''Tārīkh Ibn Wāḍiḥ'' () or popularly ''Tārīkh al-Yaʿqūbī'' ( ar, تآريخ اليعقوبي, lit=History of al-Yaʿqūbī) is a well-known classical
Islamic history book, written by
al-Yaʿqūbī
ʾAbū l-ʿAbbās ʾAḥmad bin ʾAbī Yaʿqūb bin Ǧaʿfar bin Wahb bin Waḍīḥ al-Yaʿqūbī (died 897/8), commonly referred to simply by his nisba al-Yaʿqūbī, was an Arab Muslim geographer and perhaps the first historian of world cult ...
.
Like his contemporary
Al-Dinawari
Abū Ḥanīfa Aḥmad ibn Dāwūd Dīnawarī ( fa, ابوحنيفه دينوری; died 895) was a Persian Islamic Golden Age polymath, astronomer, agriculturist, botanist, metallurgist, geographer, mathematician, and historian.
Life
Dina ...
, Ya'qubi's histories, unlike those of their predecessors, aimed to entertain as well as instruct; they are "literary" productions. His history is divided into two parts.
In the first he gives a comprehensive account of the pre-
Islamic and non-Islamic peoples, especially of their religion and literature. For the time of the patriarchs his source is now seen to be the Syriac work published by
Karl Bezold as ''Die Schatzhöhle''. In his account of India he is the first to give an account of the stories of
Kalila and
Dimna, as well as of
Sindibad (Sinbad). When treating of
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...
he gives many extracts from the philosophers (cf. M. Klamroth in the ''Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft'', vols. xl. and xli.).
The second part contains the Islamic history starting from the life of Mohammed, through the Caliphs, Imams and Monarchy down to 259/872 and is neither extreme nor unfair. The work is characterized by its detailed account of some provinces, such as Armenia and Khorasan, by its astronomical details and its quotations from religious authorities rather than poets. He discussed the
Umayyad Caliphate
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by th ...
and
Abbasid Caliphate
The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
in detail.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tarikh Al-Yaqubi
9th-century Arabic books
Abbasid literature