Misplaced Pages

#653346

115-650: The Thamud were a tribal confederation in the northwestern region of the Arabian Peninsula , mentioned in Assyrian sources in the time of Sargon II . The tribe's name continues to appear in documents into the fourth century CE, but by the sixth century they were regarded as a group that had vanished long ago. According to the Quran, the city that Saleh was sent to was called Al-Hijr ( Arabic : الحِجْرْ , lit.   'stonetown'), which corresponds to

230-454: A Jahmite heretic , while his respect for 'Ali ibn Abi Talib , the fourth rightly guided caliph, exposed him to accusations of Shi'ite sympathies. At the same time, he incurred the wrath of the Shi'ites by defending the previous three caliphs. In Baghdad , three Hanbalites, who do not seem further identifiable, asked al-Tabari about his views on a tradition attributed to Mujahid , concerning

345-647: A military intervention in Yemen in March 2015. The civil war and subsequent military intervention and blockade caused a famine in Yemen . Al-Tabari Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr ibn Yazīd al-Ṭabarī ( Arabic : أَبُو جَعْفَر مُحَمَّد بْن جَرِير بْن يَزِيد ٱلطَّبَرِيّ ; 839–923 CE / 224–310 AH), commonly known as al-Ṭabarī ( Arabic : ٱلطَّبَرِيّ ), was a Sunni Muslim scholar , polymath , traditionalist , historian , exegete , jurist , and theologian from Amol , Tabaristan , present-day Iran . Among

460-462: A boy who would hamstring the camel would soon be born to the tribe, and that child was evil and grew unnaturally fast. The camel was indeed killed, and its calf cried out three times, signaling that the Thamud would be destroyed in three days. Their faces turned yellow, then red, then black, and they died on the third day as predicted. According to some Islamic scholars, the mother of Ismail , Hajar ,

575-509: A collection of books on the history of Tabari with different titles. Al-Azdi was an extremely early witness to the reception of al-Tabari's text - indeed, much earlier than the sources that are customarily used to improve our understanding of the Tarikh al-rusul wa-l-muluk , e.g., Miskawayh, Ibn Asakir , Ibn al-Athir , and Ibn Khallikan . Second, since al-Azdi was writing in the decades following al-Tabari, his Tarikh can say something about

690-493: A meticulous and well-annotated translation of the sections from al-Tabari's chronicle, which constitute the most important primary source for the history of his reign. Anyone familiar with al-Tabari's chronicle knows what a formidable challenge it poses for a translator, especially for one attempting to make it accessible to an audience that includes non-specialists. There is first of all the obstacle of al-Tabari's Arabic prose, which varies greatly in style and complexity, according to

805-604: A pilgrimage prior to his first arrival in Baghdad. He left Baghdad probably in 242 AH (856/7 AD) to travel through the southern cities of Basra , Kufah and Wasit . There, he met a number of eminent and venerable scholars. In addition to his previous study of Hanafi law, Tabari also studied the Shafi'i , Maliki and Zahiri rites. Tabari's study of the latter school was with the founder, Dawud al-Zahiri , and Tabari hand-copied and transmitted many of his teacher's works. Tabari

920-782: A small number of urban trading settlements, such as Mecca and Medina , located in the Hejaz in the west of the peninsula. Archaeology has revealed the existence of many civilizations in pre-Islamic Arabia (such as the Thamud ), especially in South Arabia . South Arabian civilizations include the Himyarite Kingdom , the Kingdom of Awsan , the Kingdom of Ma'īn , and the Sabaean Kingdom (usually considered to be

1035-580: A speech at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies , founded the Tabari History Research Structure Institute. The Jarir Tabari first international commemoration in 1989, with a suggestion by Mohammad Ebrahim Bastani Parizi was held by Kayhan magazine at Mazandaran University . In 1987, The ERTU (Egyptian Radio and Television Union) produced the first TV series that presented the life of Jarir Tabari under

1150-793: Is Saudi Arabia. In the classical era, the Sinai Peninsula was also considered a part of Arabia. The Arabian Peninsula formed as a result of the rifting of the Red Sea between 56 and 23 million years ago, and is bordered by the Red Sea to the west and southwest, the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman to the northeast, the Levant and Mesopotamia to the north and the Arabian Sea and

1265-552: Is a large volcanic field that extends from northwestern Arabia into Jordan and southern Syria . The Peninsula's constituent countries are (clockwise from north to south) Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on the east, Oman on the southeast, Yemen on the south, and Saudi Arabia at the center. The island country of Bahrain lies just off the east coast of the Peninsula. Due to Yemen's jurisdiction over

SECTION 10

#1732765364654

1380-438: Is careful to give his reports of these conquests a religious frame (expressions such as "Nu'aym wrote to 'Umar about the victory that God had given him" [pp. 25–26] abound), though it is worth noting that Tabari describes the initiation of the campaign in pragmatic rather than ideological terms. He states that 'Umar's decision to invade came as a result of his realization Yazdegerd was making war on him every year, and when it

1495-614: Is known for its rich oil, i.e. petroleum production due to its geographical location. According to NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite data (2003–2013) analysed in a University of California, Irvine (UCI) -led study published in Water Resources Research on 16 June 2015, the most over-stressed aquifer system in the world is the Arabian Aquifer System , upon which more than 60 million people depend for water. Twenty-one of

1610-766: Is located in the continent of Asia and is bounded by (clockwise) the Persian Gulf on the northeast, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman on the east, the Arabian Sea on the southeast, the Gulf of Aden , and the Guardafui Channel on the south, and the Bab-el-Mandeb strait on the southwest and the Red Sea, which is located on the southwest and west. The northern portion of the peninsula merges with

