Al-Zuhrī: A Study on the Beginning of History Writing in Islam

A. A. Duri

doi:10.1017/S0041977X00119172

Al-Zuhrī: A Study on the Beginning of History Writing in Islam

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 December 2009

A. A. Duri

Article contents

Extract
References

Get access

Rights & Permissions

Extract

The beginnings of history writing in Islam were cultivated in two centres—Medina, representing Islamic interests and primarily concerned with the Sīra (Life of the Prophet) and the early history of Islam, and Irāq—more specifically Kūfa and Basra—representing tribal interests and lines of historical studies. These beginnings were collective pursuits, individual activity being a part of a school and adding further to its development.

Type: Articles
Information: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , February 1957 , pp. 1 - 12

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0041977X00119172 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1957

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

^{page 01 note 1} Maghāzī is explained as ‘campaigns’, and though this is literally accurate, it means historically, at this period, the prophetic career of Muhammad.

^{page 01 note 2} See El, art. ‘Sīra’.

^{page 01 note 3} Bukhārī, Tārīkh, I, pt. I, p. 221; I. Qutaiba, Ma‘īrif, 239; Yāfi‘ī, Mir'āt, I, 260; I. al-Jawzī, Ṣafwat al-ṡafwa, II, 79; Dhahabī, , ZDMG, XLIV, 1890, 435.Google Scholar Both Dhahabī, Tarājim, ed. by Fischer, 73, and Ibn Kathīr, ix, 434, give the alternative versions of A.H. 123 and 125 but confirm A.H. 124, cf. Aghānī, VI, 106.

^{page 01 note 4} Dhahabī, op. cit., 73 (Wāqidā makes it A.H. 58); I. Jawzī, op. cit., II, 79; I. Kathīr, op. cit., 344.

^{page 01 note 5} I. Kathīr, IX, 344.

^{page 01 note 6} Fischer, (Dhahabī), ZDMG, XLIV, 1890, 435.Google Scholar

^{page 01 note 7} He sat with him many (6–10) years. Dhahabī, op. cit., 67.

^{page 01 note 8} See Bukhārī, op. cit., I, pt. I, 451.

^{page 01 note 9} See Aghānī, VIII, 92, 93.

^{page 02 note 1} ibid., 92; Ibn Ḥajar, Tahdhīb, VII, 65.

^{page 02 note 2} Dhahabī, op. cit., 69, cf. I. Qutaiba, op. cit., 260; Bukhārī, op. cit., I, pt. I, p. 221; I. Jawzī, op. cit., n, 77–8.

^{page 02 note 3} Sam‘ānī, Ansāb, 281; Dhahabī, op. cit., 68; I. Ḥajar, VII, 68.

^{page 02 note 4} Dhahabī, op. cit., 67.

^{page 02 note 5} I. Ḥajar, VII, 67; I. Kathīr, IX, 344; cf. I. Jawzī, op. cit., II, 78.

^{page 02 note 6} Bukhārī, op. cit., IV, 32; Abū Nu‘aim, Ḥilya, III, 360; I. Ḥajar, op. cit., VII, 65.

^{page 02 note 7} I. Khallikān, I, 586.

^{page 02 note 8} Hajjī Khalīfa (Istanbul), II, 1747.

^{page 02 note 9} Sakhāwī, I‘lān, 48.

^{page 02 note 10} Available quotations from ‘Urwa deal mainly with the beginning of the Waḥy (revelation), the emigration (Hijra), Badr, the Qainuqā‘, the Ḥudaibiyya, the conquest of Mecca, and some private affairs of the Prophet.

^{page 02 note 11} Wāqidī (MSS ed. by Jones), 151, 219, 421, 436, 562, 828, 869, 1025; Balādhurī, Ansāb, V, 25, 26, 67, 97; Ṭabari, I, 1815.

^{page 02 note 12} Wāqidī (MSS), 383, 519, 657, 816, Ṭab., I, 1834.

