HISTORY OF TABARI VOL 1 ( General Introduction, Acknowledgments )

HISTORY OF TABARI

VOLUME 1

Contents

General Editor's Preface / ix

Guidelines for Translation, Annotation,

and Indexing / xii

Acknowledgments / xix

General Introduction

Translator 's Foreword / 3

The Life and Works of al-TabarI/5

 A Remark on the Sources / 5

His Early Life / 10

His Fifty Years of Scholarly Activity in Baghdad / 31

His Death / 78

His Works / 8o

The History and Its English Translation / 135

The History in Islam and the West / 135

The Text / 141

Previous Translations / 144

Appendix A: A Partial Translation of Tafsir on Qur. 17:79 / 149

Appendix B: A Classification and Chronology of TabarI's Literary Production / 152

From the Creation to the Flood

Translator ' s Foreword / I57

Invocation / 165

Introduction / 166

What Is Time? / 171

How Long Is the Total Extent of Time ...? / 172

The Proofs for the Origination of Momentary and Extended Time ... / 186

Whether God, before He Created Time ... Created Any Other of the Created Things / 187

Explaining the Annihilation of Time ... and That Nothing Remains Except God / 193

The Proof for God Being Eternal ... / 194

The Beginning of Creation : What Was Created First? / r98

Those Who Put the Creation of the Pen in Second Place / 203

What God Created on Each of the Six Days ... / 213

Night and Day ... the Creation of the Sun and the Moon ... / 2Z28

The Story of Iblis / 249

The Story of Adam / 257

Adam Is Taught All the Names / 266

God's Testing of Adam / 274

The Duration of Adam' s Stay in Paradise ... HisFall ... / 282

The Moment on Friday When God Created Adam and the One When Adam Was Cast Down to Earth / 286

The Place on Earth to Which Adam and Eve Came When TheyWere Cast Down / 290

Perfumes , Fruits, and Other Things Adam Brought from Paradise / 296

The Events That Took Place in Adam 's Time after He Was Cast Down to Earth / 307

Eve Giving Birth to Seth / 324

Adam 's Death / 327

From Seth to Mahalalel / 334

The Events That Took Place ... from the Rule of Adam's Son to the Days of Jared / 337

Persian Kings after Oshahanj : Tahmurath / 344

From Enoch to Noah / 345

Persian Kings from Tahmurath to Jamshed and al -Vahbak / 348

The Events that Took Place in Noah's Time / 354

The Use of Eras / 3 70

Bibliography of Cited Works / 373

Index /387

Z

General Editor's Preface

  The History of Prophets and Kings (Ta'rikh al -rusul wa'1-muluk) by Abu Ja`far Muhammad b. Jarir al-Tabari (839-923, rendered in the present work 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 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 S.A.W, and the history of the Islamic world down to the year 915.

 In 1971, I proposed that UNESCO include a complete translation of Tabari's History in its Collection of Representative Works. At a meeting chaired by the late Roger Caillois, UNESCO agreed; but the Commission in charge of Arabic works favored other priorities, mostly of a literary kind. At the time I was in charge of UNESCO's Collection of Persian Representative Works, a program which was managed within the framework of the activities of the Iranian Institute of Translation and Publication (Bungahi Tarjama wa Nashr-i Kitab). Failing to enlist the support of the Arab Commission, I persuaded the Institute to undertake the task.

  My interest in the translation of Tabari's history derived not only from the desire to see an outstanding historical work made available to non-Arabists, but also from the fact that Tabari is the most important source for Iranian history from the rise of the Sasanian dynasty in the third century to the year 915. By rights, the task should have been undertaken by a scholar of Islamic history and classical Arabic , in neither of which fields can I claim any expertise; but I thought it a pity to let the rare opportunity presented by the sponsors of the project to be lost. Fully aware of my limitations and convinced of the importance of the participation of specialists in the project , I enlisted the assistance of a number of excellent scholars in the field.

  Preliminary work on the project began in 1974 and I invited Professor Franz Rosenthal of Yale University to bring the benefit of his scholarship and experience to this venture . An Editorial Board originally consisting of Professors Rosenthal, Ihsan Abbas of the American University in Beirut, and myself was envisaged . I later invited Professors C.E. Bosworth of the University of Manchester and Jacob Lassner of Wayne State University to cooperate as members of the Board of Editors . We then began a steady search for able and willing scholars to take part in the project . Ideally we were looking for historians of medieval Islam with a command of classical Arabic.

