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Reinterpreting Islamic Historiography

Harun al-Rashid and the Narrative of the Abbasid Caliphate

Specificaties
Gebonden, 250 blz. | Engels
Cambridge University Press | e druk, 1999
ISBN13: 9780521650236
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Cambridge University Press e druk, 1999 9780521650236
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Samenvatting

The history of the early 'Abbasid Caliphate has long been studied as a factual or interpretive synthesis of various accounts preserved in the medieval Islamic chronicles. Tayeb El-Hibri's book breaks with the traditional approach, applying a literary-critical reading to examine the lives of the caliphs. By focusing on the reigns of Harun al-Rashid and his successors, the study demonstrates how the various historical accounts were not in fact intended as faithful portraits of the past, but as allusive devices used to shed light on controversial religious, political and social issues of the period. The analysis also reveals how the exercise of decoding Islamic historigraphy, through an investigation of the narrative strategies and thematic motifs used in the chronicles, can uncover new layers of meaning and even identify the early narrators. This is an important book which represents a landmark in the field of early Islamic historiography.

Specificaties

ISBN13:9780521650236
Taal:Engels
Bindwijze:Gebonden
Aantal pagina's:250

Inhoudsopgave

Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations and note on the dates; Genealogical table: the line of the early 'Abbasid caliphs; 1. Historical background and introduction; 2. Harun al-Rashid: where it all started and ended; 3. Al-Amin: the challenge of regicide in Islamic memory; 4. Al-Ma'mun: the heretic Caliph; 5. The structure of civil war narratives; 6. Al-Mutawakkil: an encore of the family tragedy; Conclusion; Select bibliography; Index.

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        Reinterpreting Islamic Historiography