Arabs and Iranians in the Islamic Conquest Narrative: Memory and Identity Construction in Islamic Historiography, 750-1050

259 Pages·2017·3.35 MB·English

by  Scott Savran

Arabs and Iranians in the Islamic
Conquest Narrative
Arabs and Iranians in the Islamic Conquest Narrative analyzes how early
Muslim historians merged the pre- Islamic histories of the Arab and Iranian
peoples into a didactic narrative culminating with the Arab conquest of Iran.
This book provides an in-d epth examination of Islamic historical accounts of
the encounters between representatives of these two peoples that took place in
the centuries prior to the coming of Islam. By doing this, it uncovers anachronis-
tic projections of dynamic identity and political discourses within the contempo-
raneous Islamic world. It shows how the formulaic placement of such
embellishment within the context of the narrative served to justify the Arabs’
rise to power, whilst also explaining the fall of the Iranian Sasanian empire. The
objective of this book is not simply to mine Islamic historical chronicles for the
factual data they contain about the pre-I slamic period, but rather to understand
how the authors of these works thought about this era.
By investigating the intersection between early Islamic memory, identity con-
struction, and power discourses, this book will benefit researchers and students
of Islamic history and literature and Middle Eastern Studies.
Scott Savran obtained his PhD from the University of Wisconsin in 2011. Dr
Savran’s research focuses on identity-b ased discourses in early Islamic
historiography.
Culture and Civilization in the Middle East
General Editor: Ian Richard Netton
Professor of Islamic Studies, University of Exeter
This series studies the Middle East through the twin foci of its diverse cultures
and civilisations. Comprising original monographs as well as scholarly surveys,
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eaststudies/series/SE0363
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Olof Heilo A History of Arabic Sciences and
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52 Literature and the Islamic Roshdi Rashed
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Erez Naaman A Grammatical, Semantic, and
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Islamic Law
A Critical Analysis of Classical 57 Arabs and Iranians in the
Legal Texts Islamic Conquest Narrative
David Jalajel Memory and Identity Construction
in Islamic Historiography,
54 Orthodoxy and Islam 750–1050
Theology and Muslim–Christian Scott Savran
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Turkey
Archimandrite Nikodemos
Anagnostopoulos
Arabs and Iranians in the
Islamic Conquest Narrative
Memory and Identity Construction in
Islamic Historiography, 750–1050
Scott Savran
First published 2018
by Routledge
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© 2018 Scott Savran
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: Savran, Scott, author.
Title: Arabs and Iranians in the Islamic conquest narrative : memory and
identity construction in Islamic historiography, 750-1050 / Scott Savran.
Other titles: Culture and civilisation in the Middle East ; 57.
Description: Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge,
2018. |
Series: Culture and civilization in the Middle East ; 57 | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017016187| ISBN 9780415749688 (hbk) |
ISBN 9781315795959 (ebk)
Subjects: LCSH: Iran–History–640-1256–Historiography. | Islamic
Empire–History–750-1258–Historiography. | Arabs. | Iranians. |
Sassanids.
Classification: LCC DS288.3 .S28 2018 | DDC 955/.02–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017016187
ISBN: 978-0-415-74968-8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-79595-9 (ebk)
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permission to reprint material in this book. The publishers would be
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and will undertake to rectify any errors or omissions in future editions of
this book.
For my father

Contents
Preface viii
List of abbreviations x
1 Introduction 1
2 Shifting patterns of identity and early Islamic
historiography in context 25
3 The opening of the drama: Shāpūr and the Sheikh 59
4 Bahrām V Gūr, the Lakhmids, and the Hephthalite
disaster 81
5 The twilight of Sasanian power: Khusraw I Anūshirvān
and the saga of Ḥimyar 102
6 The buildup to the confrontation: Khusraw II Parvīz and
the rise of the Arabs 128
7 The climax: the Islamic victory over the Sasanians 156
8 Conclusion 202
Bibliography 207
Index 241
Preface
This book is based on my dissertation which I completed at the University of
Wisconsin in 2011. My idea for this study first came about during the summer of
2004, during which time I spent in Damascus reading Arabic chronicles. Though
I was originally a student of Mamlūk studies, my colleague, Martyn Smith, con-
vinced me that we read together al-M as‘ūdī’s Murūj al- dhahab wa- ma‘ādin al-
jawhar, and that we focus on the section of pre- Islamic antiquities. I was drawn
to this author’s chapter on the Sasanian empire, which cites pre-I slamic Persian
texts. Whose “voice” was speaking to us, I wondered, al-M as‘ūdī or the com-
posers of these ancient texts? Furthermore, what did the Sasanian era mean for al-
Mas‘ūdī, and how did other Muslim historians, living in different times and
places, think about the pre- Islamic period? These questions led me down the path
of this current study, which analyzes early Islamic historiography on the relation-
ship between the Sasanian empire and the tribes and states of the Arabian pen-
insula and Iraq through the lens of contemporaneous discourses and processes.
Many people have helped and supported me through the course of this
project. While space limitations prevent me from mentioning everyone by name,
there are several individuals whom I would particularly like to acknowledge. I
would first like to thank my graduate and undergraduate advisors, David Morgan
and Rudi Lindner, who have supported and inspired me throughout my education
and in writing this book. From the University of Wisconsin, Uli Schamiloglu has
also been a supportive figure throughout my career. Next, I would like to express
my gratitude towards Tayeb El- Hibri, who kindly read a draft of my introduc-
tion, and provided invaluable advice. Sarah Savant, Greg Fisher, Conor Whately,
Michael Bates, and Ignacio Sánchez graciously shared their scholarship with me,
which I found most helpful. Likewise, the faculty and students participating in
the History Reading Circle at Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan, provided a
much welcome assessment of my early chapters. While writing both my disser-
tation and this book, I benefited from my communication with Boaz Shoshan,
Mahmoud Omidsalar, Parvaneh Pourshariati, Shaul Shaked, Reuven Amitai,
Julia Rubanovich, Michael Morony, Elizabeth Urban, D. Gershon Lewental, and
the late Patricia Crone, who gave me useful feedback on my dissertation.
Furthermore, I would like to thank my teaching assistants from opposite sides
of the globe, Nurlan Kabdylkhak and Jay Coman, for providing me invaluable
Preface ix
assistance and friendship during very busy times. Other friends and colleagues I
would like to thank include John Bragg, Don Leggett, Daniel Beben, Zbigniew
Wojnowski, Alexander Morrison, Beatrice Penati, Brendan Pietsch, Matthew
Wilhite, Daniel Scarborough, Siegfried Van Duffel, Philip Enns, Sofia An, Brian
Ulrich, Mark Barrow, Trudy Harrington Becker, William Ochsenwald, Daniel
Geiger, Elizabeth Bouldin, Eren Tasar, Natalia Bwallerstero, Austin Hollar, and
Elsaid Mohammed. My own family and my spouse’s family have been bastions
of support during this process as well. Finally and most importantly, I could not
have completed this book without the support of my wife Hannah. From proof-
reading drafts of chapters, to following me to Kazakhstan, and back to the
United States, this book is as much hers as it is mine.