An overview of Islamic Historiography        

-- Mubarak Ali --

History is not a stagnant, dull, and repetitive subject as it is generally assumed. On the contrary, it is a dynamic, vibrant, and interesting discipline that encompasses nearly every aspect of society and gives an insight to understand human mind and its psyche. History gets a new life as a result of its interpretation and presenting the past with different points of view. Islamic history in this context like other histories also changes frequently and gives fresh perspectives about its past.

The Islamic historiography passed different stages which indicates its changing structure. In its earliest form it was known as al-Ayyam, which dealt with tribal history including tribal customs and traditions, and inter-tribal wars. The narrators were known as Ravi or Akhbari. In the second stage the scope of historiography expanded as a result of conquests and conversion. To accommodate this change, the pattern of Waqa’ or Annals was adopted in which the important events of one year were recorded. The next stage was to write the history of 10 years entitled in a genre known as Tabaqat.It followed the history of dynasties such as the Umayyids, the Abbasids and later on the regional dynasties such as the Tahirids, Samanids, and Ghaznavids.

The themes of the historiography also changed according to the expansion of the Islamic state and society. The most important theme was the Sira or the history of the life of the Holy Prophet. It was regarded as the ideal period of the history and has been used as a model throughout the history. It followed the accounts of the early conquests, lives of the great people, and the history of those countries that were conquered by the Arabs.

The periodisation and name of the Islamic history changed when the Christian world made an attempt to understand the phenomenon of the rise of Islam and its political impact. In this case they coined their own terms to describe the history of Islam. For example, they called it the history of the Saracens, which included not only Arabs but also the Turks and other ethnic Muslims. In the “Dictionary of Islam” T.P.Hughes gives different derivations of the word. Either it was derived from Sharq i.e. rising sun, the east; or from Sahara, the desert; or from Sarah, the wife of Abraham. The name of Moors is also given to the history of Islam, especially for those who conquered Spain. The “Dictionary of Islam” writes that the terms derived from Mauri now known as Morocco.

There was further development in the nomenclature when a new discipline of orientalism was established in the Western universities. There were different motives behind it. In the earliest form it was developed by the missionaries who were eager to understand Islam and its history in order to encounter it and to check its growth. It followed commercial and political interests that intensified after the process of colonization of the Muslim countries. Besides, missionary, commercial and political interest, there were some genuine scholars who devoted their whole lives to study Islam and its history. The accumulative writings of all these researchers and scholars produced immense literature covering various aspects of history of Islam. In the beginning the historians adopted the term of Mohammedan. Later on the term of Islamic history was adopted which subsequently was challenged by the European educated Muslim intellectuals on the ground that with the political development and adoption of the institution of monarchy, the structure of the state and society no longer remained Islamic. Therefore, the Islamic history ceased after the reign of the rightly guided four caliphs. The history which followed it was the history of the Muslims and not Islam because accepting the Byzantinian and Persian institutions and traditions polluted the purity of Islam.

After the decolonisation, in the 1950s and 60s, when the Arab nationalism emerged on the basis of Arabic language, it integrated the Muslims as well as the Christians in its fold. During this period, the Islamic or Muslim history was given a new name of the history of the Arabs. The Christian Arabs especially made attempts to assert the importance of language that made them a part of the Arab nation. Philip Hitti,Albert Hourani and other Arab historians are prominent to populaise this new name.

Along with Arab nationalism, the emergence of different Arab nations, states also changed the concept of history. The Egyptians, the Syrians, and the Iraqis gave more emphasis on their territorial nationalism and traced their history from ancient times. For example, the Egyptians are proud of their ancient history of the Pharaohs, the Iraqis of their Assyrian and Sumerian civilizations. Islam becomes one of the important factors in the continuity of their national history.

In the modern historiography, when the term ‘Islamic’ is used, it indicates the history of the early Islam in which the Arabs played a dominant role. The history of other Muslim countries is known either on their ethnic identity, ruling dynasty, or geographical location as the Ottomans, the Safavis, and the Mughals. Islam is also identified culturally as the Indian or the Indonesian or the North African.

During the 19th and 20th centuries the scholars all over the world took keen interest in Islam as a religion and its historical development. The old manuscripts were edited and published which provided primary sources to the historians and enabling them to reconstruct the history and fill the gaps. Archaeology, anthropology, and sociology further gave new tools and apparatus to understand past societies. The emergence of new knowledge removed most of the prejudices and oft repeated myths. The result is that the history is interpreted and reinterpreted, thus given a new and fresh vision.

During colonization and after it, the Muslim societies suffered as a result of economic underdevelopment and social backwardness. The domination of the western civilization and challenges to their values urged the Muslim intellectuals to respond and present their past glory to assert their identity. In the process to reconstruct the past, attempts were made to find out the “ golden periods” in history. Islamic societies were projected as tolerant and just, where there was no discrimination against the Christians and the Jews. The Muslims contributed to science, technology, art, architecture, and subsequently produced a sophisticated culture. The knowledge system created by the Muslims inspired the Christian world and enabled them to develop their civilization. It is vehemently argued that Islam played an important part in the development of western culture.

