The ''Tarikh-i Qum'' ("History of Qum") is a book about the history of the city of Qom, written by Hasan ibn Muhammad Qumi, in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

, in 988. The original work is now lost, but a 15th-century

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

translation by Hasan ibn Ali Qumi has been preserved. During the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, many Iranian cities (such as Qom) had their own local history books written about them, but most of them have been lost. The ones that remain focus mostly on the religious matters, rather than the history of the city. The ''Tarikh-i Qum'' notably focuses on the latter. Details regarding the life of Hasan ibn Muhammad Qumi are obscure. Of

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

origin, he was a descendant of the

Ash'ari Ashʿarī theology or Ashʿarism (; ar, الأشعرية: ) is one of the main Sunnī schools of Islamic theology, founded by the Muslim scholar, Shāfiʿī jurist, reformer, and scholastic theologian Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī in t ...

that had once ruled Qom. The sources that he based on his work on implies that he was a local

Shi'ite Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, most ...

scholar, and thus most likely one of the first Shi'ite historians in Iran whose work has been preserved. It was during the term of his brother Abu'l-Qasim Ali ibn Muhammad Katib as tax collector (appointed in 963), when Hasan accumulated most of his sources. In his work, Hasan does not mention any trips outside Qom to collect books, but he does mention the people he were in correspondence with, which includes the

Buyid The Buyid dynasty ( fa, آل بویه, Āl-e Būya), also spelled Buwayhid ( ar, البويهية, Al-Buwayhiyyah), was a Shia Islam, Shia Iranian peoples, Iranian dynasty of Daylamites, Daylamite origin, which mainly ruled over Iraq and central ...

vizier

Sahib ibn Abbad Abu’l-Qāsim Ismāʿīl ibn-i ʿAbbād ibn-i ʿAbbās ( fa, ابوالقاسم اسماعیل بن عباد بن عباس; born 938 - died 30 March 995), better known as Ṣāḥib ibn-i ʿAbbād (), also known as Ṣāḥib (), was a Persian sc ...

(died 995), to whom he dedicated his ''Tarikh-i Qum'' to. Hasan wrote his work in the same style as that of the now lost history of Isfahan by

Hamza al-Isfahani Hamza ibn al-Hasan bnal-Mu'addib al-Isfahani ( ar, حمزه الاصفهانی; – after 961), commonly known as Hamza al-Isfahani (or Hamza Isfahani; ) was a Persian philologist and historian, who wrote in Arabic during the Buyid era. A Persia ...

(died after 961).

References

Sources

* {{Encyclopædia Iranica Online , title = Tāriḵ-e Qom , last = Drechsler , first = Andreas , url = https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/tarik-e-qom , year = 2005 Iranian books 10th-century history books History books about Iran Qom 10th-century Arabic books Persian-language books