^{page 02 note 13} Ibn Ka'b b. Mālik (Wāqidī MSS, 162, 208; I. Sayyid al-Nās, I, 231); Anas b. Mālik (Ṭab., I, 1828); Muhammad b. Jubair b. Muṭ‘im (Wāqidī, 381, I.S.N., I, 30); Ibn ‘Abbās (Ṭab., I, 1569, I.S.N., II, 145); ‘Abdullah b. ‘Amr b. al-‘Āīş (Ibn Hishām, ed. Wüstenfeld (hereafter referred to as I.H.), 414); Ibn Salama b. ‘Abd al-Raḥmān b. ‘Awf (Ṭab., I, 1019, Wāqidī, 745, I.S.N., I, 142); Mālik b. Aws b. al-Ḥadathān (Wāqidī, 249, 363).

^{page 02 note 14} See Dhahabī, op. cit., 69.

^{page 03 note 1} See Horovitz, , ‘The earliest biographies of the Prophet and their authors’, Isl. Culture, II, 1928,Google Scholar 33 ff.

^{page 03 note 2} See Bukhārī, op. cit., I, pt. I, 221; I. Jawzī, op. cit., II, 77, 78; Dhahabī, op. cit., 68, 72; Yāfi‘ī, 261; I. Kathīr, IX, 342.

^{page 03 note 3} I‘lān, 88 (transl. in Bosenthal, A history of Muslim historiography, 323).

^{page 03 note 4} Hajjī Khalīfa (Istanbul), II, 1747.

^{page 03 note 5} Aghānī, XIX, 59.

^{page 03 note 6} Ṭab., I, 112.

^{page 03 note 7} ibid., I, 200–1.

^{page 03 note 8} ibid., I, 1253.

^{page 03 note 9} ibid., I, 293.

^{page 03 note 10} Sakhāwī, I‘lān, 88.

^{page 03 note 11} Ṭab., I, 1014.

^{page 03 note 12} ibid., I, 1145.

^{page 03 note 13} Ibn Sayyid al-Nās (I.S.N.), I, 47, 50; Ṭab., I, 1145.

^{page 04 note 1} Ṭabarī, I, 1156; I.S.N., I, 84–5.

^{page 04 note 2} Fihrist, 25; I.S.N., I, 88.

^{page 04 note 3} Ṭab., I, 1155; I.S.N., I, 85.

^{page 04 note 4} Ṭab., I, 1167; I.S.N., I, 92.

^{page 04 note 5} I.H., 203; cf. I.S.N., I, 111–12.

^{page 04 note 6} I.H., 282, 283; Ṭab., I, 1205–6, 1213.

^{page 04 note 7} I.H., 222–3, 217–22.

^{page 04 note 8} I.S.N., I, 126–7.

^{page 04 note 9} ibid., I, 131–2.

^{page 04 note 10} ibid., I, 142, 145, 148.

^{page 04 note 11} Ṭab., I, 1213; I.S.N., I, 157–8.

^{page 04 note 12} I.H., 231–2.

^{page 04 note 13} Ṭab., I, 250, 256; I.S.N., I, 185–6.

^{page 04 note 14} I.H., 417.

^{page 04 note 15} Ṭab., I, 1273.

^{page 04 note 16} Wāqidī (Cairo ed.), 10; I.S.N., I, 229.

^{page 04 note 17} I.H., 393–4.

^{page 04 note 18} ibid., 591.

^{page 04 note 19} I.S.N., I, 231, 236.

^{page 04 note 20} Ṭab., I, 1291 ff.

^{page 04 note 21} Ṭab., I, 1292.

^{page 04 note 22} Wāqidī, 43,45–6,50, also MSS (Jones), 52–3,56–7,131; Ṭab., I,1322–3.

^{page 04 note 23} Wāqidī, 62, 82, and MSS (Jones), 101.

