The End of Expansion SUNY Series in Near title: Eastern Studies author: Tabari.; Blankinship, Khalid Yahya. publisher: State University of New York Press isbn10 | asin: 0887065694 print isbn13: 9780887065699 ebook isbn13: 9780585084565 language: English subject Islamic Empire--History--661-750. publication date: 1989 lcc: DS38.2.T313 1985eb ddc: 909/.1 subject: Islamic Empire--History--661-750. Page i The History of Al-Tabari An Annotated Translation Volume XXV The End of Expansion: The Caliphate of Hisham A.D. 724-758/A.H. 105-120 Page ii The History of al-Tabari Editorial Board Ihsan Abbas, University of Jordan, Amman C. E. Bosworth, The University of Manchester Jacob Lassner, Wayne State University, Detroit Franz Rosenthal, Yale University Ehsan Yar-Shater, Columbia University (General Editor) SUNY SERIES IN NEAR EASTERN STUDIES Said Amir Arjomand, Editor The general editor acknowledges with gratitude the support received for the execution of this project from the Division of Research Programs, Translations Division of the National Endowment for the Humanities, an independent federal agency. Page iii Bibliotheca Persica Edited by Ehsan Yar-Shater The History of al-Tabari (Ta'rikh al-rusul wa'l-muluk) VolumeXXV The End of Expansion translated by Khalid Yahya Blankinship University of Washington State University of New York Press Disclaimer: This book contains characters with diacritics. When the characters can be represented using the ISO 8859-1 character set (","http://www.w3.org/TR/images/latin1.gif">http://www.w3.org/TR/images/latin1.gif netLibrary will represent them as they appear in the original text, and most computers will be able to show the full characters correctly. In order to keep the text searchable and readable on most computers, characters with diacritics that are not part of the ISO 8859-1 list will be represented without their diacritical marks.Disclaimer: The preparation of this volume was made possible in part by a grant from the Division of Research Programs of the National Endowment for the Humanities, an independent federal agency. Published by State University of New York Press, Albany © 1989 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address State University of New York Press, State University Plaza, Albany, N.Y. 12246 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Tabari, 838?-923. The end of expansion. (The history of al-Tabari=Ta'rikh al-rusul wa'l-muluk; v.25) (SUNY series in Near Eastern studies) (Bibliotheca Persica) Translation of extracts from: Ta'rikh al-rusul wa-al-muluk. Bibliography: p. Includes Index. 1. Islamic EmpireHistory661-750 I. Blankinship, Khalid Yahya. II. Title. III. Series: Tabari, 838?-923. Ta'rikh al-rusul wa-al-muluk. English: v. 25. IV. Series: SUNY series in Near Eastern studies. V. Series: Bibliotheca Persica (Albany, N.Y.) DS38.2.T313 1985 vol. 25 [DS 38.5] 909'.1 s 87-7125 ISBN 0-88706-569-4 [909'.09767101] ISBN 0-88706-570-8 (pbk.) Page v Preface The History of Prophets and Kings (Ta'rfkh al-rusul wa'l-muluk) by Abu Ja`far Muhammad b. Jarir al-Tabari (839-923), here rendered as the History of al-Tabari, is by common consent the most important universal history produced in the world of Islam. It has been translated here in its entirety for the first time for the benefit of non-Arabists, with historical and philological notes for those interested in the particulars of the text. Tabari's monumental work explores the history of the ancient nations, with special emphasis on biblical peoples and prophets, the legendary and factual history of ancient Iran, and, in great detail, the rise of Islam, the life of the Prophet Muhammad, and the history of the Islamic world down to the year 915. The first volume of this translation will contain a biography of al-Tabari and a discussion of the method, scope, and value of his work. It will also provide information on some of the technical considerations that have guided the work of the translators. The History has been divided into 38 volumes, each of which covers about two hundred pages of the original Arabic text in the Leiden edition. An attempt has been made to draw the dividing lines between the individual volumes in such a way that each is to some degree independent and can be read as such. The page numbers of the original in the Leiden edition appear on the margins of the translated volumes. A1-Tabari very often quotes his sources verbatim and traces the chain of transmission (isnad) to an original source. The chains of Page vi transmitters are, for the sake of brevity, rendered by only a dash () between the individual links in the chain. Thus, according to Ibn Humayd-Salamah-Ibn Ishaq means that al-Tabari received the report from Ibn Humayd who said that he was told by Ibn Ishaq, and so on. The numerous subtle and important differences in the original Arabic wording have been disregarded. The table of contents at the beginning of each volume gives a brief survey of the topics dealt with in that particular volume. It also includes the headings and subheadings as they appear in al-Tabari's text, as well as those occasionally introduced by the translator. Well-known place names, such as, for instance, Mecca, Baghdad, Jerusalem, Damascus, and the Yemen, are given in their English spellings. Less common place names, which are the vast majority, are transliterated. Biblical figures appear in the accepted English spelling. Iranian names are usually transcribed according to their Arabic forms, and the presumed Iranian forms are often discussed in the footnotes. Technical terms have been translated wherever possible, but some, such as dirham and imam, have been retained in Arabic forms. Others which cannot be translated with sufficient precision have been retained and italicized as well as footnoted. The annotation aims chiefly at clarifying difficult passages, identifying individuals and place names, and discussing textual difficulties. Much leeway has been left to the translators to include in the footnotes whatever they consider necessary and helpful. The bibliographies list all the sources mentioned in the annotation. The index in each volume contains all the names of persons and places referred to in the text, as well as those mentioned in the notes as far as they refer to the medieval period. It does not include the names of modern scholars. A general index, it is hoped, will appear after all the volumes have been published. For further details concerning the series and acknowledgments, see Preface to Volume I. EHSAN YAR-SHATER