Kitab al-Taji

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Kitab al-Taji, is a historical chronicle written, in Arabic, by Abu Ishaq Ibrahim al-Sabi. Started in c.980 the Kitab al-Taji was patronized by the Shāhanshāh of the Buyid dynasty, 'Adud al-Dawla. Each section of the chronicle was systematically checked by 'Adud al-Dawla, who instructed changes or revisions.

There are no known modern versions of the Kitab al-Taji, though M.S. Khan found a fragment of the chronicle in a work of Zaydi jurisprudence called, al-Gāmiʿ al-Kāfī at the Great Mosque of Sanaa, Yemen.

Background

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Abu Ishaq Ibrahim al-Sabi was the chief secretary of 'Izz al-Dawla, Buyid amir of Iraq.[1] Following the downfall and death of Izz al-Dawla, al-Sabi was imprisoned. 'Adud al-Dawla's vizier, Mutahhar, requested al-Sabi be freed to be the seneschal in the capital.[2] As a condition of al-Sabi's release, 'Aḍud al-Dawla ordered that he compose a book about the greatness of the Būyid dynasty.[2] In c. 980, Al-Sabi started writing the Kitab al-Taji in Arabic.[3][4] Each time he finished a section, al-Sabi would present it to ʿAdud al-Dawla for review, so that it could be revised as needed.[2] Al-Sabi was displeased with the changes imposed by ʿAdud al-Dawla, a fact evident from a comment he made, when asked how his work was going, he replied that he was writing nonsense and falsehoods—an answer that, once relayed to ʿAdud al-Dawla, provoked his anger.[3] Al-Sabi finished the Kitab al-Taji sometime between c. 980-982.[5]

Medallion of Adud al-Dawla patron of the Kitāb al-Ṭājī

Titles

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The Kitāb al-Ṭāgī, often referred to as al-Kitāb al-Ṭāgī, was so named because it was written at the order of Ṭāg al-Milla, a title granted to ʿAḍud al-Dawla by Caliph al-Ṭāʾiʿ bi-llāh.[2] Contemporary authors—such as Abu Hayyan al-Tawhidi, al-Thaʿālibī, Ibn al-Nadīm, al-ʿUtbī, and al-Bayhaqi —also cite al-Sabi’s historical work under the title al-Kitāb al-Ṭāgī.[6] However, al-Bīrūnī—though younger and a contemporary of al-Sabi—refers to the work as Kitab al-Tag.[3]

Abu ʿAlī al-Rudhrawārī and Ibn Ḥassūl, who even composed a treatise criticizing the work, referred to it by the same title, and their usage was adopted by numerous later Arabic and Persian historians.[3]

Composition

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Although there is no known copy of the Kitab al-Taji, its contents can be partially reconstructed from references made by contemporary and later authors.[7]

Ibn al-Nadīm and al-Thaʿālibī noted the Daylamite's origin, which al-Saji states consisted of Arab and Persians living in Daylam,[8] and their ascent and the establishment of their rule over Iraq and Persia.[7] Al-Thaʿālibī further mentions that the chronicle described the wars fought by Daylamite rulers, their military successes, national character, and related topics.[7]

The ancestors of ʿAdud al-Dawla are highly praised, with numerous anecdotes at the start of the work illustrating these qualities.[9] Additionally, the tribe of Serzil, from which ʿAdud al-Dawla descended, is described as the noblest of all tribes, enhancing the prestige of the Buwayhids.[9]

Numerous medieval historians—including Al-Biruni, Ibn Ḥassūl, Ibn Isfandiyar, Ibn al-Athir, Ibn Ḥallīkān, Ibn Khaldūn, al-Qazwīnī, Zāhir al-Dīn al-Maqrīzī, Mīrḥwand, and Ḥusayn Khwāndmīr —copied the Buyid genealogical table citing the Kitab al-Ṭagi as the source.[10] Some of these historians noted that al-Sabi may have fabricated the ancestry for the Buyids tracing back to Bahram Gur.[10]

The Kitab al-Taji indicates that al-Sabi adopted a distinctly anti-Tahirid, anti-Saffarid, and anti-Samanid perspective.[9] His treatment of the ʿAbbasids was also unfavorable, with little attention devoted to the history of the Caliphs.[9] The pronounced anti-Samanid orientation is straightforward, given that the Samanids were political rivals of the Buyid dynasty.[9] Al-Saji largely disregarded Iraq in his account, focusing primarily on the military, political, and religious developments in Daylam, Gilan, and Tabaristan, the ancestral regions of the Buyids.[9] The Samanids of Bukhara and Khorasan are portrayed not as sovereign rulers but as vassals under the authority of the Abbasids.[9]

Modern times

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The Kitāb al-Ṭaji was thought to be lost, although a single manuscript containing an abbreviated portion of the work has been discovered.[a][12] This illustration of the Ṭaji is preserved as MS no. 145 in the Maktabat al-Mutawakkiliyya, located in the Great Mosque of Sanaa, Yemen.[12] The chronicle appears at the end of a copy of al-Gāmiʿ al-Kāfī, a work on Zaydī jurisprudence.[12] This is the only known manuscript, in which the text is written in black ink in a continuous paragraph.[12] It consists of twenty-two folios; forty-one and a half written pages.[12]

Great mosque of Sana'a, the location for where a fragment of the Kitāb al-Ṭājī resides.

Notes

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  1. ^ Christine D. Baker, assistant Professor of History at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, states only fragments remain of the Kitab al-Taji[11]

References

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  1. ^ Khan 1965, p. 30.
  2. ^ a b c d Khan 1965, p. 32.
  3. ^ a b c d Khan 1965, p. 33.
  4. ^ Khan 1970, p. 151.
  5. ^ Madelung 1970, p. 82.
  6. ^ Khan 1965, p. 32-33.
  7. ^ a b c Khan 1965, p. 34.
  8. ^ Baker 2016, p. 285.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Khan 1965, p. 39.
  10. ^ a b Khan 1965, p. 38.
  11. ^ Baker 2016, p. 292.
  12. ^ a b c d e Khan 1965, p. 27.

Sources

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  • Baker, Christine D. (2016). "The lost origins of the Daylamites: the construction of a new ethnic legacy for the Buyids". In Jones-Lewis, Molly; Kennedy, Rebecca Futo (eds.). The Routledge Handbook of Identity and the Environment in the Classical and Medieval Worlds. Routledge. pp. 281–296. ISBN 9781317415701.
  • Khan, M. S. (1965). "A Manuscript of an Epitome of al-Ṣābī's Kitāb al-Tāǧī". Arabica (T. 12, Fasc. 1 (Feb.)). Brill: 27–44.
  • Khan, M. S. (1970). "Studies in the "Kitāb al-Tāǧī" epitome of al-Ṣābī". Arabica. T. 17, Fasc. 2 (Jun.): 151–160.
  • Madelung, Wilfred (1970). "Further Notes on Al-Ṣabi's Kitāb al-Tājī". Islamic Studies. 9 (1 (MARCH)): 81–88.