1725-463: Is one of a number of narratives about him declining gifts or giving gifts of equal or greater amount in return. In his late twenties, he travelled to Syria , Palestine , India and Egypt . In Beirut , he made the highly significant connection of al-Abbas ibn al-Walid ibn Mazyad al-'Udhri al-Bayruti (c. 169–270/785–86 to 883–84). Al-Abbas instructed Tabari in the Syrian school's variant readings of

1840-614: Is primarily known as the author and author of history. Theodor Nöldeke , the German orientalist in 1878 has also translated the Sassanid section of Tabari's history into German, and has since been reprinted several times. Dutch orientalist Michael Jan de Goeje , in several volumes, translated Tabari's history book into Dutch, The book was later translated into English and republished in 1998 by State University of New York Press and Paris Diderot University . Hermann Zotenberg published

1955-669: Is the location of the Kaaba , Islam's holiest site, and the Masjid al-Nabawi (the Prophet's Mosque) in Medina is the location of Muhammad 's grave; as a result, from the 7th century, Mecca and Medina became the pilgrimage destinations for large numbers of Muslims from across the Islamic world . Despite its spiritual importance, in political terms Arabia soon became a peripheral region of

2070-407: Is unsuited to agriculture, making irrigation and land reclamation projects essential. The narrow coastal plain and isolated oases, amounting to less than 1% of the land area, are used to cultivate grains, coffee and tropical fruits . Goat, sheep, and camel husbandry is widespread elsewhere throughout the rest of the Peninsula. Some areas have a summer humid tropical monsoon climate , in particular

2185-739: The Al Saud , began in Najd in central Arabia in 1744, when Muhammad bin Saud , founder of the dynasty, joined forces with the religious leader Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab , founder of the Wahhabi movement , a strict puritanical form of Sunni Islam. The Emirate of Diriyah established in the area around Riyadh rapidly expanded and briefly controlled most of the present-day territory of Saudi Arabia, sacking Karbala in 1802, and capturing Mecca in 1803. The Damascus Protocol of 1914 provides an illustration of

2300-788: The Arabs ' ), or Arabia , is a peninsula in West Asia , situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate . At 3,237,500 km (1,250,000 sq mi), comparable in size to India , the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the Arabian Peninsula includes Bahrain , Kuwait , Oman , Qatar , Saudi Arabia , the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Yemen , as well as southern Iraq and Jordan . The largest of these

2415-455: The Dhofar and Al Mahrah areas of Oman and Yemen. These areas allow for large scale coconut plantations. Much of Yemen has a tropical monsoon rain influenced mountain climate. The plains usually have either a tropical or subtropical arid desert climate or arid steppe climate . The sea surrounding the Arabian Peninsula is generally tropical sea with a very rich tropical sea life and some of

SECTION 20

#1732765364654

2530-597: The First Islamic State - a single Arab Muslim religious polity in the Arabian Peninsula. Under the subsequent Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates , rapid expansion of Arab power well beyond the Arabian peninsula formed a vast Muslim Arab Empire with an area of influence that stretched from the northwest Indian subcontinent , across Central Asia , the Middle East , North Africa , southern Italy , and

2645-591: The Hanafi school. Among other material, ibn Humayd taught Jarir Tabari the historical works of ibn Ishaq , especially al-Sirah , the life of Muhammad . Tabari was thus introduced in youth to pre-Islamic and early Islamic history. Tabari quotes ibn Humayd frequently, but little is known about Tabari's other teachers in Rayy. Tabari then travelled to study in Baghdad under Ahmad ibn Hanbal , who, however, had recently died (in late 855 or early 856). Tabari possibly made

2760-585: The Hejaz ( Tihamah for the western coast), as described by Ibn al-Faqih . In antiquity, the term "Arabia" encompassed a larger area than the current term "Arabian Peninsula" and included the Arabian desert and large parts of the Syrian-Arabian desert . During the Hellenistic period , the area was known as Arabia ( Ancient Greek : Ἀραβία ). The Romans named three regions "Arabia": One of

2875-721: The Iberian Peninsula , to the Pyrenees . With Muhammad's death in 632, disagreement broke out over who would succeed him as leader of the Muslim community. Umar ibn al-Khattab , a prominent companion of Muhammad, nominated Abu Bakr , who was Muhammad's intimate friend and collaborator. Others added their support and Abu Bakr was made the first caliph . This choice was disputed by some of Muhammad's companions, who held that Ali ibn Abi Talib , his cousin and son-in-law, had been designated his successor. Abu Bakr's immediate task

2990-581: The Indian Ocean to the southeast. The peninsula plays a critical geopolitical role in the Arab world and globally due to its vast reserves of oil and natural gas . Before the modern era, the region was divided into primarily four distinct regions: the Central Plateau ( Najd and Al-Yamama ), South Arabia ( Yemen , Hadhramaut and Oman ), Al-Bahrain (Eastern Arabia or Al-Hassa ), and

3105-497: The Islamic world , in which the most important medieval Islamic states were based at various times in such far away cities as Damascus , Baghdad , and Cairo . However, from the 10th century (and, in fact, until the 20th century) the Hashemite Sharifs of Mecca maintained a state in the most developed part of the region, the Hejaz . Their domain originally comprised only the holy cities of Mecca and Medina but in

3220-629: The Nabataean city of Hegra . The city rose to prominence around the 1st century AD as an important site in the regional caravan trade. Adjacent to the city were large, decorated rock-cut tombs used by members of various religious groups. At an unknown point in ancient times, the site was abandoned and possibly functionally replaced by Al-'Ula . The site has been referred to as Mada'in Salih ( Arabic : ﻣﺪﺍﺋﻦ ﺻﺎﻟﺢ , romanized :  madāʼin Ṣāliḥ , lit.   'the cities of Saleh') since

3335-637: The Nefud Desert dates to approximately 90,000 years ago and is the oldest human fossil discovered outside of Africa and the Levant. This indicates human migrations from Africa to Arabia occurred around this time. The Arabian Peninsula may have been the homeland of a ' Basal Eurasian ' population, which diverged from other Eurasians soon after the Out-of-Africa migration, and subsequently became isolated, until it started to mix with other populations in

