The History of al-Ṭabarī, Vol. 37: The ‘Abbāsid Recovery: The War Against the Zanj Ends A.D. 879-893/A.H. 266-279

212 Pages·1987·9.11 MB·English

by  Philip M. Fields

The
History of al-Tabari
The 'Abbasid Recovery
Volume XXXVII
Translated by Philip M. Fields
This volume of Tabarrs annals deals almost exclusively
with the final stages of the Zanj revolt, the most serious
external challenge faced by thecentral authorities in the
last half of the third/ninth century. The rebellion, which
began as an 'Alid uprising, but soon gave way to
Khirijite influences, was a movement that attracted the
disenfranchised elements of society in lower Iraq. Their
battle against the tested armies of the Caliphate
continued over three decades. And while the Zanj were
never able to translate their localized successes into any
decisive victory, they caused widespread chaos and great
concern for those who had a vested interest in political
and economic stability.
In many respects, the Zanj resemble modern revolution-
ary movements that live off the countryside, and
harass the authorities. They emerged occasionally for
conventional battles, but, more often than not they
resorted to unconventional warfare, taking advantage of
the extremely difficult terrain in the marshy areas of the
region that gave rise to them. To defeat them, the
government armies had to improvise new tactics and a
strategy based on the lessons of early defeats.
SUNY Series in Near Esstern Studies
Said Amir Ariomand, Editor
ISBN 0-88706-053-6
90000
SUW
P R E S S
State University
of New York Press
THE HISTORY OF AL-TABAR!
AN ANNOTATED TRANSLATION
VOLUME XXXVII
The `Abbasid Recovery
THE WARAGAINST THE ZANJ ENDS
A.D. 879-893/A.H. 266-279
16
The History of al-Tabari
Editorial Board
Ihsan Abbas, University of Jordan, Amman
C. E. Bosworth, The University of Manchester
Jacob Lassner, Wayne State University, Detroit
Franz Rosenthal, Yale University
Ehsan Yar-Shater, Columbia University (General Editor)
SUNY
SERIES IN NEAR EASTERN STUDIES
Said Amir Arjomand, Editor
0
Bibliotheca Persica
Edited by Ehsan Yar-Shater
The History of al-Tabari
(Ta'rfkh al-rusul wail-muluk)
VOLUME XXXVII
The Abbasid Recovery
translated by
Philip M. Fields
annotated by
JacobLassner
State University of New York Press
The preparation of this volume was made possible by a grant
from the Program for Research Tools and Reference Works of
the National Endowment for the Humanities, an independent
federal agency; and in part by the Persian Heritage Foundation.
Published by
State University of New York Press, Albany
• 19$7 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced
in any manner whatsoever without written permission
except in the case of brief quotations embodied in
critical articles and reviews.
For information, contact State University of New York Press,Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging In Publication Data
Tabari,823?-923.
The war against the Zanj ends.
(SUNYseries in Near Eastern studies) (The History
of Al-Tabari, v. 27)
Bibliography: p.
i. Islamic Empire-History-75o-5258. 2. Iraq-
History-634-5534. 3. Slaves-Iraq-Early works to
58oo.I. Fields, Phillip. II. Title. III. Series.
IV. Series: Tabari, 8381-923. Tirikhal-rusul wa-al-
muluk. English, v. 27.
DS38.6.T38 1985 909'.097671 84-56352
ISBN o-887o6-o54-4
ISBN 0-887o6-053-6 (pbk.)
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
e
Acknowledgement
In 1971 the General Editor proposed to the UNESCO to
include a translation of al-Tabari's History in its Collection
of Representative Works. UNESCO agreed, but the Com-
mission in charge of Arabic works favored other priorities.
Deeming the project worthy, the Iranian Institute of Trans-
lation and Publication, which collaborated with UNESCO,
agreed to undertake the task. After the upheavals of 1979,
assistance was sought from the National Endowment for the
Humanities. The invaluable encouragement and support of
the Endowment is here gratefully acknowledged.
The GeneralEditor wishes to thank sincerely also the par-
ticipating scholars, who have made the realization of this
project possible) the Board of Editors for their selfless assis-
tance; Professor Franz Rosenthal for his many helpful sug-
gestions in the formulation and application of the editorial
policy, Professor Jacob Lassner for his painstaking and me-
ticulous editing, and Dr. Susan Mango of the National En-
dowment for the Humanities for her genuine interest in the
project and her advocacy of it.

e
Preface
9
THE HISTORYOP PROPHETS AND KINGS (Ta'rikh al-rusul wa'1-
muluk) by AbJa`far Muhammad b. Jan al-Tabari (839-923),
here rendered as the History of a1-Tabari, is bycommon con-
sent 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 the
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, and the history of the Islamic world
down to the year 915. The first volume of this translation
will contain a biography of al-Tabari and a discussion of the
method, scope, and value of his work. It will also provide
information on some of the technical considerations that have
guided the work of the translators.
The History has been divided here into 38 volumes, each
of which covers about two hundred pages of the original
Arabic text in the Leiden edition.An attempt has been made
to draw the dividing lines between the individual volumes
in such a way that each is to some degree independent and
can be read as such. The page numbers of the original
in the Leiden edition appear on the margins of the trans-
lated volumes.
Al-Tabari very often quotes his sources verbatim and traces
the chain of transmission (isndd) to an original source. The
viii Preface
chains of transmitters are, for the sake of brevity, rendered
by onlya dash (-) between the individual links inthe chain.
Thus,accordingto Ibn Humayd-Salamah-Ibn Ishaq means
that al-Tabari received the report from Ibn Humayd who
said that he was told by Salamah, who said that he was told
by Ibn Ishiq, and so on. The numerous subtle and im-
portant differences in the original Arabic wording have
been disregarded.
The tableof contents at the beginning of eachvolume gives
a brief survey of the topics dealt with in that particular vol-
ume. It also includes the headings and subheadings as they
appear in al-Tabari's text, as well as those occasionally intro-
duced by the translator.
Well-known place-names, such as, for instance, 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 dirham and imam, have been retained in
Arabic forms. Others that cannot be translated with suffi-
cient precision have been retained and italicized as well
as footnoted.
The annotation aims chiefly at clarifying difficultpassages,
identifying individuals and place-names,and discussing tex-
tual difficulties. Much leewayhas been left to the translators
to include in the footnotes whatever they consider necessary
and helpful.
The bibliographies list all the sources mentioned in the
annotation.
The index in each volume contains all the names of per-
sons and places referred to in the text, as well as those men-
tioned in the notes as far as they refer to the medieval period.
It does not include the names of modern scholars. A general
index, it is hoped, will appear after all the volumes have
been published.
Ehsan Yar-Shater