^{page 05 note 1} ibid., 89, 111, and MSS, 107–8.

^{page 05 note 2} ibid., 142, and MSS, 159–60.

^{page 05 note 3} ibid., 144–5, and MSS, 162.

^{page 05 note 4} Ṭab., I, 1378–9.

^{page 05 note 5} Wāqidī, 151.

^{page 05 note 6} ibid., 134–41, and MSS, 156–8; Ṭab., I,1360.

^{page 05 note 7} Wāqidī, 143, and MSS, 124.

^{page 05 note 8} ibid., 159.

^{page 05 note 9} ibid. (MSS), 185; Ṭab., I,1384 ff.; I.S.N., II, 2 ff.

^{page 05 note 10} Wāqidī, 164–8, and MSS, 185–6.

^{page 05 note 11} I.H., 591.

^{page 05 note 12} Wāqidī, 184–5, and MSS, 208; Ṭab., I, 1406.

^{page 05 note 13} Wāqidī, 185–6, and MSS, 219; Ṭab., I, 1406–7.

^{page 05 note 14} Wāqidī, 212.

^{page 05 note 15} I.H., 586; Wāqidī, 239; I.S.N.I II, 21.

^{page 05 note 16} Ṭab., I, 1451; Balāhurī, Futūḥ, 18–20, 21; I.S.N., n, 48, 50–1; Wāqidī (MSS), 158 ff., 331–2.

^{page 05 note 17} Ṭab., I, 1464; Wāqidī (MSS), 387 ff.; I.S.N., 55 ff.

^{page 05 note 18} Ṭab., I, 1473; Wāqidī (MSS), 421–4.

^{page 05 note 19} Wāqidī (MSS), 431–2, 436.

^{page 05 note 20} Ṭab., I, 1485; I.S.N., II, 68.

^{page 05 note 21} Balādhurī, Futūḥ, 283.

^{page 05 note 22} I.S.N., II, 74.

^{page 05 note 23} Wāqidī (MSS), 480–1.

^{page 05 note 24} Ṭab. I, 1517 ff.; I.S.N., II, 387 ff.

^{page 05 note 25} Wāqidī (MSS), 508; cf. I.S.N., II, 105–6.

^{page 06 note 1} Ṭab., I, 1529; I.S.N., II, 113.

^{page 06 note 2} Ṭab., I, 1531, 1537; I.S.N., II, 115; Wāqidī (MSS), 519, 529–30.

^{page 06 note 3} Ṭab., I, 1549–50; I.H., 740–6, 747–9; I.S.N., II, 115–19; Wāqidī (MSS), 565–70, 572–3; I.S.N., II, 121, 122.

^{page 06 note 4} I.H., 779; Wāqidī (MSS), 634, 657; Balādhurī, Futūḥ, 27; I.S.N., II, 136, 137.

^{page 06 note 5} Ṭab., I, 1575.

^{page 06 note 6} Balādhurī, Futūḥ, 59.

^{page 06 note 7} Ghazwat al-Qaḍiyya (Wāqidī, MSS), 670 ff., in a collective tradition. The raid of Abi'l-‘Aujā’ al-Silmī, ibid., 680. Both these raids were in A.H. 7. A raid on Dhāt Atlā' (A.H. 8), I.S.N., II, 152.

^{page 06 note 8} I.H., 747–9.

^{page 06 note 9} Ṭab., I, 1620; I.S.N., II, 120.

^{page 06 note 10} Wāqidī (MSS), 731.

^{page 06 note 11} Ṭab., I, 1628; I.H., 810; Wāqidī (MSS) gives date of conquest, 818.

^{page 06 note 12} Ṭab., I, 1565–6; Wāqidī (MSS), 766, 795, cf. 765–6.

^{page 06 note 13} I.H., 844; Wāqidī (MSS), 818, 819; I.S.N., II, 191–2.