3450-759: The Rashidun or "rightly guided" Caliphate . Under the Rashidun Caliphs, and, from 661, their Umayyad successors , the Arabs rapidly expanded the territory under Muslim control outside of Arabia. In a matter of decades Muslim armies decisively defeated the Byzantine army and destroyed the Persian Empire , conquering huge swathes of territory from the Iberian peninsula to India. The political focus of

3565-573: The Sasanian Empire came next. For the period of Muhammad's life, al-Ṭabarī drew upon the extensive researches of 8th-century Medinan scholars . Although pre-Islamic influences are evident in their works, the Medinan perspective of Muslim history evolved as a theocentric (god-centred) universal history of prophecy, culminating in the career of Muhammad and not as a continuum of tribal wars and values. The sources for al-Ṭabarī's History covering

Salih - Misplaced Pages Continue

3680-547: The Shafi'i madhhab. It was characterized by strong scripturalist tendencies. He appears, like Dawud al-Zahiri , to restrict consensus historically, defining it as the transmission by many authorities of reports on which the Sahaba agreed unanimously. Like Dawud al-Zahiri, he also held that consensus must be tied to a text and cannot be based on legal analogy . While we still lack a satisfactory scholarly biography of this remarkable scholar, interested readers now have access to

3795-444: The Shafi'i school for nearly a decade before he developed his own interpretation of Islamic jurisprudence . His understanding of it was both sophisticated and remarkably fluid, and, as such, he continued to develop his ideas and thoughts on juristic matters right until the end of his life. Al-Tabari's school of jurisprudence "flourished among Sunni ulama for two centuries after his death", before it eventually became extinct. It

3910-742: The Socotra Archipelago , the Peninsula's geopolitical outline faces the Guardafui Channel and the Somali Sea to the south. The six countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE form the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia covers the greater part of the Peninsula. The majority of the population of the Peninsula lives in Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The Peninsula contains

4025-466: The Syrian Desert with no clear borderline, although the northern boundary of the peninsula is generally considered to be the northern borders of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, also southern regions of Iraq and Jordan. The most prominent feature of the peninsula is desert , but in the southwest, there are mountain ranges, which receive greater rainfall than the rest of the peninsula. Harrat ash Shaam

4140-513: The Tuwayr , Shammar and Dhofar generally do not exceed 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in height. Not all mountains in the peninsula are visibly within ranges. Jebel Hafeet in particular, on the border of the UAE and Oman, measuring between 1,100 and 1,300 m (3,600 and 4,300 ft), is not within the Hajar range, but may be considered an outlier of that range. Most of the Arabian Peninsula

4255-472: The United States –led 2003 invasion of Iraq . Despite its historically sparse population, political Arabia stands out for its rapid population growth, driven by both significant inflows of migrant labor and persistently high birth rates. The population is characterized by its relative youth and a heavily skewed gender ratio favoring males. In several states, the number of South Asians surpasses that of

4370-574: The Zahiris and some fanatic Hanbali followers. Though his conflict with the leaders of the Zahiri school was resolved, the Hanbalites literally besieged him in his own home. Apparently, al-Tabari did not think much of Ibn Hanbal as a jurist ( faqih ), but mainly saw him as a traditionist ( muhaddith ), and this was enough to incite the Hanbalites against him. Al-Tabari was suddenly accused of being

4485-464: The nomes of Ptolemaic Egypt was named Arabia . Arabians used a north–south division of Arabia: ash-Sham vs. al-Yaman , or Arabia Deserta vs. Arabia Felix . Arabia Felix had originally been used for the whole peninsula, and at other times only for the southern region. Because its use became limited to the south, the whole peninsula was simply called Arabia. Arabia Deserta was the entire desert region extending north from Arabia Felix to Palmyra and

4600-655: The 13th century it was extended to include the rest of the Hejaz . Although, the Sharifs exercised at most times independent authority in the Hejaz , they were usually subject to the suzerainty of one of the major Islamic empires of the time. In the Middle Ages, these included the Abbasids of Baghdad , and the Fatimids , Ayyubids , and Mamluks of Egypt . The provincial Ottoman Army for Arabia (Arabistan Ordusu)

4715-558: The Columbia Center for Iranian Studies served as Editorial Coordinator. Ignác Goldziher Hungarian scholar, wrote in 1920 a book focusing on Tabari, titled in German as "Die Richtungen der islamischen Koranauslegung", and it was published by Brill Publishers . Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary also published the complete History of the Prophets and Kings in 17 volumes in his center. W. Montgomery Watt researched

Salih - Misplaced Pages Continue

4830-466: The Euphrates, including all the area between Pelusium on the Nile and Babylon. This area was also called Arabia and not sharply distinguished from the peninsula. The Arabs and the Ottoman Empire considered the west of the Arabian Peninsula region where the Arabs lived 'the land of the Arabs' – Bilad al-'Arab ( Arabia ), and its major divisions were the bilad al-Sham ( Levant ), bilad al-Yaman ( Yemen ), and Bilad al-'Iraq ( Iraq ). The Ottomans used

4945-445: The Gulf Cooperation Council's mediation. He eventually handed power to Vice President Hadi, who was sworn in as President of Yemen on 25 February 2012. Hadi launched a national dialogue to address new constitutional, political and social issues. The Houthi movement , dissatisfied with the outcomes of the national dialogue, launched an offensive and stormed the Yemeni capital Sanaa on 21 September 2014. In response, Saudi Arabia launched

