Overview
Engaging with contemporary debates about the sources that shape our understanding of the early Muslim world, Najam Haider proposes a new model for Muslim historical writing that draws on Late Antique historiography to challenge the imposition of modern notions of history on a pre-modern society. Haider discusses three key case studies - the revolt of Mukhtar b. Abi 'Ubayd (d. 67/687), the life of the Twelver Shi'i Imam Musa al-Kazim (d. 183/799) and the rebellion and subsequent death of the Zaydi Shi'i Imam Yahya b. 'Abd Allah (d. 187/803) - in calling for a new line of inquiry which focuses on larger historiographical questions. What were the rules that governed historical writing in the early Muslim world? What were the intended audiences for these works? In the process, he rejects artificial divisions between Sunni and Shi'i historical writing.
Full Product Details
Author: Najam Haider (Barnard College, New York)
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.00cm
, Height: 1.70cm
, Length: 23.00cm
Weight: 0.470kg
ISBN: 9781108708142
ISBN 10: 1108708145
Pages: 318
Publication Date: 29 October 2020
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Manufactured on demand
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.
Reviews
'... this uncompromising analysis will appeal to scholars of early Islam as well as to students of politics and rhetoric - especially those concerned with the interplay among truth, fact, fiction, and influence in scholarly and aesthetic writing ... Highly recommended.' R. A. Miller, Choice
'... this uncompromising analysis will appeal to scholars of early Islam as well as to students of politics and rhetoric - especially those concerned with the interplay among truth, fact, fiction, and influence in scholarly and aesthetic writing ... Highly recommended.' R. A. Miller, Choice '... this uncompromising analysis will appeal to scholars of early Islam as well as to students of politics and rhetoric - especially those concerned with the interplay among truth, fact, fiction, and influence in scholarly and aesthetic writing ... Highly recommended.' R. A. Miller, Choice
Author Information
Najam Haider is a Professor in the Department of Religion at Barnard College, New York. He is the author of The Origins of the Shi'a (Cambridge, 2011) focusing on the role of ritual and sacred space in the formation of Shi'i identity and Shi'i Islam (Cambridge, 2014) which examines three branches of Shi'i Islam – Zaydi, Twelver, and Ismaili, through a framework of memory. He has travelled extensively in the Middle East, including Syria where he was a Fulbright scholar and Yemen where he studied with traditional Zaydi scholars.
