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.
2007 #File Name: B00EQBZM16488 pages
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