5060-518: The Hanbalites, but these reports are uncertain, and other sources agree that he was buried in the morning after his death. Either way, he was buried in his home. Regardless, Tabari was remembered positively by contemporaries such as Ibn Duraid , and the Hanbalites were condemned by Abbasid authorities in their entirety for persecuting opponents, roughly a decade later. They even prevented people from meeting with him, and Ibn Jarir remained trapped in his home until he died. The period in which Tabari lived

5175-416: The Middle East since around 25,000 years ago. These different Middle Eastern populations would later spread Basal Eurasian ancestry via the Neolithic Revolution to all of Western Eurasia. There is evidence that human habitation in the Arabian Peninsula dates back to about 106,000 to 130,000 years ago. The harsh climate historically prevented much settlement in the pre-Islamic Arabian Peninsula, apart from

5290-459: The Muslim world then shifted to the newly conquered territories. Nevertheless, Mecca and Medina remained the spiritually most important places in the Muslim world . The Qur'an requires every able-bodied Muslim who can afford it, as one of the five pillars of Islam , to make a pilgrimage, or Hajj , to Mecca during the Islamic month of Dhu al-Hijjah at least once in his or her lifetime. The Masjid al-Haram (the Grand Mosque) in Mecca

5405-405: The Qur'an and transmitted through his father al-Walid the legal views of al-Awza'i , Beirut's prominent jurist from a century earlier. Tabari arrived in Egypt in 253 AH (867 AD), and some time after 256/870, he returned to Baghdad, possibly making a pilgrimage on the way. If so, he did not stay long in the Hijaz . Tabari had a private income from his father while he was still living, and then

5520-403: The Saudi Arabian border and rallied popular support. The royalist side received support from Saudi Arabia, while the republicans were supported by Egypt and the Soviet Union. Both foreign irregular and conventional forces were also involved. The Egyptian President , Gamal Abdel Nasser , supported the republicans with as many as 70,000 troops. Despite several military moves and peace conferences,

5635-405: The Thamud a blessed she-camel ( Arabic : نَاقة , romanized :  naaqah , lit.   'female camel'), as both a means of sustenance and a test. The tribe was told to allow the camel to graze peacefully and avoid harming her. But in defiance of Saleh's warning, the people of the tribe hamstrung the camel. Saleh informed them that they had only three more days to live before

5750-448: The United States, Albania and France. Planning for the translation of this great chronicle book into English in forty volumes began in 1971, led by Ehsan Yarshater as General Editor and assisted by an Editorial Board Ihsan Abbas , American University of Beirut , Clifford Edmund Bosworth University of Manchester , Jacob Lassner Wayne State University , as Supervising Editor, and Franz Rosenthal in Yale University . Estelle Whelan at

5865-421: The above verse is the most highest place in Paradise, which will be granted to the Muhammad and none else, and the position of intercession ( Shafa'a ) will be giving to him by permission of God on behalf of the believers on the Day of Judgment. Muhammad will intercede on their behalf, so that God will relieve them of the suffering of such a situation. However, the Hanbalites interpreted the Praiseworthy Station as

SECTION 50

#1732765364654

5980-461: The biblical land of Sheba ). From 106 AD to 630 AD northwestern Arabia was under the control of the Roman Empire , which renamed it Arabia Petraea . Central Arabia was the location of the Kingdom of Kinda in the 4th, 5th and early 6th centuries. Eastern Arabia was home to the Dilmun civilization . The earliest known events in Arabian history are migrations from the peninsula into neighbouring areas. The Arabian Peninsula has long been accepted as

6095-409: The biggest ongoing threat believed to be coastal construction activity altering the marine environment. The fertile soils of Yemen have encouraged settlement of almost all of the land from sea level up to the mountains at 10,000 feet (3,000 m). In the higher elevations, elaborate terraces have been constructed to facilitate grain, fruit, coffee, ginger and khat cultivation. The Arabian peninsula

6210-427: The caliphs that unfortunately have come down only in the fragments preserved by al-Ṭabarī. Almost all of these accounts reflected an Iraqi perspective of the community; coupled with this is al-Ṭabarī’s scant attention to affairs in Egypt , North Africa , and Muslim Spain , so that his History does not have the secular “universal” outlook sometimes attributed to it. From the beginning of the Muslim era (dated from 622,

6325-438: The camel. Al-Tabari states that Saleh summoned his people to a mountain, where they witnessed the rock miraculously split open, revealing the camel. The she-camel had a young calf. Saleh informed the Thamud that the older camel was to drink from their water source on one day, and they were to drink from it the next day. On days when they were not allowed to drink water, the camel provided them with milk. But God informed Saleh that

6440-437: The castles and palaces they built out of stone, and of their technological superiority over neighbouring communities. Furthermore, he told them about their ancestors, the ʿĀd tribe, and how they too were destroyed for their sins. Some of the people of Thamud believed Saleh's words, but the tribal leaders refused to listen to him and continued to demand that he demonstrate a miracle to prove his prophethood. In response, God gave

6555-407: The commentary of the entire Holy Quran?" They enquired as to how lengthy it would be. "30 000 pages"! he replied. They said: "This would take a long time and cannot be completed in one lifetime. He therefore made it concise and kept it to 3000 pages (note, this was in reference to the old days when they used ink and hard-paper which was a bit long format today). It took him seven years to finish it from

6670-436: The credibility of his sources from a theological rather than an historical standpoint, yet he opposed religious innovation. In one anecdote, Abu Kamil suggested him when he was near death, to forgive his enemies, which he agreed to, apart from one who called him an innovator. Tabari was generally conciliatory, moderate, and affable. Initially, Tabari belonged to the Shafi'ite madhhab (school) of fiqh (Islamic law), and

6785-482: The date of the hijrah—the Prophet Muhammad ’s migration from Mecca to Medina ), the History is arranged as a set of annals according to the years after the hijrah. It terminates in the year 915. His second great work was the commentary on the Qur'an , (Arabic Tafsir al-Tabari ), which was marked by the same fullness of detail as the Annals . Abul-Qaasim Ibn 'Aqil Al-Warraq says: " Imām Ibn Jarir once said to his students: “Are you all ready to write down my lesson on

