provided by these officials was more reliable but one of the problems is that they largely focus on the actions of the ruler and the occurrences in the judiciary. All these made early Arabic historiography rich both in content and quality.

Development in the later period

A new trend of dynastic history writing emerged in the later period. Now the rulers began to recruit historians to write the history of their dynasty. The subject matter of such historical texts that were produced under the sultan’s or local rulers is more political than politico-religious. Religion was brought up by them in the time of specific objectives. Sultan’s God-fearing nature was praised by the Ulama who was known as the religious divine. This led to the growth of history writing in Arabic in the 11th century to glorify the actions of sultans for the cause of Islam.

Philosophy of history: Ibn Khaldun:- Ibn Khaldun was not a scientist not yet a philosopher, he was not either a great historian but he was one of the greatest

The theoretician of history studied history with a sociological approach. According to Ibn Khaldun, the objectivity of history is the comprehension of humans’ social status which is civilization. His book was written in seven volumes his first volume was an introduction to his book Muqaddimah. A preface attached to his introduction gives us in detail information about the system, sources, and methodology of his work. The six other sections deal with the study of the community from its different perspectives.

Section one describes the civilization generally, and Section two of his work compares nomads and settled living of the period. His objective analyses the political, social, and economic factors underlying the establishment of political units and the evolution of the state.

Section three sums up the foundation of order and administration. Section Four compares rural and urban life. Section Five portrays diverse professions although section six discusses various sciences

The main difference between his work and his predecessor was predecessors began from the global conception of human society but ibn Khaldun began from the conception of human association.

His principles are not theocentric. Treats religion as no more than one factor, he mentioned that laws of the state may be derived from the religion but the state abstracts itself in practice from the whole compass. And follows its own aim. The state only exists for the protection of people and to ensure order in the kingdom.

Ibn Khaldun added that he was not an irreligious man but he was a great devout Muslim. He tried his best to reconcile the ideal developments of the sharia with the feet of history.

He deeply believed that economic prosperity and development can be achieved if the ordinances of the sharia are observed carefully.

The muqaddimah basically held foundational work for the schools of historiography, cultural history, and the philosophy of history.

Conclusion

Inspired by the Quran and hadiths Arabic scholars began history writing in the 8th century which is the 2nd century of Islam. Apart from the Quran and Islamic texts a lot of efforts were made to collect the material from the oral tradition and written material. The main theme of the Arabic scholars was the life activities and warfare of the prophet and their followers along with these themes dynastic history, history of religion, and conquests were taken up by the sultans and local rulers, and with the growth of dynastic his became an important part of the later Arabic historiography. Even after ibn Khaldun no prominent figure in the Islamic world brought a new method of history writing. Historiography as a field formed at this time as a separate field. Sometimes it is very difficult for historians to understand the scientific activities of the past by using today’s scope. To get a more thorough conclusion one needs to study panegyric literature, poetries, travelogues and many manuscripts related to history need study.

Bibliography

E Sreedharan, A textbook of Historiography
Rosenthal, A History of Muslim historiography
Historiography Development in Arabic History Writing

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