Table Of ContentEarlySunnīHistoriography
Islamic History and
Civilization
Studies and Texts
EditorialBoard
HinrichBiesterfeldt
SebastianGünther
HonoraryEditor
WadadKadi
volume 157
Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedatbrill.com/ihc
Early Sunnī Historiography
AStudyof theTārīkhof Khalīfab.Khayyāṭ
By
TobiasAndersson
LEIDEN | BOSTON
Coverillustration:AcopyofapagefromthemanuscriptoftheTārīkhofKhalīfab.Khayyāṭ,National
LibraryofMorocco(Rabat),no.199,p.53.PhotobyTobiasAndersson.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Names:Andersson,T.S.(TobiasSahl),author.
Title:EarlySunnihistoriography:astudyoftheTarikhofKhalifab.Khayyat/by
TobiasAndersson.
Description:Leiden;Boston:Brill,2018.|Series:Islamichistoryandcivilization;
Volume157|Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
Identifiers:LCCN2018035513(print)|LCCN2018040103(ebook)|
ISBN9789004383173(ebook)|ISBN9789004383166(hardback:alk.paper)
Subjects:LCSH:ʿUṣfūrī,KhalīfahibnKhayyāṭ,-854.TārīkhKhalīfahibnKhayyāṭ.|
Umayyaddynasty–History–Earlyworksto1800.|Islamic
Empire–History–661-750–Earlyworksto1800.
Classification:LCC DS38.5.U743(ebook)|LCC DS38.5.U743A532018(print)|
DDC956/.013–dc23
LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2018035513
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Contents
Acknowledgements vii
NoteonConventions viii
Introduction 1
1 SubjectandScope 1
2 PreviousStudiesonKhalīfa’sTārīkh 10
3 ManuscriptsandPublishedEditions 13
1 TheTransmissionofKhalīfa’sTārīkh 15
1 Introduction 15
2 TheTransmitters:Baqīb.MakhladandMūsāb.Zakariyyā
al-Tustarī 16
3 DifferencesbetweentheRecensionsandtheQuestionof
Authorship 21
4 MissingMaterialinBaqī’sRecension 28
5 Conclusion 44
2 Khalīfa’sLifeandWorks 45
1 Introduction 45
2 Biography 45
3 Works 52
4 ScholarlyReputation 55
5 Khalīfa’sTārīkhinLaterScholarship 59
6 Conclusion 65
3 SocialandIntellectualContext 67
1 Introduction 67
2 SocialandPoliticalContext 68
3 IntellectualContext 78
4 HistoriographicalContext 90
5 Conclusion 103
4 Khalīfa’sSources 105
1 Introduction 105
2 MainDirectTransmitters(20–110Citations) 106
3 LessFrequentlyCitedDirectTransmitters(5–19Citations) 112
4 MinorDirectTransmitters(1–4Citations) 120
vi contents
5 MajorIndirectSources 125
6 AnalysisofMaterial 131
7 Conclusion 137
5 Khalīfa’sMethods 139
1 Introduction 139
2 EpistemologyofHistoricalKnowledge 140
3 SystemofReference 151
4 SelectionandEvaluationofTransmitters 158
5 Conclusion 164
6 StructureandArrangementoftheTārīkh 166
1 Introduction 166
2 ConceptofChronography 166
3 GeneralStructure:AnnalisticandCaliphalChronology 172
4 StructureofIndividualYearsandLists 178
5 Conclusion 193
7 ThemesI:Prophethood,CommunityandHegemony 195
1 Introduction 195
2 Prophethood 196
3 Community 203
4 Hegemony 209
5 Conclusion 223
8 ThemesII:LeadershipandCivilWar 225
1 Introduction 225
2 TheRāshidūnPeriod 226
3 TheUmayyadPeriod 250
4 TheʿAbbāsidPeriod 275
5 Conclusion 279
Conclusion 283
1 Overview 283
2 Methods,ConcernsandContextsoftheEarlyHistorians 283
3 ChronographyamongtheEarlyḤadīthScholars 285
4 ArticulationsofSunnīViewsintheEarlyHistoricalTradition 286
Appendix:CitationsofKhalīfainal-Bukhārī’sal-Jāmiʿal-ṣaḥīḥ 289
Bibliography 299
Index 317
Acknowledgements
Iwouldliketothankmyteachers,colleaguesandfriendsfortheirsupportdur-
ingtheyearsspentwritingthisbook.IamparticularlygratefultoAbdassamad
ClarkeandAbdussalaamNordenhökforalwaysprovidingexcellentadvicein
allmattersandfortheirwonderfulcompany.IwouldalsoliketothankmyPhD
supervisor,AndrewMarsham,forhisconstanthelpandbeneficialdiscussions
of thethesisuponwhichthisworkisbased.Lastly,Imustthankmywifeand
family,whohaveofferedtheircontinualsupportthroughoutthecomposition
ofthisbook.