6900-435: The east) constituting only a quarter of people aged between 20 and 40. The eleven most populous cities on the Arabian Peninsula are: The rocks exposed vary systematically across Arabia, with the oldest rocks exposed in the Arabian-Nubian Shield near the Red Sea, overlain by earlier sediments that become younger towards the Persian Gulf. Perhaps the best-preserved ophiolite on Earth, the Semail Ophiolite , lies exposed in

7015-421: The eastern Al-Qassim Province , which would indicate that many prehistoric sites, located along a network of rivers, had once existed in the area. Acheulean tools found in Saffaqah, Riyadh Region reveal that hominins lived in the Arabian Peninsula around 188,000 years ago. Human habitation in Arabia may have occurred as early as 130,000 years ago. A fossilized Homo sapiens finger bone found at Al Wusta in

SECTION 60

#1732765364654

7130-444: The eastern, southern and northwestern borders of the peninsula. Broadly, the ranges can be grouped as follows: From the Hejaz southwards, the mountains show a steady increase in altitude westward as they get nearer to Yemen, and the highest peaks and ranges are all located in Yemen. The highest, Jabal An-Nabi Shu'ayb or Jabal Hadhur of the Haraz subrange of the Sarawat range, is 3,666 metres (12,028 ft) high. By comparison,

7245-461: The era of Muhammad and was named after his predecessor Salih. Saleh is not mentioned in any historical texts or in any of the Abrahamic scriptures that precede the Qur'an, but the account of Thamud's destruction may have been well known in ancient Arabia. The tribe's name is used in ancient Arabian poetry as a metaphor for "the transience of all things". According to Muslim tradition, the people of Thamud virtually relied upon Saleh for support. He

7360-418: The explanation of the verse 79 from Surat al-Isra' in the Qur'an about the Praiseworthy Station of Muhammad , known as "al-Maqam al-Mahmud". The verse is: And rise at ˹the last˺ part of the night, offering additional prayers, so your Lord may raise you to a station of praise. In the books of Tafsir (interpretation of the Qur'an), authors said that the Praiseworthy Station (al-Maqam al-Mahmud) said in

7475-443: The history of Tabari in French Language in four volumes in Paris. His book on the nativities and history was translated into Latin by Giovanni da Siviglia and published in Venice in 1503. Franz Rosenthal translated in 1989 Tabari history book of three volumes, with title "History of the Middle East". Clifford Edmund Bosworth , published the book History of Tabari in three volumes with an introduction by Ehsan Yarshater in 1999 in

7590-552: The history of Tabari, and from 1987 to 1999 published the book History of Tabari entitled "Muhammad at Mecca". Also Manuscripts Tabari history, Tabari interpretation and translation of Tabari history stored in Central Library of Astan Quds Razavi . Moshe Pearlman , Ismail Poonawala , Fred Donner , Hugh N. Kennedy , Khalid Yahya Blankinship , R. Stephen Humphreys , Michael G. Morony , G. R. Hawting , Martin Hinds , Carole Hillenbrand , George Saliba , and Yohanan Friedmann authors and researchers were prominent, they published

7705-407: The inheritance. He took money for teaching. Among Tabari's students was Ibn al-Mughallis , who was also a student of Tabari's own teacher Muhammad bin Dawud al-Zahiri ; Ibn al-Mughallis lavished Tabari with almost excessive praise. He never took a government or a judicial position. Tabari was some fifty years old when al-Mu'tadid became caliph. He was well past seventy in the year his History

7820-402: The modern era, the term bilad al-Yaman came to refer specifically to the southwestern parts of the peninsula. Arab geographers started to refer to the whole peninsula as 'jazirat al-Arab', or the peninsula of the Arabs. The railway was started in 1900 at the behest of the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II and was built largely by the Turks , with German advice and support. A public subscription

7935-437: The modern state of Saudi Arabia. The Saudis absorbed the Emirate of Asir , with their expansion only ending in 1934 after a war with Yemen . Two Saudi states were formed and controlled much of Arabia before Ibn Saud was even born. Ibn Saud, however, established the third Saudi state. The second major development has been the discovery of vast reserves of oil in the 1930s. Its production brought great wealth to all countries of

8050-527: The most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age , al-Tabari is widely known for his historical works and expertise in Quranic exegesis, and has been described as "an impressively prolific polymath". He authored works on a diverse range of subjects, including world history , poetry , lexicography , grammar , ethics , mathematics , and medicine . Among his most famous and influential works are his Quranic commentary, Tafsir al-Tabari , and historical chronicle, Tarikh al-Tabari . Al-Tabari followed

8165-472: The mountains of the UAE and northern Oman. The peninsula consists of: Arabia has few lakes or permanent rivers. Most areas are drained by ephemeral watercourses called wadis , which are dry except during the rainy season. Plentiful ancient aquifers exist beneath much of the peninsula, however, and where this water surfaces, oases form (e.g. Al-Hasa and Qatif , two of the world's largest oases ) and permit agriculture, especially palm trees , which allowed

8280-436: The native population. The four smallest states (by area), with coastlines entirely bordering the Persian Gulf, showcase the world's most extreme population growth, nearly tripling every two decades. In 2014, the estimated population of the Arabian Peninsula was 77,983,936 (including expatriates). The Arabian Peninsula is known for having one of the most uneven adult sex ratios in the world, with females in some regions (especially

8395-430: The opportunity to debate the matter with the Hanbalites in his residence. Al-Tabari agreed, but the Hanbalites did not show up. However, shortly before his death, Hanbalite rioters supposedly pelted his house with stones so numerous that they formed a large wall in front of it. According to Franz Rosenthal , "The role of Hanbalite hostility, though real, seems to have been exaggerated in connection with his death as it

