Al-Tabari: Difference between revisions

'''Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr ibn Yazīd al-Ṭabarī''' ({{lang-ar|أَبُو جَعْفَر مُحَمَّد بْن جَرِير بْن يَزِيد ٱلطَّبَرِيّ}}; 839–923 CE / 224–310 AH), commonly known as '''al-Ṭabarī''' ({{lang-ar|ٱلطَّبَرِيّ}}), was a [[Sunni Islam|Sunni Muslim]] [[ulama|scholar]], [[polymath]], [[Islamic history|historian]], [[tafsir|exegete]], [[faqīh|jurist]], and [[aqidah|theologian]] from [[Amol]], Tabaristan, now in present-day Iran. Among the most prominent figures of the [[Islamic Golden Age]], al-Tabari is widely known for his historical works and expertise in [[Quran|Quranic]] exegesis, although heand has also been described as "an impressively prolific polymath".<ref name=Lindsay>Lindsay Jones (ed.), ''Encyclopedia of religion'', volume 13, Macmillan Reference USA, 2005, p. 8943</ref> He authored works on a diverse range of subjects, including [[world history (field)|world history]], [[Arabic poetry|poetry]], [[lexicography]], [[Arabic grammar|grammar]], [[Islamic ethics|ethics]], [[Islamic mathematics|mathematics]], and [[Islamic medicine|medicine]].<ref name=Lindsay/><ref>{{cite book|title=The Cambridge History of Iran, vol 4|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|year=1975|isbn=978-0-521-20093-6|location=London|pages=599}}</ref> Among his most famous and influential works are his Quranic commentary, ''[[Tafsir al-Tabari]]'', and historical chronicle, ''[[Tarikh al-Tabari]]''.

In [[Baghdad]], three Hanbalites, who do not seem further identifiable, asked al-Tabari about his views on a tradition attributed to [[Mujahid ibn Jabr|Mujahid]], concerning the explanation of the verse 79 from [[Surat al-Isra']] in the [[Qur'an]] about the Praiseworthy Station of the [[Prophet Muhammad]], known as "al-Maqam al-Mahmud".<ref>{{cite book|author=[[Gibril Fouad Haddad]]|title=The Biographies of the Elite Lives of the Scholars, Imams & Hadith Masters|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RwPnCAAAQBAJ|date=2015|publisher=[[As-Sunnah Foundation of America]]|page=140}}</ref><ref name="The History of al-Tabari">{{cite book|translator=[[Franz Rosenthal]]|title=The History of al-Tabari Vol. 1: General Introduction and From the Creation to the Flood|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GQvdc17cJkoC|series=SUNY series in Near Eastern Studies|volume=1|date=1989|location=[[Albany, New York|Albany]]|publisher=State University of New York Press ([[SUNY Press]])|isbn=9781438417837|pages=73–74}}</ref>

In the books of [[Tafsir]] (interpretation of the Qur'an), authors indicatedsaid that the Praiseworthy Station (al-Maqam al-Mahmud) mentionedsaid in the above verse is the most highest place in Paradise, which will be granted to the Prophet Muhammad and none else, and the position of intercession ([[Shafa'a]]) will be giving to him by permission of Allah/[[God in Islam|God]] on behalf of the believers on the Day of Judgment. The Prophet Muhammad will intercede on their behalf, so that Allah/God will relieve them of the suffering of such a situation. However, the Hanbalites interpreted the Praiseworthy Station as the seatingseat of the Prophet Muhammad by Allah/God on the Throne, despite the overall weakness of the narrations supporting it.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.naqshbandi.ca/pages/prophete.php?id_article=167|title=The Prophet's (s) Seating on the Throne|author=[[Gibril Fouad Haddad]]|website=www.naqshbandi.ca|publisher=Naqshbandi Order in Montreal|archive-url=https://archive.today/20240203001359/https://www.naqshbandi.ca/pages/prophete.php?id_article=167|archive-date=3 Feb 2024|via=[[archive.today]]}}</ref>

The first of the two large works, generally known as the ''Annals'' (Arabic ''Tarikh al-Tabari''). This is a [[Universal history (genre)|universal history]] from the time of Qur'anic [[Creation myth|Creation]] to 915, and is renowned for its detail and accuracy concerning [[Muslim]] and [[Middle East]]ern history. Tabari's work is one of the major primary sources for historians. The History commenced with the Creation, followed by accounts regarding the patriarchs, prophets, and rulers of antiquity. The history of the [[Sasanian Empire]] came next. For the period of the ProphetMuhammad's life, al-Ṭabarī drew upon the extensive researches of 8th-century Medinan [[scholars]]. Although pre-Islamic influences are evident in their works, the Medinan perspective of Muslim history evolved as a theocentric (god-centred) universal history of prophecy, culminating in the career of [[Muhammad]] and not as a continuum of tribal wars and values. The sources for al-Ṭabarī's History covering the years from the [[Prophet]]’s death to the fall of the [[Umayyad dynasty]] (661–750 CE) were short monographs, each treating a major event or the circumstances attending the death of an important person. Al-Ṭabarī supplemented this material with historical reports embodied in works on genealogy, poetry, and tribal affairs. Further, details of the early ʿAbbāsid period were available to him in a few histories of the caliphs that unfortunately have come down only in the fragments preserved by al-Ṭabarī. Almost all of these accounts reflected an Iraqi perspective of the community; coupled with this is al-Ṭabarī’s scant attention to affairs in [[Egypt]], [[North Africa]], and [[Muslim]] [[Spain]], so that his History does not have the secular “universal” outlook sometimes attributed to it. From the beginning of the Muslim era (dated from 622, the date of the hijrah—the [[Prophet Muhammad]]’s migration from [[Mecca]] to [[Medina]]), the History is arranged as a set of annals according to the years after the hijrah. It terminates in the year 915.