^{page 06 note 14} Ṭab., I, 1661, 1662; Wāqidī (MSS), 826–7, 828–9.

^{page 06 note 15} Wāqidī (MSS), 869–70.

^{page 06 note 16} Ṭab., I, 1692. “I.H., 798; I.S.N., II, 218.

^{page 07 note 1} Balādhurī, Futūḥ, 68.

^{page 07 note 2} ibid., 59.

^{page 07 note 3} ibid., 63.

^{page 07 note 4} Ṭab., I, 1739.

^{page 07 note 5} ibid., I, 1565–6.

^{page 07 note 6} Ṭab., I, 1572.

^{page 07 note 7} I.H. (Cairo), I, 79.

^{page 07 note 8} I.S.N., II, 244–5.

^{page 07 note 9} Wāqidī, (MSS), 896–903.

^{page 07 note 10} Ṭab., I, 1776.

^{page 07 note 11} ibid., 1788; cf. I.S.N., I, 30.

^{page 07 note 12} Wāqidī, (MSS), 1001, 1005 ff.

^{page 07 note 13} Wāqidī, 1025.

^{page 07 note 14} Ṭab., I, 1809, 1810; I.S.N., II, 336–7.

^{page 07 note 15} Ṭab., I, 1813; I.H., 1010.

^{page 07 note 16} Ṭab., I, 1814, 1834–5.

^{page 07 note 17} ibid., 1831.

^{page 07 note 18} cf. Ṭab., I, 1116, and see p. 9 of this article.

^{page 08 note 1} See above, p. 4 ff.

^{page 08 note 2} cf. I. Kathīr, IX, 343; ZDMG, XLIV, 1890,431.

^{page 08 note 3} Dhahabī, op. cit.,72, ‘Safety is in following the Sunna’ says Zuhrī, also, ibid., 78; cf. I.H. (Cairo), I, 79.

^{page 08 note 4} Bukhārī, op. cit., IV, 32.

^{page 08 note 5} See Ṭab., I, 1517; I.S.N., II, 96.

^{page 08 note 6} cf. Wāqidī (MSS), 562–70, 156–7; I.S.N., II, 96 ff., 121.

^{page 08 note 7} See Wāqidī (MSS), 562–70, 572–3; cf. I.S.N., I, 222.

^{page 08 note 8} See Ṭab., I, 1473; Wāqidī (MSS), 421–2.

^{page 08 note 9} Ṭab., I, 1594.

^{page 08 note 10} See I.H., 894, about dhāt anwāṭ.

^{page 08 note 11} See Ṭab., I, 1154, 1485, 1360.

^{page 08 note 12} Dhahabī, op. cit., 74; I. Kathīr, IX, 343.

^{page 08 note 13} Ṭab., I, 1565–6.

^{page 08 note 14} ibid., 1, 1014.

^{page 08 note 15} ibid., 1, 1145.

^{page 09 note 1} I.H., 331–2.

^{page 09 note 2} I. Jawzī, op. cit., II, 78; I. Kathīr, IX, 342; Ḥilya, III, 362.

^{page 09 note 3} cf. Ṭab., I, 112, 200–1, 293. However, it seems that these were not included in hia Maghāzī.

^{page 09 note 4} See Wāqidī, op. cit., 94, and MSS, 569–70; Ṭab., I, 1652–3.

^{page 09 note 5} Dhahabī, op. cit., 73; I. Kathīr, IX, 343.

^{page 09 note 6} cf. Aghānī, IV, 49.

^{page 09 note 7} I. Jawzī, op. cit., II, 78; ZDMO, XLIV, 1890, 434; Ḥilya, III, 361. cf. I.H. (Cairo), I, 8.

^{page 09 note 8} Aghānī, XIX, 59.

^{page 09 note 9} Nasab Quraish, 3.

^{page 09 note 10} Dhahabī, op. cit., 68.