8510-510: The original Urheimat of the Semitic languages by most scholars. The seventh century saw the rise of Islam as the peninsula's dominant religion. The Islamic prophet Muhammad was born in Mecca in about 570 and first began preaching in the city in 610, but migrated to Medina in 622. From there he and his companions united the tribes of Arabia under the banner of Islam and created

8625-399: The peninsula to produce more dates than any other region in the world. In general, the climate is extremely hot and arid , although there are exceptions. Higher elevations are made temperate by their altitude, and the Arabian Sea coastline can receive cool, humid breezes in summer due to cold upwelling offshore. The peninsula has no thick forests. Desert-adapted wildlife is present throughout

8740-565: The persecution to the point where Abbasid authorities had to subdue them by force. The Baghdad chief of police tried to organize a debate between Tabari and the Hanbalites to settle their differences. While Tabari accepted, the Hanbalites did not show up, but instead came later to pelt his house with stones again. The constant threat of violence from the Hanbalites hung over Tabari's head for the rest of his life. Tabari died on 17 February 923. Some sources suggest that Abbasid authorities buried Tabari at night in secret as they feared mob violence by

8855-616: The reception of al-Tabari Tarikh among those who immediately followed the great master. That al-Tabari's history was immensely significant we can all agree; but as to precisely how he became so significant there is no clear consensus. Returning to Forand's insight, al-Azdi frequently drew on the same authorities tapped by al-Tabari, but whose works are for the most part now lost, such as Abu Ma'shar (170/786), Abu Mikhnaf (157/774), al-Haytham ibn 'Adi (207/822), al-Madaini (around 228/843), and 'Umar ibn Shabba (262/878). Realistic depictions alternate with formalized and archetypal narrative. Tabari

8970-636: The region, with the exception of Yemen. The North Yemen Civil War was fought in North Yemen between royalists of the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen and factions of the Yemen Arab Republic from 1962 to 1970. The war began with a coup d'état carried out by the republican leader, Abdullah as-Sallal , which dethroned the newly crowned Muhammad al-Badr and declared Yemen a republic under his presidency. The Imam escaped to

9085-419: The region. A plateau more than 2,500 feet (760 m) high extends across much of the Arabian Peninsula. The plateau slopes eastwards from the massive, rifted escarpment along the coast of the Red Sea, to the shallow waters of the Persian Gulf. The interior is characterized by cuestas and valleys, drained by a system of wadis . A crescent of sand and gravel deserts lies to the east. There are mountains at

9200-613: The regional relationships. Arabs living in one of the existing districts of the Arabian peninsula, the Emirate of Hejaz , asked for a British guarantee of independence. Their proposal included all Arab lands south of a line roughly corresponding to the northern frontiers of present-day Syria and Iraq. They envisioned a new Arab state, or confederation of states, adjoining the southern Arabian Peninsula. It would have comprised Cilicia – İskenderun and Mersin , Iraq with Kuwait, Syria, Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate , Jordan, and Palestine . In

9315-786: The ruling Ottoman Empire and creating a single unified Arab state spanning from Aleppo in Syria to Aden in Yemen. During World War I, the Sharif Hussein entered into an alliance with the United Kingdom and France against the Ottomans in June 1916. These events were followed by the foundation of Saudi Arabia under King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud . In 1902, Ibn Saud had captured Riyadh . Continuing his conquests, Abdulaziz subdued Al-Hasa, Jabal Shammar , Hejaz between 1913 and 1926 founded

9430-434: The school's founder, became decidedly negative later in life. Tabari did not give Ibn Hanbal's dissenting opinion any weight at all when considering the various views of jurists, stating that Ibn Hanbal had not even been a jurist at all but merely a recorder of Hadith . On his return to Baghdad , he took a tutoring position from the vizier, Ubaydallah ibn Yahya ibn Khaqan . This would have been before A.H. 244 (858), since

9545-465: The seat of Muhammad by God on the Throne, despite the overall weakness of the narrations supporting it. Al-Tabari is said to have declared bluntly that it was absurd. Moreover, he recited: Upon hearing this, the fanatic Hanbali followers attacked him fiercely, and stoned his residence and caused a serious disturbance which had to be subdued by force. Trouble with the Hanbalites that took a similar form

9660-422: The she-camel is not mentioned explicitly in this chapter, it states that nine men plotted to kill Salih and his whole family, a crime for which they were struck down by God three days later. Muslim writers have elaborated upon the story of Saleh and the she-camel. Early Islamic tradition often involved a motif of the camel miraculously emerging from stone, often accompanied by a calf, and the production of milk from

9775-465: The source he is using (and apparently quoting verbatim). The sections in the McAuliffe translation, drawn mostly from al-Mada'ini and 'Umar ibn Shabba, do not represent the most obscure passages to be found in al-Tabari, but they are nonetheless full of linguistic ambiguities and difficulties for the translator. He wrote extensively; his voluminous corpus containing three main titles: The first of

9890-629: The term Arabistan in a broad sense for the region starting from Cilicia , where the Euphrates river makes its descent into Syria, through Palestine , and on through the remainder of the Sinai and Arabian peninsulas. The provinces of Arabia were: Al Tih, the Sinai peninsula, Hejaz, Asir, Yemen, Hadramaut, Mahra and Shilu, Oman, Hasa, Bahrain, Dahna, Nufud, the Hammad, which included the deserts of Syria, Mesopotamia and Babylonia. The Arabian Peninsula

10005-549: The thirty seven largest aquifers "have exceeded sustainability tipping points and are being depleted" and thirteen of them are "considered significantly distressed". Stone tools from the Middle Paleolithic age along with fossils of other animals discovered at Ti's al Ghadah, in northwestern Saudi Arabia, might imply that hominins migrated through a "Green Arabia" between 300,000 and 500,000 years ago. 200,000-year-old stone tools were discovered at Shuaib Al-Adgham in

