The History of al-Ṭabarī, Vol. 30: The ‘Abbāsid Caliphate in Equilibrium: The Caliphates of Musa al-Hadi and Harun al-Rashid pdf

Clifford Edmund Bosworth FBA es un historiador y orientalista inglés, especializado en estudios árabes e iraníes. Recibió su B.A. grado de la Universidad de Oxford y M.A. y Ph.D. títulos de la Universidad de Edimburgo. Ocupó puestos permanentes en la Universidad de St. Andrews, la Universidad de Manchester y el Centro de Humanidades de la Universidad de Princeton. Es autor de cientos de artículos en revistas académicas y volúmenes compuestos. Sus otras contribuciones incluyen casi 200 artículos en la Encyclopaedia of Islam y unos 100 artículos en la Encyclopædia Iranica, así como artículos para la Encyclopædia Britannica y la Encyclopedia Americana. Actualmente es profesor invitado en la Universidad de Exeter, donde ocupa el cargo desde 2004. Su libro Las dinastías islámicas ha sido traducido al árabe y al persa. Es el editor jefe de la Enciclopedia del Islam y editor consultor de la Enciclopedia Iranica.

The History of al-Ṭabarī, Vol. 30: The ‘Abbāsid Caliphate in Equilibrium: The Caliphates of Musa al-Hadi and Harun al-Rashid pdf por Clifford Edmund Bosworth

This volume of al-Tabari's History covers nearly a quarter of a century, and after covering the very brief caliphate of al-Hadi, concentrates on that of Harun al-Rashid. During these years, the caliphate was in a state of balance with its external foes; the great enemy, Christian Byzantium, was regarded with respect by the Muslims, and the two great powers of the Near East treated each other essentially as equals, while the Caucasian and Central Asian frontiers were held against pressure from the Turkish peoples of Inner Eurasia. The main stresses were internal, including Shi'ite risings on behalf of the excluded house of 'Ali, and revolts by the radical equalitarian Kharijites; but none of these was serious enough to affect the basic stability of the caliphate. Harun al-Rashid's caliphate has acquired in the West, under the influence of a misleading picture from the Arabian Nights, a glowing image as a golden age of Islamic culture and letters stemming from the Caliph's patronage of the exponents of these arts and sciences. In light of the picture of the Caliph which emerges from al-Tabari's pages, however, this image seems to be distinctly exaggerated. Al-Rashid himself does not exhibit any notable signs of administrative competence, military leadership or intellectual interests beyond those which convention demanded of a ruler. For much of his reign, he left the business of government to the capable viziers of the Barmakid family--the account of whose spectacular fall from power forms one of the most dramatic features of al-Tabari's narratives here--and his decision to divide the Islamic empire after his death between his sons was to lead subsequently to a disastrous civil war. Nevertheless, al-Tabari's story is full of interesting sidelights on the lives of those involved in the court circle of the time and on the motivations which impelled medieval Muslims to seek precarious careers there.