  The Leiden edition was the obvious text on which to base the translation of the History as it is thus far the only critical and scholarly edition . It was prepared by a number of competent scholars in the last quarter of the nineteenth century under the able direction of the Dutch scholar M.J. de Goeje , and published by E.J. Brill of Leiden, Holland, in fourteen volumes with an index volume and a supplementary volume , between 1879 and 1901.'

  One of our first tasks was to divide the text into manageable sections to be assigned for translation and annotation . The text was divided arbitrarily into 38 sections of about 200 pages each, but in a manner that allowed each section , as far as possible, to be used independently. The general size of the sections was dictated by the desire to leave adequate space for annotation, and to make it possible for the best and busiest scholars in the field to participate . Each section was given a separate title as a short guide to its contents.

  It was obvious that in a project of this size , given the different viewpoints on translation among scholars and their different styles of rendering Arabic into English, we needed clear guidelines to ensure an essential modicum of consistency . It was necessary to make the translation of some frequently used phrases and expressions uniform . For instance, Amir al-mu'minin, the title of the caliphs, can be, and has been, translated in different ways. It was important that we used a single rendering of the term (" Commander of the Faithful "). Furthermore, we had to insist on uniformity in the spelling of place - names . To accommodate these concerns, we established a series of guidelines which addressed the questions of format , rubrics , annotation , bibliography, and indexing. According to the guidelines, which were communicated to participating scholars , the project aimed at a translation both faithful and idiomatic-an ideal which we realized was nevertheless far from easy to accomplish . Concern for consistency required that the volumes be carefully edited by an Arabic scholar thoroughly familiar with the guidelines established by the Editorial Board.

  This task was originally entrusted to Professor Lassner, but as the number of manuscripts claimed more of his time than he could devote to editing, Professor Bosworth's assistance, too, was enlisted ; Professor Rosenthal has also been generously giving of his time for editorial purposes . Naturally this does not mean that all the volumes of Tabari follow the same style or that all Arabic terms have been translated in exactly the same way . Variations do occur, but every effort has been made to ensure not only accuracy and readability, but also consistency.

  The system of romanization commonly employed by presentday Arabists and Islamicists in the English - speaking world was chosen. Although the system is not universally accepted in all its details , it is hoped that it meets the requirements of accurate transliteration.

  Tabari very often quotes his sources verbatim and traces the chains of transmission (isnad ) to an original source . The chains of transmitters are, for the sake of brevity, rendered by the individual links in the chain separated by a dash (-). Thus, "according to the Ibn Humayd-Salamah -Ibn Ishaq " means that Tabari received the report from Ibn Humayd who said that he was told by Salamah, who said that he was told by Ibn Ishaq, and so on . The numerous subtle variations in the original Arabic 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 Tabari 's text, as well as those occasionally introduced by the translator.

  Well-known place- names, such as 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 imam and dirham , have been retained in Arabic forms . Others that 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. Initially, each volume was to have a brief, general introduction , however, after the first few volumes, it was deemed useful to expand the scope of the introductions so that they would include a discussion of the historical context of the volumes and Tabari's method of relating the events. Again, it was left to the translators to decide what was pertinent and helpful to say in their introductions . Translators were also encouraged to provide maps and genealogical tables.

  Rather than give further detail of the editorial policy and principles, I reproduce here , for those who may be interested, the Guidelines set forth by the Editorial Board.

Guidelines for Translation, Annotation , and Indexing

I. Translation

i. The purpose of the translation is to provide an accurate but literate text.

2. Mecca, Baghdad, Jerusalem , Damascus, Aleppo, Medina and the like retain their accepted English forms . Less well-known place names are to be romanized accurately.

3. Amir al-mu'minin should be rendered "Commander of the Faithful". The English spelling "Caliph" is retained.

4. Baya`a, bayah should be consistently translated as "to give/render the oath of allegiance".

5. Familiar technical terms , when reasonably accurate English equivalents are available , should be translated ; thus, vizier (wazir), judge (gads), cubit (dhira'). Other technical terms should be retained in transliteration without italics , e.g., mufti, imam, sufi, dirham (drachma), dinar (denarius), shaikh. In general, Arabic terms should be avoided as much as possible.