^{page 09 note 11} Ṭab., I, 1820–4; I.H., 683–6. For the commotion after the death of the Prophet, see Ṭab., I, 1816–7.

^{page 09 note 12} Ṭab., I, 2142–3, and 1828–9.

^{page 09 note 13} Ṭab., I, 1825–7, also Abū Bakr's death, ibid., 2128.

^{page 09 note 14} Balādhurī, Futūḥ, 450 ff. and 455.

^{page 09 note 15} cf. Balādhurī, Ansāb, v, 21.

^{page 09 note 16} Ṭab., I, 2731 and 2757–8; see also I, 2798.

^{page 09 note 17} Fihrist, 24.

^{page 09 note 18} Balādhurī, Futūḥ, 462; Ansāb, V, 25.

^{page 09 note 19} Balādhurī, Ansāb, V, 26, 27, 38, 39, 88–9.

^{page 09 note 20} ibid., 26, 67 ff., 89.

^{page 09 note 21} ibid., 62, 67–9.

^{page 09 note 22} See ibid., 26, 88–90.

^{page 10 note 1} ibid., 62, 67–70, 85, 91, 97; Ṭab., I, 2871, and 305–12.

^{page 10 note 2} Balādhurī, Ansāb, V, 69–71, 91–2.

^{page 10 note 3} Ṭab., I, 3069, 3102–3, 3185–7.

^{page 10 note 4} ibid., 3241–2, 3341–3, 3390–2.

^{page 10 note 5} Ṭab., II, 1, 5–7.

^{page 10 note 6} ibid., II, 149.

^{page 10 note 7} ibid., II, 428.

^{page 10 note 8} ibid., II, 1269.

^{page 10 note 9} cf. Balādhurī, Futūḥ, 19–20, 59, 68, 80, 384.

^{page 10 note 10} cf. Dhahabī, op. cit., 72; Goldziher's remarks (Muh. Studien, II, 35–6, 37–8, 40) are hardly critical.

^{page 11 note 1} Ya‘qubī, Ta'rīkh, II, 311.

^{page 11 note 2} I. Kathīr, IX, 340–1, Dhahabī, op. cit., 70; I. Qutaiba, Ma'ārif, 239. Ibn Kathīr adds that he was given a pension by the Caliph on his request; cf. I. Sa‘d, VII, 157; I. Qutaiba, op. cit., 228.

^{page 11 note 3} Balādhurī, ed. Ahlwardt, 163.

^{page 11 note 4} Bukhārī, Tārīkh, 93.

^{page 11 note 5} Dhahabī, op. cit., 70; I. Kathīr, IX, 341–2; I. Jawzī, op. cit., II, 79.

^{page 11 note 6} I. Jawzī, II, 78; cf. Ibn ‘Abd al-Ḥakam, ed. Torrey, 104.

^{page 11 note 7} Dhahabī, op. cit., 70–1; I. Kathīr, IX, 342.

^{page 11 note 8} Ḥilya, II, 361.

^{page 11 note 9} Dhahabī, 72.

^{page 11 note 10} Yāfi‘ī, I, 261; I. Qutaiba, Ma‘ārif, 260–1.

^{page 12 note 1} Dhahabī, 72; I. Kathīr, IX, 344; Ḥilya, III, 361, 363.

^{page 12 note 2} Dhahabī, 69; I. Kathīr, IX, 341; Ḥilya, III, 363.

^{page 12 note 3} See above, p. 2.

^{page 12 note 4} Dhahabī, 72–3.

^{page 12 note 5} I. Kathīr, IX, 344.

^{page 12 note 6} Dhahabī, 69, 70.

^{page 12 note 7} I. Jawzī, II, 78.

Article contents

Al-Zuhrī: A Study on the Beginning of History Writing in Islam

Extract

Access options

References

Save article to Kindle

Save article to Dropbox

Save article to Google Drive

Reply to: Submit a response

Your details

You have entered the maximum number of contributors

Conflicting interests