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

克利福德·埃德蒙·博斯沃思 FBA 是一位英国历史学家和东方学家，专门研究阿拉伯语和伊朗语。 他获得了学士学位。 牛津大学学位和文学硕士和博士学位。 爱丁堡大学学位。 他曾在圣安德鲁斯大学、曼彻斯特大学和普林斯顿大学人文中心担任长期职务。 他在学术期刊和综合卷上发表了 100 多篇文章。 他的其他贡献包括伊斯兰百科全书近 200 篇文章和伊朗百科全书约 100 篇文章，以及大英百科全书和美国百科全书的文章。 他目前是埃克塞特大学的客座教授，自 2004 年以来一直担任该职位。 他的著作《伊斯兰王朝》已被翻译成阿拉伯语和波斯语。 他是伊斯兰教百科全书的主编和伊朗百科全书的顾问编辑。

The History of al-Ṭabarī, Vol. 30: The ‘Abbāsid Caliphate in Equilibrium: The Caliphates of Musa al-Hadi and Harun al-Rashid pdf 克利福德·埃德蒙·博斯沃思

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.