Note on Conventions
The dates in this book follow the Hijrī/Common Era format.Translations of
Khalīfa’sTārīkh are my own, although I have based some parts onWurtzel’s
translationofthesectioninKhalīfa’sTārīkhontheUmayyadperiod:Khalifaibn
Khayyat’sHistoryontheUmayyadDynasty(Liverpool2015).Thephrase“may
thepeaceandblessingsofGodbeuponhim(ṣallāAllāhuʿalayhiwa-sallam),”
whichusuallyfollowstheProphetMuḥammad’snameintheMuslimsources,
isabbreviatedas(ṣ).
Introduction
1 SubjectandScope
ThisisastudyoftheoldestIslamicchronologicalhistorystillextant:theTārīkh
(‘Chronicle’)of Khalīfab.Khayyāṭ(d.240/854).1AbūʿAmrKhalīfab.Khayyāṭ
al-ʿUṣfurī—also known as Shabāb—was a ḥadīth scholar and historian who
livedandworkedinthelargesouthernIraqicityofBasra,whichwasoneofthe
maincentresof learningintheMuslimworldatthetime.Theextantrecen-
sionof theTārīkhwastransmittedfromKhalīfabytheleadingḥadīthscholar
of al-Andalus, Baqī b. Makhlad al-Qurṭubī (d. 276/889), during his travels in
the East.2 After an introductory section on calendar systems and chronogra-
phy,Khalīfa’sTārīkhisarrangedannalisticallybyyearsofthelunarHijrīcalen-
dar(1–232/622–847inBaqīb.Makhlad’srecension).Itcoversthepoliticaland
administrativehistoryof theMuslimpolityfromitsoriginsinMedinaatthe
timeoftheProphetMuḥammadandthefirstcaliphsthatsucceededhimupto
theUmayyadandʿAbbāsidcaliphates.
Despiteitsearlydate,Khalīfa’sTārīkhhasreceivedlittleattentioninmod-
ern scholarship.3 Previous works on Khalīfa’s Tārīkh are only partial studies
or general introductions, without any in-depth analysis of its sources, struc-
tures,contentandunderlyingaimsandmethods.4Thesesurveyandtextbook
accountstendtoremarkonitsbeingtheearliestsurvivingannalistichistory
inArabic,incontrasttoearliersingle-subjecttextsandPropheticbiographies.
Somemodernhistorianshavedismisseditastellinguslittleornothingthatis
notknownfromthelaterhistoricaltradition,5althoughothershavepointedout
1 Anotherchronologicalhistorycompiledaroundthesametimethatmightbemoreorless
completeinitsextantrecensionistheTārīkhofʿAbdal-Malikb.Ḥabīb(d.238/853).Onthe
discussionsaboutthestateofthesurvivingversion,seeAguadé’sintroductiontoIbnḤabīb,
Tārīkh77–108.
2 AnotherrecensionwastransmittedfromKhalīfabyMūsāb.Zakariyyāal-Tustarī(d.before
300/912),butitsurvivesonlypartiallyasscatteredcitationsinlatersources.Onthesetwo
recensions,seeChapter1.
3 Apartfromthisbook,therearesofaronlyafewpartialstudies.SeeRoberts,EarlyIslamic
historiography65–77;ʿĀṣī,Khalīfa;Nawas,AnearlyMuslimphilosopherofhistory;Robinson,
Islamichistoriography77–79;Ṣaddām,TārīkhKhalīfa;Wurtzel,KhalifaibnKhayyat’sHistory.