10120-541: The time the reported events took place. His accounts are as authentic as one can expect from that period. Tabari final years were marked by conflict with the Hanbalite followers of Al-Hasan ibn 'Ali al-Barbahari , a student of the students of Ibn Hanbal. Tabari was known for his view that Hanbalism was not a legitimate school of thought, as Ibn Hanbal was a compiler of traditions and not a proper jurist. The Hanbalites of Baghdad would often stone Tabari's house, escalating

10235-417: The time. In recounting his history, Tabari used numerous channels to give accounts. These are both channels that are given by the same author in a work, such as for example three different accounts that start with the isnad al-Harita. Although no subject in history, recitation of the Quran and its interpretation, poetry, grammar and vocabulary, ethics, mathematics, and theology remained untouched by Tabari, he

10350-562: The two large works, generally known as the Annals (Arabic Tarikh al-Tabari ). This is a universal history from the time of Qur'anic Creation to 915, and is renowned for its detail and accuracy concerning Muslim and Middle Eastern history. Tabari's work is one of the major primary sources for historians. The History commenced with the Creation, followed by accounts regarding the patriarchs, prophets, and rulers of antiquity. The history of

10465-438: The vizier was out of office and in exile from 244 to 248 (858–9 to 862). There is an anecdote telling that Tabari had agreed to tutor for ten dinars a month, but his teaching was so effective and the boy's writing so impressive that the teacher was offered a tray of dinars and dirhams. The ever-ethical Tabari declined the offer, saying he had undertaken to do his work at the specified amount, and could not honorably take more. That

10580-511: The war in Yemen as analogous to the United States ' role in the Vietnam War . In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait. The invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi forces led to the 1990–91 Gulf War . Egypt, Qatar, Syria, and Saudi Arabia joined a multinational coalition that opposed Iraq. Displays of support for Iraq by Jordan and Palestine resulted in strained relations between many of the Arab states. After

10695-484: The war sank into a stalemate. Egypt's commitment to the war is considered to have been detrimental to its performance in the Six-Day War of June 1967, after which Nasser found it increasingly difficult to maintain his army's involvement and began to pull his forces out of Yemen. By 1970, King Faisal of Saudi Arabia recognized the republic and a truce was signed. Egyptian military historians refer to Egypt's role in

10810-643: The war, a so-called "Damascus Declaration" formalized an alliance for future joint Arab defensive actions between Egypt, Syria, and the GCC member states. The Arab Spring reached Yemen in January 2011. People of Yemen took to the street demonstrating against three decades of rule by President Ali Abdullah Saleh . The demonstration led to cracks in the ruling General People's Congress (GPC) and Saleh's Sanhani clan. Saleh used tactics of concession and violence to save his presidency. After numerous attempts, Saleh accepted

10925-517: The world's largest reserves of oil. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are economically the wealthiest in the region. Qatar, the only peninsular country in the Persian Gulf on the larger peninsula, is home to the Arabic-language television station Al Jazeera and its English-language subsidiary Al Jazeera English . Kuwait, on the border with Iraq, is an important country strategically, forming one of the main staging grounds for coalition forces mounting

11040-578: The world's largest, undestroyed and most pristine coral reefs. In addition, the organisms living in symbiosis with the Red Sea coral, the protozoa and zooxanthellae , have a unique hot weather adaptation to sudden rise (and fall) in sea water temperature. Hence, these coral reefs are not affected by coral bleaching caused by rise in temperature as elsewhere in the indopacific coral sea. The reefs are also unaffected by mass tourism and diving or other large scale human interference. The Persian gulf has suffered significant loss and degradation of coral reefs with

11155-499: The wrath of God descended upon them. The people of the city were remorseful, but their crime could not be undone, and all the disbelieving people in the city were killed in an earthquake . Al-Hijr was rendered uninhabited and remained in ruins for all time thereafter. Saleh himself and the few believers who followed him survived. The story is expanded upon in Sūrat an-Naml of the Qur'an. Whilst

11270-452: The year 283 until 290. A perusal of Tabari shows that he in fact relied on a variety of historians and other authors, such as Abu Mihnaf, Sayf b. 'Umar, Ibn al-Kalbi, ' Awana ibn al-Hakam , Nasr b. Muzahim, al-Mada'ini, 'Urwa b. al-Zubayr, al-Zuhri, Ibn Ishaq, Waqidi, Wahb b. Munabbih, Ka'b al-Ahbar, Ibn al-Matni, al Haggag b. al-Minhal, Hisham b. 'Urwa, al-Zubayr b. Bakkar and so forth, in addition to oral accounts that were circulating at

11385-521: The years from the Prophet ’s death to the fall of the Umayyad dynasty (661–750 CE) were short monographs, each treating a major event or the circumstances attending the death of an important person. Al-Ṭabarī supplemented this material with historical reports embodied in works on genealogy, poetry, and tribal affairs. Further, details of the early ʿAbbāsid period were available to him in a few histories of

11500-480: Was a granddaughter of Saleh. A similar tradition is related in an eighth-century commentary on Islam by John of Damascus and is also mentioned in the works of Ibn Kathir . Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula ( / ə ˈ r eɪ b i ə n p ə n ɪ n sj u l ə / ; Arabic : شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَة الْعَرَبِيَّة , shibhu l-jazīra l-ʿarabiyya , "Arabian Peninsula" or جَزِيرَةُ الْعَرَب , jazīratu l-ʿarab , lit.   ' Island of

11615-413: Was also reported at the time of al-Tabari's death. In connection with it, Nazuk is mentioned as chief of police. He was appointed to this position only in 310/922, the year al-Tabari died, but he appears to have held high positions in the police before, and may already have been in charge of al-Tabari's protection against potential Hanbalite violence. In 309/921, the wazir 'Ali b. 'Isa had offered al-Tabari