Now, I would like to focus on some of the themes  which are interpreted anew as a result of new historical evidence. One such theme is the conflict between Islam and Christianity, which is deeply rooted in both the communities. The seeds of confrontation were laid at the time when the Arabs conquered Christian countries of Syria, Iraq and Maghrib or North African and later on Andulus.The Christians lost the land of Bible to the Muslims. They never forget it and longed to take back their lost territories.

In the 11th century, Europe was mobilisd in the name of religion to launch a crusade against Islam in order to liberate the holy places of Christianity. Nearly 2 centuries the crusaders dominated al Quds and other cities of the Arab world. In 1187, however, finally they were defeated and expelled from the occupied territories. When in the 13th century the Mongols emerged as a power, the Islamic world crumbled as a result of disastrous and crushing defeats. Taking advantage of this weakness, the Christian powers negotiated and established diplomatic relations with the Mongols. However both attempts to gain politically failed owing to the weakness of the Muslim power. Keeping in view the history of crusade, some historians point out that the establishment of the state of Israel with the help of the western power is a continuation of crusade to weaken Islam. It is also believed that like the crusaders’ political domination, the Israelis control over Palestine would come to an end after a time. In the present context bashing of Islam by the west is also considered an age-old crusade, mentality and deep-rooted historical hostility.

The next important theme, which had created controversy in the past is conversion. For a long period it was believed that Islam was spread by sword. Coersion and pressure were main tools which were used by the Muslims to convert the conquered people. The modern research has dispelled the oft-repeated argument. It is proved that Islam was spread not because of force or pressure but because of social, economic and political motives, which lured people to convert voluntarily. As Ira Lapidus points out in his book “A Study of Islamic Societies”, that up to 13th centuries the majority of the conquered countries of the Middle east were not Muslim. It was the slow and gradual process of conversion during which religious and social structure of the non-Muslim societies was collapsed, the institution of church became weak, landed aristocracy of Iraq and Persia was destroyed. Losing their support base actually led the conversion of people.

He also points out two patterns of conversion. If the Arabs, the Turks, and the Persian Muslim elite conquered any country, it maintained its superiority and remained a minority keeping its separate identity and resisted to adopting the local culture. In case, the local elite became Muslim, they integrated their cultural traditions to Islam such as happened in Indonesia and Africa.

Historians also point out the problem which conversion created in the Islamic society. In the early period of Islam, after the conquest of Persia, when large number of Iranians became Muslim, they faced problem of integrating the Arab society. To distinguish them from the Arabs they were given the status of Mawali or clients .In this capacity, they were not given equal social status which created strong resentments among the new converts. It led to a movement known as Shaubiyya or nationalism. To get status and integrity, they took part in all those movements, which were against the status quo. Ultimately, the Abbasid Revolution fulfilled their ambitions. It was the period when the Arabs and non-Arabs integrated and became an equal part of the society.

The conflict and clash between Arab and Iranian nationalism however, continued. From 7th to 13th centuries, Middle and North African countries were linguistically united. Arabic became their language. But Iran resisted the process of Arabicisation and retained its own language, though in the form of Arabic script. Firdusi’s Shanama became the bible of the Iranian nationalism and Maulana Roomi’s mathnavi acquired the status Quran dar Zaba-I-Pahlavi (Quran in the Pahlavi language). The Indian Islam is more influenced by the Iranian nationalism rather the Arabian one.

By the 14th century, the Islamic societies throughout the Islamic world are identified by three important symbols: the court (royal palace, fort), mosque, and Khanqah and Dargah (shrine). The court became the center of political power where the monarch assumed absolute authority and ruled with the help of bureaucrats. Mosque was the seat of the ulama who projected themselves as the defender and the interpreter of faith. Muslim rulers, throughout history successfully subordinated this influential section of society under their control by patronizing them and helping them financially. Khanqah and shrine were places where Sufi saints provided spiritual solace to the people. Mostly, they remained aloof from politics and established a parallel culture in opposition to political system. The Muslim societies circled around these three symbols.

In India, the Islamic historiography played a very important role in creating a separate Muslim identity. Unlike other Muslim societies who own the past of their countries, the Muslims of India kept themselves aloof from the Indian past and turned to the classical Islamic historical past. That is why there was a surge of such historical literature. Abdul Halim Sharar, Shibli Nomani, and Abul Razzaq Kanpuri published in Urdu and Amir Ali in English numerous books on the history dealing with the heroes of Islam and depicting the Abbasids period and the Muslim rule in Spain as the golden periods. This tendency contributed to the two-nation theory and alienated the Muslims of India from the ancient Indian past.

History determines identity. After the partition, we are still in dilemma which identity should we accept first: Pakistani or Islamic.