The Echoes of Fitna

Accumulated Meaning and Performative Historiography in the First Muslim Civil War
Erscheinungsjahr 2022
ISBN: 978-90-04-52423-1
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 197, 176 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 442 g

Reihe: Islamic History and Civilization

In The Echoes of Fitna, Aaron M. Hagler engages in a close reading of the fitna narratives of three related texts: al-Tabari’s Ta'rikh al-rusul wa-l-muluk, Ibn al-Athir’s al-Kamil fi al-ta'rikh, and Ibn Kathir’s Kitab al-bidaya wa-l-nihaya. Because the latter two texts’ presentations of the fitna follow al-Tabari’s so closely, moments of divergence in the texts are understood as clear markers of the later historians’ goals, perspectives, and literary-narrative strategies.


The analysis of these changes demonstrates that the desire to reframe the meaning of Karbala' is central to Ibn al-Athir’s and Ibn Kathir’s narrative construction, and that—while they left al-Tabari’s versions of key events intact—small, even minute changes to contextual expository moments fundamentally change their meaning.

Autoren/Hrsg.

M Hagler, Aaron

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Naher & Mittlerer Osten
• Geisteswissenschaften Islam & Islamische Studien Islam & Islamische Studien

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements

Introduction: Making Use of Uncertainty

1 The Later Historians: Ibn al-Athir and Ibn Kathir

2 Their Source

3 Establishing the Texts’ Relationships

4 Methodology: Performative Historiographical Analysis

5 Mapping the Fitna

6 Structure

1 Historical Background of the Fitna and Its Histories

1 A Brief History of Islam before Our Extant Sources and the Emergence of Sectarian Rivalry

2 The Raw Data: The Sectarian Narratives

3 The Fitna as Narrative

4 Historical Context: Damascus during and after the “Sunni Revival”

5 Conclusion

Part 1 The Slaughter at Karbala?

2 The Karbala? Narrative

1 The Story of Karbala?

2 Ibn Kathir on al-?usayn ibn ?Ali

3 Ibn al-Athir on Karbala?

4 Conclusion

3 The Fight and Its Aftermath

1 The Immediate Preparation

2 The Battle

3 Conclusion

4 Approaching Karbala?

1 Towards Karbala?

2 Umayyad Representatives, Softened and Erased

3 Al-?usayn is Detained and Denied Water

4 Conclusion

5 Next Stop

Part 2 The Betrayal at ?iffin

5 The ?iffin Narrative

1 Sourcing ?iffin

2 The Elements of the Story

3 The Stakes

6 The Battle of ?iffin: Fight and Conclusion

1 Introduction

2 A Broken Link to the Prophet: The Battlefield Death of the Elderly ?Ammar ibn Yasir

3 Arbitration, Negotiation, and a Portentous Stalemate

7 Preparing the Battle

1 Introduction

2 The Battle of the Camel

3 The Allegiances of ?Amr ibn al-?A? and Abu Musa al-Ash?ari

4 The Correspondence between ?Ali and Mu?awiya

5 The Battle by the Water: Softening Umayyad Villainy at ?iffin

6 Conclusion

Part 3 The Election of ?Uthman

8 The Story of ?Uthman

1 The Shura

2 Six Good Years, Six Bad Years

3 Mu?awiya on the Minbar

4 The Stakes

5 Six Good Years and Six Bad Years: The Caliphate of ?Uthman ibn ?Affan

9 The Shura of ?Uthman

1 Introduction

2 Narrating the Shura

3 ?Abd al-Ra?man ibn ?Awf: Cynical or Sincere?

4 ?Ali’s Reactions: Playing the Wild Card

5 Looking Backward

Part 4 Further Ripples

10 The Stories of Succession

1 Introduction

2 The Death of the Prophet and the Saqifa

3 The Caliphate of ?Umar ibn al-Kha??ab

4 The Stakes

11 The Prophet Mu?ammad and His Role in the Narrative

Conclusion: The Tapestry of History

1 Karbala? the Pebble

Bibliography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Aaron M. Hagler, Ph.D. (2011), University of Pennsylvania, is Associate Professor of History at Troy University. He has previously published work in the International Journal of Middle East Studies, Arabica, and Der Islam, among others.