The origins of the Islamic State: Being a translation from the Arabic accompanied with annotations, geographic and historical notes of the Kitāb futūḥ al-buldān. Vol. I

530 Pages·1916·3.95 MB·English

by  abu l-Abbās Aḥmad ibn Jābir al-Balādhuri

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MY TEACHER, FRIEND AND COLLEAGUE,
PROFESSOR RICHARD H. GOTTHEIL, PH.D.
J.
OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
FOREWORD
INTEREST in the Nearer East has increased our desire to
know as accurately as is possible the beginnings of the faith
and of the various states that have played so important a
part in its history. The Arabs themselves have had, from
the earliest times, a keen sense for historical tradition and
an equally keen desire to preserve that tradition in writing.
There is, perhaps, no people of earlier times that has left us
so large an amount of documentary evidence as to its be-
ginnings as they have. The evidence, of course, needs sift-
ing and sorting according to the canons of criticism we
have learned to employ in all such cases. But, this work
cannot be done by Oriental scholars alone, whose time is
often taken up largely with the philological and literary
examination of the texts that have come down to us. It is,
therefore, eminently a part of their duty to render these
texts accessible to students of history who are not masters
of the Arabic language.
Dr. Hitti has undertaken this task in connection with the
record of one of the earliest Arab historians whose work
has been preserved. Since its publication in 1866 by Pro-
"
fessor de Goeje, al-BaJadhuri's Futuh al-Buldan" has
been recognized as one of our chief authorities for the
period during which the Arab state was in process of for-
mation. This task of translatinghas not been a simple one:
proof is that the attempt has not been made before this.
The style of al-Baladhuri is often cryptic and unintelligible.
This is perhaps due to the fact that the work, as it has
reached us, is a shortened edition of a much larger one
FOREWORD
vj
which, though existent up to the seventeenth century, has
not been found in any of the collections of manuscripts to
which we have access. In its present form, the work men-
tions often men and matters that probably were treated of
in the longer recension, but of which now we know nothing.
Dr. Hitti's translation is, therefore, in a certain sense also,
a commentary and an exposition. As such, I trust that it
will be found useful to Orientalists as well as to students of
history. His fine sense for the niceties of Arabic expres-
sion has often enabled him to get through a thicket that is
impenetrable to us Westerners.
RICHARD GOTTHEIL.
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, JANUARY, 1916.
CONTENTS
PAGE
FOREWORD
INTRODUCTION
Arabic Historiography with Special Reference to al-Baladhuri. i
PART ARABIA
I
CHAPTER I
Al-Madinah 15
CHAPTER II
The Possessions of the banu-an-Nadir 34
CHAPTER III
The Possessions of the banu-Kuraizah 40
CHAPTER IV
Khaibar 42
CHAPTER V
Fadak 50
CHAPTER VI
Wadi-1-Kura and Taima' 57
CHAPTER VII
Makkah 60
CHAPTER VIII
The Wells of Makkah 77
CHAPTER IX
The Floods in Makkah 82
CHAPTER X
At-Ta'if 85
CHAPTER XI
Tabalah and Jurash 91
CHAPTER XII
Tabuk, Ailah, Adhruh, Makna and al-Jarba' 92
CHAPTER XIII
Dumat al-Jandal 95
vii
CONTENTS
viii
PAGE
CHAPTER XIV
The Capitulation of Najrin 98
CHAPTER XV
Al-Yaman 106
CBAPTEI XVI
TJmin 116
CHAPTER XVII
Al-Babrain 120
CHAPTER XVIII
Al-Yamamah 132
CHAPTER XIX
The Apostasy of the Arabs in the Caliphate of abu-Bakr as-
Siddik .'. 143
CHAPTER XX
The Apostasyof thebanu-Wali'ah and al-Ash'ath ibn-Kais ibn-
Ma'dikarib ibn-Mu'awiyah-1-Kindi 153
CHAPTER XXI
Al-Aswad al-'Ansi and those in al-Yaman who Apostatized
with him 159
PART II-SYRIA
CHAPTER I
The Conquest of Syria 165
CHAPTER II
The Advance of Khalid ibn-al-Walid on Syria and the Places
he Reduced on his Way 169
CHAPTER III
The Conquest of Busra 173
CHAPTER IV
The Battle of Ajnadin (or Ajnadain) 174
CHAPTER V
The Battle of Fihl in the Province of the Jordan 176
CHAPTER VI
The Province of the Jordan 178
CHAPTER VII
The Battle of Marj as-Suffar 182
CHAPTER VIII
The Conquest of Damascus and its Province 186
CHAPTER IX
200
.
CONTENTS
ix
PAGE
CHAPTER X
The Battle of al-Yarmuk 207
CHAPTER XI
Palestine 213
CHAPTER XII
The Province of Kinnasrin and the Cities called al-'Awasim... 223
CHAPTER XIII
Cyprus 235
CHAPTER XIV
The Samaritans 244
CHAPTER XV
Al-Jarajimah 246
CHAPTER XVI
The Frontier Fortresses of Syria 253
PART MESOPOTAMIA
III
CHAPTER I
The Conquest of Mesopotamia [al-Jazirah] 269
CHAPTER II
The Christians of the banu-Taghlib ibn-Wa'il 284
CHAPTER III
The Fortifications of the Mesopotamian Frontier 287
CHAPTER IV
Arabic made the Language of the State Registers 301
PART IV ARMENIA
CHAPTER I
The Conquest of Armenia 305
PART V NORTHERN AFRICA
CHAPTER I
The Conquestof Egypt andal-Maghrib [Mauritania] 335
CHAPTER II
The Conquest of Alexandria 346
CHAPTER III
The Conquest of Barkah and Zawilah 352
CHAPTER IV
The Conquest of Tripoli 355
CONTENTS
x
PAGE
V
CHAPTER
The Conquest of Ifrikiyah .................................. 35
CHAPTER VI
The Conquest of Tanjah [Tangiers] ......................... 3&*
PART VI ANDALUSIA
CHAPTER I
The Conquest of Andalusia ................................ 3$5
PART VII-ISLANDS IN THE SEA
CHAPTER I
The Conquest of Certain Islands in the Sea .................. 375
PART VIII-NUBIA
CHAPTER I
Terms made with Nubia .................................... 379
CHAPTER II
The Karatfs ................................................ 33
PART IX AL-'IRAK AND PERSIA
CHAPTER I
The Conquest of as-Sawad .................................. 387
The Caliphate of abu-Bakr as-Siddik.
CHAPTER II
The Caliphate of 'Umar ibn-al-Khattab ...................... 401
CHAPTER III
The Battle of Kuss an-Natif, or the Battle of al-Jisr ......... 403
CHAPTER IV
The Battle of Mihran or an-Nukhailah ...................... 405
CHAPTER V
The Battle of al-Kadisiyah ................ 409
CHAPTER VI
The Conquest of al-Mada'in ............ 417
CHAPTER VII
The Battle of Jalula' ...................... 420
CHAPTER VIII
The Founding of al-Kufah ...................... 434