Methods of historians who wrote about biographies during the sixth and seventh centuries AH (Al-Tabarsi and Al-Nasawi are examples)

Abstract

The research aims to introduce the development of historians’ methods in the sixth and seventh centuries AH through studying selected models, introducing the life of each model, introducing his book, and explaining the most important resources he used in his selected book, The researcher relied on the inductive and analytical approach to arrive at the results of the research. The researcher concluded that there was little interest in biographies and biographies in the countries of the Islamic Levant in this period of time when compared to other historical writings, In the sixth century AH, the writing of biographies and biographies was very limited and characterized by sectarianism, as historians translated each according to their sect. Al-Taymi Al-Isfahani (d. 535 AH) wrote about famous Sufis in his book Sirs of the Righteous Salaf, and Ibn Shahr Ashub (d. 588 AH) recorded Shiite books and the reports of their compilers in his book. It is a continuation of the book Al-Fahrist by the Sheikh of the sect, Al-Tusi (d. 460 AH), The religious trend remained very clear in the historical writings of this century, as is the case in the centuries that preceded it, and this is what we noticed when studying the chosen model for research in this century, which is the book “I’lam Al-Wari Bi’lam Al-Huda” by Al-Tabarsi (d. 548 AH), As for the seventh century AH, the religious aspect became rare in biographical writing in the Islamic East. This era was devoid of the modern historian and moved away from the chain of transmission. Historical writing moved to the political aspect, full of praise of sultans and rulers, whether from the Khwarazmshahs or the Mongols, either as an approach to their court or for fear of their punishment. And for example This is the biography of Sultan Jalal al-Din Mankabarti by al-Nasawi, the subject of the study. What is worth noting is the scarcity of historians who wrote about biographies and biographies in the seventh century AH. The reason for this is due to historians’ interest in other types of historical writings, especially general or global history, with the coincidence of the Mongols’ invasion of the countries of the East. Islam and the expansion of the Mongol Empire.