  When a less familiar term like dingan is left untranslated, an explanatory footnote with reference to the secondary literature (usually EI) may be called for. Unfamiliar and untranslatable technical terms, e.g., ratl or daniq, should be rendered in italics and footnoted.

6. Referents should be supplied for pronouns as required by English usage.

7. It is unnecessary to translate the common terms of blessing after God, the Prophet, etc., except when the formula has some special import.

8. It is not always obligatory to follow the exact sequence of Arabic syntax or literary style; this should be determined by the text and idiomatic English usage. Occasionally, it may be useful to turn direct Arabic speech into indirect speech in the translation to enable the English text to flow smoothly. However, direct speech adds to the liveliness of the translation and preserves the flavor of the original text ; thus it should be retained unless other considerations prevail.

II. Annotation

i. Annotations are meant to provide a better understanding of the text . Proper names as well as technical terms unfamiliar to the non-specialist require annotation.

2. A search should be made for relevant parallel sources, and these should be cited when deemed necessary.

3. Philological and stylistic comments are for the benefit of the Arabist. They should be limited to explicating the text where it presents problems.

4. Major geographical areas, e.g., Hijaz, Khurisan, Sind require no comment. Less well-known places should be identified by referring to the secondary literature, such as El, EIr, Le Strange, Yaqut's Mu'jam al-Buldan, or Schwartz's Iran. Fuller comments are necessary only when identification of a particular place is critical to understanding the sense of the text.

5. In rare cases when the explication of the text requires more extensive treatment, this should take the form of an excursus at the end of the translation.

6. Maximum space allowed for the annotation of each volume, including excursuses, should not exceed about one-third of the text.

7. Authors should be cited by name only, except in those cases where the same author has written other works likely to be cited. Thus, Tabari III/I, 25o but Ya`qubi, Ta'rikh (Leiden), 1, 250 or Ya'qubi, Buldan (BGA, VIII), 250.

8. Titles should be abbreviated and follow the format of EI2 and EIr (but with the romanization used in this series).

9. References should generally be to standard editions. Where several editions exist, the translators should indicate their choice.

to. Passages that pose textual problems should be romanized and reproduced in footnotes.

III. Editions of the Arabic Text

  The Leiden edition should serve as the basis of the translation (see above, p. x). The Cairo edition should, however, be consulted and, if the Topkapi Sarayi manuscripts used in this edition differ significantly from the Leiden edition, the difference should be taken into account and footnoted.

IV Format and Style

A. General

i. The pagination of the Leiden edition is to be indicated in the margin in square brackets.

2. Hijrah dates are always given with corresponding Western dates; the two are separated by a /, e.g., 145/762.

3. Chains of transmission (isnad) should be introduced by "according to" followed by the names of the transmitters in sequence, separated by a -, with a colon after the last name; e.g., "According to Abu Ja'far-Muhammad b. `Umar-Muhammad b. $alih."

4. Kunyah and nisbah are always romanized and not translated, e.g., Abu al- Hasan al -Khayyat (not "Father of al-I;lasan the Tailor").

5. Translations are followed by a bibliography giving full publication details for all works cited.

6. The translation of a bayt consisting of two hemistichs should be typed as two lines . The first line should begin with a capital letter and be indented; the second line should be further indented and begin with a lower case (small) letter, unless the first line ends with a period, in which case the second line should begin with a capital letter. If any of the hemistichs exceeds one line, the remainder is placed on the next line and is similarly indented. Bayts should be separated by an extra space.

B. Rubrics

i. Reigns of Caliphs should be capitalized, e.g.

THE CALIPHATE OF MARWAN B. MUHAMMAD

2. The year should be capitalized and beneath it the equivalent Western date should be given parentheses, e.g.,

THE YEAR 28o

(March 23, 893-March 12, 894)

When indicated in the text add:

The Events of This Year

3. Other rubrics should be rendered as English titles and underlined, e.g.,

The Reason for...

4. Rubrics may often be cumbersome and difficult to translate, particularly when introduced by "mention of" or the like. In the interest of brevity, one may omit this element of the formula, e.g., instead of:

Mention of the Accounts Concerning the Death of...

translate:

The Death of...

5. The form for rubrics that merge with the text is:

The Reason for this was the killing of...

