TABARI ON THE COMPANIONS OF THE PROPHET: MORAL AND POLITICAL CONTOURS IN ISLAMIC HISTORICAL WRITING.

• Author: Tayob, Abdelkader I.
• Position: Islamic scholar

Albrecht Noth's landmark study, recently (1994) expanded with the collaboration of Lawrence Conrad and translated from the German by Michael Bonner, identified a number of motifs in early Islamic history writing. One of these was the way in which the doctrine of the status of the Prophet's companions became a dominant theme featured in the accounts of the riddah and fitnah wars. Following this historiographical support, Sunni thought posited the companions as models of piety, steadfastness, and bravery in early Islam. I want to argue in this paper that a close reading of Tabari's presentation of the companions in the first fitnah (the Battles of the Camel and Siffin) reveals a more nuanced view of this dominant conception. I suggest that this was a reflection of Tabari's unique place in Baghdad society, and his mastery of the use of sources in presenting early Islamic history.

1. ISLAMIC HISTORICAL TEXTS

   My analysis of Tabari's presentation of the companions in the fitnah assumes an authorial intention which calls for some discussion and justification. For one, Tabari himself rejects such deliberate control over the reports he cites. Moreover, the overwhelming modern scholarly opinion on early Islamic historiography argues that such texts ought not to be regarded as unified works displaying the political, social, or religious views of their authors. Noth first presented this now well known thesis in 1973. He demonstrated that Islamic historical texts contained contradictory reports on crucial religious and political events, making it difficult to say with any degree of certainty that any one work extolled or supported a particular religious group or was produced in a particular region. In his view, early Muslim historians were collectors before they were synthesizers (Noth 1994, 8-10). Noth argued against a theory of early Islamic historiography first presented by Wellhausen that posited the presence of distinctive historiographical "schools" in Medina and Iraq. Without denying regional developments, Noth rejected the notion that the entire works of individuals like Ibn Ishaq (d. 151/767) or Sayf b. Umar (d. 180/796) represented their regions of origin. Noth believed that greater attention should be paid to the forms of historical reports instead of their socio-political and religious biases. He argued for the presence of a limited range of themes, motifs, and schemata which dominated the reports of early Islamic historiography.

   Noth's close attention to the basic forms of Islamic historiography presents a better means of appraising the historical works than relying on their religious, political, and regional prejudices, and his far-reaching conclusions have been accepted by a number of other scholars in the field (Landau-Tasseron 1990; Conrad 1987; Leder 1992; Lassner 1986). The following statement by Lassner is typical:

   The greatest chronicles describing early Abbasid history are composite works that do not bear the clear stamp of an acknowledged author. Compiled from accounts drawn from earlier treatises, these impressive texts give the impression of having been assembled by an editor supported by numerous assistants. Even with frequent references to chains of transmissions, where several accounts appear in sequence, it is often difficult to determine whether the order of presentation should be credited to the original author or to a later editor (Lassner 1986, 25).

   However, by itself, the theory does not preclude the identification of the author's intentions and peculiarities regarding key events or issues. Lassner, in particular, uncovered the political bias of the literature, and showed how the biographies of early Abbasids and their ancestors were gradually altered by historians to construct ideal founders of the revolution. Under the historian's craft, Abbasid Hashimite genealogy was carefully reconditioned and given glorious military honors. According to Lassner, then, even though the early Abbasid compilers like al-Baladhuri (d. 279/892) and al-Mada ini (d. 225/839) may have collected highly composite works, their apologia for the Abbasid ruling dynasty was unmistakably present. It seems that by choosing a contemporaneous theme, such as Abbasid power and authority, Lassner was able to follow the tendencies of Islamic historiography in a particular period. I want to explore the idea of such a key theme or event in identifying the idiosyncrasies of a single author.

   The significance of a particular author's presentation has been evaluated by others, as well, in different ways. Humphreys and Hodgson, in particular, have explored the non-historical, paradigmatic nature of Islamic literature. Humphreys suggested that different kinds of questions ought to be asked of the Islamic historiographical tradition. He also argued against both the Noth and the Wellhausen theories as being "ultimately concerned with old issues: the authenticity of allegedly early reports, the factual accuracy of these narratives, and the influence of partisanship and ideology on Islamic historiography" (Humphreys 1989, 272). Humphreys suggested that the historical recollection of certain key events, and excessive concentration on them in Islamic literature, may be interpreted within a framework of sacred history of covenant, betrayal, and redemption (Humphreys 1989, 27576). Moreover, Tabari displayed "a studied ambiguity, a determination to show that the religious and political problems posed by Uthman's reign might be resolved in a number of different ways" (Humphreys 1989, 279). In another article, Humphreys (1992) suggested that an examination of Baladhuri's account of the selection of Uthman revealed how the Muslim historian used akhbar to engage contemporary debates on the nature of the caliphate. Much earlier, a similar analysis by Hodgson of Tabari's account of the murder of Uthman showed the Muslim historian trying to reconcile the demands of power and moral responsibility (Hodgson 1974, 354-57; 1965, 55-56). Thus it is possible to decipher contemporary religious, political or socio-moral questions and issues by scrutinizing the early Islamic historical literature.

   Lassner's analysis of the apologia in the historical literature revealed Abbasids' need of legitimacy at the time, and Hodgson's and Humphreys' analyses appreciated and appraised the intellectual-moral project with which historians were then involved. In the following analysis of Tabari's presentation of the first fitnah, I would like to combine these methodological insights in order to show how Tabari presented, in Baghdad, a unique perception of the companions. I want to argue that the doctrine on the status of the companions of the Prophet was an important part of the Islamic worldview then being constructed by historians such as Tabari. For ninth-century Baghdad, this motif in the literature was not only of historiographical concern, it was debated in other scholarly circles because it had profound implications for the meaning and nature of Islam. In his inimitable way, Jahiz tells the following anecdote that reveals the importance of key companions in religious debate two hundred years after their demise:

   One of our friends questioned Abu Luqman, the fool, about the "indivisible particle." "The atom," he replied, "is Ali b. Abi Talib." Abu al-Aina asked him: "Are there no other atoms in the world?" " Indeed there are: Hamza and Ja far." "What about al- Abbas?" " He is an atom." "What do you say about Abu Bakr and Umar?" "Abu Bakr is divisible and Umar is divisible." "And Uthman?" "He is doubly divisible, and so is Zubayr." "And what do you say about Mu awiya?" " He is indivisible." (Pellat 1969, 149)

   Jahiz tells us that the fool had overheard scholars speaking about the "indivisible particle" and had become confused. I believe that the fool had probably also heard religious scholars debating the merits of the key companions involved in early Islamic conflicts, and simply put the two together.

   The companions of the Prophet played a vital role in the religious and political consciousness of Muslims in ninth-century Baghdad. Sunni, Shi i, and Abbasid apologists each held opinions about the companions, in general, and certain companions, in particular. The...