11730-651: Was chosen by God as a prophet ( Arabic : نبي , romanized :  nabi ) and sent to preach against the selfishness of the wealthy and to condemn the practice of shirk ( Arabic : شِرْك , lit.   ' polytheism '). Although Saleh preached for a sustained period of time, the people of Thamud refused to hear his warning and instead began to ask Saleh to perform a miracle for them. They said: “O Ṣâliḥ! We truly had high hopes in you before this. How dare you forbid us to worship what our forefathers had worshipped? We are certainly in alarming doubt about what you are inviting us to.” Saleh reminded his people of

11845-573: Was commonly designated as the Jariri school . Tabari was born in Amol , Tabaristan (some 20 km south of the Caspian Sea ) in the winter of 838–39. He has been described as either of Persian or Arab origin. He memorized the Qur'an at seven, was a qualified prayer leader at eight, and began to study the prophetic traditions at nine. He left home to study in 236 AH (850/1 AD), when he

11960-483: Was full of religious differences and political unrest, which was characterized by the stigmatization and accusation of individuals. He is described as having a dark complexion, large eyes and a long beard. He was tall and slender and his hair and beard remained black until he was very old. He was attentive to his health, avoiding red meat, fats, and other foods he deemed unhealthy. He was seldom sick before his last decade, when he suffered from bouts of pleurisy . When he

12075-581: Was headquartered in Syria , which included Palestine, the Transjordan region in addition to Lebanon ( Mount Lebanon was, however, a semi-autonomous mutasarrifate ). It was put in charge of Syria, Cilicia, Iraq, and the remainder of the Arabian Peninsula. The Ottomans never had any control over central Arabia, also known as the Najd region. The emergence of what was to become the Saudi royal family, known as

12190-518: Was ill, he treated himself (to the approval of physicians). He had a sense of humor, though serious subjects he treated seriously. He had studied poetry when young and enjoyed writing, reciting and participating in poetic exchanges. It is said that he was asked in Egypt about al-Tirimmah, and was able to recite this 7th century poet's work for Egyptians who had merely heard al-Tirimmah's name. Ali ibn al-Athir , in his memoirs, he confirmed these features. He

12305-499: Was in his life." He further adds that "Those who knew Tabari best always played down the inconveniences he suffered from the Hanbalites." Al-Tabari wrote history , theology and Qur'anic commentary. His principal and most influential works were: His legal texts, commentaries and Qur'anic exegesis, and history, produced respectively, were published throughout his lifetime. Biographers stress his reverence for scholarship, objectivity, and independent judgement ( ijtihad ). He rates

12420-675: Was opened throughout the Islamic world to fund the construction. The railway was to be a waqf , an inalienable religious endowment or charitable trust. The major developments of the early 20th century were the Arab Revolt during World War I and the subsequent collapse and partitioning of the Ottoman Empire . The Arab Revolt (1916–1918) was initiated by the Sherif Hussein ibn Ali with the aim of securing independence from

12535-429: Was published. During the intervening years, he was a famous (if somewhat controversial) personality. Among the figures of his age, he had access to sources of information equal to anyone, except, perhaps, those who were directly connected with decision making within the government. Most, if not all, the materials for the histories of al-Mu'tadid, al-Muktafi , and the early years of al-Muqtadir , were collected by him about

12650-839: Was suggested to him that he would continue to do this until he was driven out of his kingdom" (p. 2). The religious frame in Tabari's account is therefore not inflexible or exclusive. In 2015, a statue of Jarir Tabari, along with another Iranian scientist, Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi , was erected in the courtyard of the National Library of Tajikistan. There are streets and schools named after him in Riyadh , Doha , Amol , Qazvin , Khobar , Aqaba , Madaba , Beirut , Dhahran , Heliopolis , Kuwait , Homs , Hama and Baghdad . Abdolhossein Zarrinkoob and Lefebvre Lucidio in

12765-527: Was then well-versed in four of the five remaining Sunni legal schools, before founding his own independent, yet eventually extinct, school. His debates with his former teachers and classmates were known, and served as a demonstration of said independence. Notably missing from this list is the Hanbali school, the fourth largest legal school within Sunni Islam in the present era. Tabari's view of Ibn Hanbal,

12880-455: Was to avenge a recent defeat by Byzantine (or Eastern Roman Empire ) forces, although he first had to put down a rebellion by Arab tribes in an episode known as the Ridda wars , or "Wars of Apostasy". On his death in 634, he was succeeded by Umar as caliph, followed by Uthman ibn al-Affan and Ali ibn Abi Talib . The period of these first four caliphs is known as al-khulafā' ar-rāshidūn :

12995-519: Was twelve. He retained close ties to his hometown. He returned at least twice, the second time in 290 AH (903 AD), when his outspokenness caused some uneasiness and led to his quick departure. He first went to Ray (Rhages) , where he remained for some five years. A major teacher in Rayy was Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Humayd al-Razi, who had earlier taught in Baghdad, but was now in his seventies While in Ray, he also studied Muslim jurisprudence according to

13110-522: Was welcomed by them. He established his own madhhab, usually designated the Jariri madhhab after his patronymic . His school failed to endure in the competitive atmosphere of the times. As a youth in Baghdad , he had applied to the Hanbalite 's but received a hostile rejection. Al-Tabari's jurisprudence belongs to a type which Christopher Melchert has called " Rationalism ", largely associated with

13225-522: Was witty and urbane, clean, and well mannered. He avoided coarse speech, instead displaying refined eloquence. He had a good grounding in grammar, lexicography , and philology. Such were considered essential for Qur'anic commentary. He knew Persian and was acquainted with the origins of various foreign loan words in Arabic from a number of other languages. He died in Baghdad on 17 February 923. His ijtihad (independent judgement) led to criticism from

#653346