C. Pre-Islamic Names and Letters

  Ancient Iranian names should be romanized according to their Arabic spelling . For biblical names, the standard English forms (see The Westminster Bible Dictionary) should be used. Classical names are to be rendered according to standard English practice.

  In the case of titles , it will at times be desirable to put the original forms in brackets after the translation, e.g., "general" (isbahbadh).

D. Paragraphs

  Translators may exercise considerable license in paragraphing; however, the introduction of an isndd as a rule calls for a new paragraph. Occasionally, transmitters insert lengthy addresses, sermons, documents , etc. into the text . These should be set off in special paragraphs in quotation marks . Key short passages of this kind need not be set off.

V. The Index

    A. Contents

I

. There is to be only one index.

2. It should be as complete as possible ( too much is better than too little).

3. It should contain:

a. All personal proper names in Tabari 's text.

b. All geographical names ( cities, countries , rivers, etc.) in Tabari's text.

c. All personal and geographical names in the notes as far as they refer to the medieval context. For instance , if a note states  that M.b.A. al-Baghdadi is not identical with the M.b.A. al-Kufi mentioned by Tabari, M.b.A. al-Baghdadi requires a separate entry in the index.

  References to medieval sources are also to be included. Thus, if Miskawayh is cited in the note, "Miskawayh" will appear in the index.

  However, proper names of modern scholars are not to be included . With respect to the notes, some selective judgment will be needed; however, if in doubt, add!

B. Form

i. Place a capital A, B, etc. at the head of each new letter of the alphabet.

2. The definite article is to be disregarded for purposes of alphabetization . al-Tabari thus appears under T, but " al-" is retained.

3. If an entry under Ibn is needed, it should appear under I. Thus: Ibn M . ( The same applies to Bint).

4. Abu M. appears under A. (Also Akhu; Umm under U)

5. The main entry of a name with page references is listed under the forms of the name considered to be most characteristic.

  Of course, the "most characteristic " form is not always obvious; one's choice may be arbitrary at times . If different forms of an individual 's name appear in the text, all must be listed separately, with cross references to the main entry. For instance, assuming that Tabari appears in the text or the notes under the various components of his name, the following entries are needed:

Abu Ja ' far, see al-Tabari

Ibn Jarir, see al - Tabari

Muhammad b. Jarir, see al -Tabari

al-Tabari Abu Ja'far Muhammad b. Jarir, 3 5, 46, io9 (n .83), 72

  In the main entry, the other forms of the name should be repeated; however, it is not necessary to supply them where they do not occur . Thus "Miskawayh " is sufficient ; his given names need not be supplied.

VI. General

i. The translators are expected to provide a substantial introduction that places the volume in historical perspective. The introduction may contain not only a summary of the volume's contents , but also comments on the significance of the events, an evaluation of Tabari 's reporting , and a discussion of parallel sources.

2. Maps and genealogical tables are helpful , in fact, welcome, provided the translator is able to furnish them.

E.Y.

Acknowledgments

   My foremost thanks to the National Endowment for the Humanities and its Division of Research Programs for their continued support and encouragement.

  I also wish to thank sincerely the participating scholars, who have made the realization of this project possible ; the Board of Editors for their valuable assistance; Professor Franz Rosenthal for his many helpful suggestions in the formulation and application of the editorial policy; Professors C.E. Bosworth and Jacob Lassner for their painstaking and meticulous editing ; Professor Michael Morony of the University of California at Los Angeles for undertaking the task of dividing the text into volume portions; and Dr. Susan Mango , formerly of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and her successor, Dr. Martha Chomiak, for their genuine interest in the project and their advocacy of it.

  I am grateful to the State University of New York Press for volunteering to undertake the publication of the series; to its Director, Mr . William D . Eastman, for showing himself earnestly committed to the project ; and to Professor Said Arjomand, the editor of the Middle Eastern Series of SUNY Press , for bringing the project to the attention of the Board of the Press.

  Special thanks are due to Dina Amin, who as Executive Secretary has managed with great care the administrative aspects of the project , and to Mrs. Patsy King of Columbia University 's Office of Projects and Grants for her patient handling of the bureaucratic matters pertaining to the project . I trust that the completion of the project and the publication of the index volume will provide me with a second opportunity to express my gratitude to others  who have assisted the project.

E.Y.