''Tārīkh Ibn Wāḍiḥ'' () or popularly ''Tārīkh al-Yaʿqūbī'' () is a well-known classical
Islamic history
The history of Islam is believed, by most historians, to have originated with Muhammad's mission in Mecca and Medina at the start of the 7th century CE, although Muslims regard this time as a return to the original faith passed down by the Abra ...
book, written by
al-Yaʿqūbī.
Like his contemporary
Al-Dinawari, 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-
Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
ic 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, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
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 or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a member o ...
and
Abbasid Caliphate
The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 CE), from whom the dynasty takes ...
in detail.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tarikh Al-Yaqubi
9th-century Arabic-language books
Abbasid literature
Panchatantra