ThelatterisbasedonWurtzel’sPhDthesisfrom1977,TheUmayyadsinthe“History”ofKhalīfa
b.Khayyāṭ,whichwaspreparedforpublicationbyRobertHoyland.SeealsoAnderssonand
Marsham,FirstIslamicchronicle.
4 Seethereviewofpreviousstudiesbelow.
5 Robinson,Islamichistoriography77.
© koninklijkebrillnv,leiden,2019 | doi:10.1163/9789004383173_002
2 introduction
thatitcontainsagoodamountof uniqueanddetailedinformationaswellas
somewhatdifferentperspectivesoncertainevents.6Khalīfa’sTārīkhwasalso
compiled before the reorganisation and standardisation of historical knowl-
edgethattookplacearoundthelatethird/ninthandearlyfourth/tenthcen-
turies,whenwhatBorruthasdescribedasthemostsuccessfulandenduring
of the“earlyIslamichistoriographicalfilters”wasestablished.7However,itis
notonlytheearlydateandsomeoftheinformationthatdistinguishKhalīfa’s
Tārīkh;theselectionandframingofthematerial(political-administrativehis-
toryfromanearlySunnīperspective)andthecontextof itscompilation(the
Basranḥadīthcircles)alsosetitapartfrommanyotherearlyhistories.Inthat
sense,Khalīfa’sTārīkhisitselfalargelyoverlookedhistoricalfactthathelpsus
better understand the development of Islamic historical writing—especially
intheearlyḥadīthcirclestowhichKhalīfabelongedandwhichwerecrucialin
thearticulationofSunnismduringtheearlythird/ninthcentury.8
The purpose of the book is, accordingly, to reassess and reappraise Khal-
īfa’sTārīkh by means of a detailed analysis of both the text and the context
ofitscompilation.ApartfromthelackofdetailedattentiontoKhalīfa’sTārīkh
inmodernscholarship,therearethreeprincipalreasonswhythisfull-length
study is important for the wider field of Islamic historiography. First, full-
lengthstudieson theworksof someearly historianshaveshowntheimpor-
tanceof detailedexaminationsof specifichistoriansforunderstandingtheir
aims and methods of compilation. They also highlight the great diversity in
the early historical tradition.9 Because of Khalīfa’s preoccupation with both
ḥadīth transmission and history writing, his Tārīkh lends itself particularly
well to an in-depth examination of the interaction between the two fields
of ḥadīthandakhbār history,morespecificallychronography(tārīkh),inthe
earlythird/ninthcentury.10Understandingthesources,methodsandagendas
6 Wurtzel,KhalifaibnKhayyat’sHistoryviii;Borrut,Entremémoireetpouvoir94–95.Seealso
AnderssonandMarsham,FirstIslamicchronicle20–22.
7 Borrut,VanishingSyria44–45,Entremémoireetpouvoir97–108.Seealsohispointregard-
ingKhalīfa’sTārīkhasclearlydistinguishablefromtheslightlylater“historiographical
vulgate”inEntremémoireetpouvoir94–95.
8 SeeLucas,Constructivecritics21.SeealsoZaman,Religionandpolitics208–213.
9 E.g.Khalidi,Islamichistoriography;Shboul,al-Masʿūdīandhisworld;Sezgin,AbūMikhnaf;
Leder,DasKorpusal-Haiṯam;Shoshan,Poetics;Hirschler,MedievalArabichistoriography;
Kennedy,al-Ṭabarī;Mårtensson,Tabari;Anthony,Caliphandtheheretic;Lindstedt,Trans-
missionofal-Madāʾinī’smaterial;Bonner,Historiographicalstudy.
10 Therearesomestudiesontherelationbetweenmaghāzī-sīraandḥadīth,butfeweronthe
post-Propheticakhbārtradition.Forarecentexampleoftheformer,includingasummary
ofpreviousstudies,seeGörke,Relationshipbetweenmaghāzīandḥadīth.
