Islamic Historiography

An accessible guide into the complex field of Islamic historiography.

Chase F. Robinson (Author)

9780521620819, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 11 December 2002

264 pages, 5 b/w illus. 3 maps
23.6 x 15.8 x 1.9 cm, 0.523 kg

'He is to be commended for the outstanding effort he has invested and the solid scholarship he exhibits in this work, which earns his Islamic Historiography a place beside distinguished recent studies on the subject … Robinson's notes are exceptionally informative, and offer a rich guide to further specialized readings on a wide range of topics not at all restricted to Islam. It makes an outstanding textbook for students of Islamic studies, at both undergraduate and graduate levels.' Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations

How did Muslims of the classical Islamic period understand their past? What value did they attach to history? How did they write history? How did historiography fare relative to other kinds of Arabic literature? These and other questions are answered in Chase F. Robinson's Islamic Historiography, an introduction to the principal genres, issues, and problems of Islamic historical writing in Arabic, that stresses the social and political functions of historical writing in the Islamic world. Beginning with the origins of the tradition in the eighth and ninth centuries and covering its development until the beginning of the sixteenth century, this is an authoritative and yet accessible guide through a complex and forbidding field, which is intended for readers with little or no background in Islamic history or Arabic.

List of plates
List of maps
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Glossary
Chronology I: the historians of the formative period
Chronology II: the historians of the classical period
Preface
Part I. Origins and Categories: 1. Origins
2. The emergence of genre
3. Consequences and models
4. Three categories: biography, prosopography, chronography
Part II. Contexts: 5. Historiography and traditionalism
6. Historiography and society
7. God and models of history
8. Historians and the truth
Part III. How Historians Worked: 9. Vocations and professions
10. Writing history
Conclusion
Suggestions for further reading
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Islamic studies [JFSR2], General & world history [HBG], Historiography [HBAH]