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The Children of Israel The Children Of Israel by al-Tabari This volume continues the accounts of the prophets of ancient Israel and of ancient Arabian tradition, and further illustrates al-Tabari's efforts at the historical synchronization of these accounts with ancient Iranian foundation myths. In this difficult process, al-Tabari shows again and again his striving for historical accuracy, despite the heavy odds against him. A printed copy is available via: hellish2050.com 1 Contents Preface...........................................................................................................3 Translator's Foreword.....................................................................................5 The Tale of al-Khidrl and His History; and the History of Moses and His Servant Joshua................................................................................................7 Manushihr....................................................................................................18 The Genealogy of Moses b. Amram,His History, and the Events That Took Place in His Era and That of Manushihr b. Manushkharnar...........................25 The Deaths of Moses and of Aaron, the Sons of Amram...............................67 The Affair of Korah b. Izhar b. Kohathw........................................................78 The Persians Who Ruled in Babylon after Manushihr...................................88 The Israelites and the Chiefs Who Were Over Their Affairs after Joshua......92 The History of Samuel b. Bali b. Elkanah b. Jeroham b. Ehhu b. Tohu b. Zuph and of Saul and Goliath...............................................................................101 The Account of David b. Jesse b. Obed b. Boaz b. Salmon b. Nahshon b. Amminadab b. Ram b. Hezron b. Perez b. Judah b. Jacob b. Isaac b. Abraham ................................................................................................................... 110 The History of Solomon b. David.................................................................120 What We Have Heard about Solomon's Campaigns, among Them His Raid during Which He Corresponded with Bilgis.................................................123 Solomon's Campaign against the Father of His Wife, Jaradah, and the Story of the Devil Who Took Solomon's Signet Ring............................................131 2 Preface THE HISTORY OF PROPHETS AND KINGS (Ta'rikh al-rusul wa'l-muluk) by Abu Ja`far Muhammad b. Jarir al-Tabari, here rendered as The History of al-Tabari, is by common consent the most important universal history produced in the world of Islam. It has been translated here in its entirety for the first time for the benefit of non-Arabists, with historical and philological notes for those interested in the particulars of the text. Al-Tabari's monumental work explores the history of the ancient nations, with special emphasis on biblical peoples and prophets, the legendary and factual history of ancient Iran, and, in great detail, the rise of Islam, the life of the Prophet Muhammad, and the history of the Islamic world down to the year. The first volume of this translation will contain a biography of al-Tabari and a discussion of the method, scope, and value of his work. It will also provide information on some of the technical considerations that have guided the work of the translators. The History has been divided into volumes, each of which covers about two hundred pages of the original Arabic text in the Leiden edition. An attempt has been made to draw the dividing lines between the individual volumes in such a way that each is to some degree independent and can be read as such. The page numbers of the original in the Leiden edition appear on the margins of the translated volumes. Al-Tabari very often quotes his sources verbatim and traces the chain of transmission (isnad) to an original source. The chains of transmitters are, for the sake of brevity, rendered by only a dash (-) between the individual links in the chain. Thus, "according to Ibn Humayd-Salamah-Ibn Isliaq" means that al-Tabari received the report from Ibn Humayd, who said that he was told by Salamah, who said that he was told by Ibn Ishaq, and so on. The numerous subtle and important differences in the original Arabic wording have been disregarded. The table of contents at the beginning of each volume gives a brief survey of the topics dealt with in that particular volume. It also includes the headings and subheadings as they appear in al-Tabari's text, as well as those occasionally introduced by the translator. 3 Well-known place names, such as, for instance, Mecca, Baghdad, Jerusalem, Damascus, and the Yemen, are given in their English spellings. Less common place names, which are the vast majority, are transliterated. Biblical figures appear in the accepted English spelling. Iranian names are usually translated according to their Arabic forms, and the presumed Iranian forms are often discussed in the footnotes. Technical terms have been translated wherever possible, but some, such as dirham and imam, have been retained in Arabic forms. Others that cannot be translated with sufficient precision have been retained and italicized as well as footnoted. The annotation aims chiefly at clarifying difficult passages, identifying individuals and place names, and discussing textual difficulties. Much leeway has been left to the translators to include in the footnotes whatever they consider necessary and helpful. The bibliographies list all the sources mentioned in the annotation. The index in each volume contains all the names of persons and places referred to in the text, as well as those mentioned in the notes as far as they refer to the medieval period. It does not include the names of modem scholars. A general index, it is hoped, will appear after all the volumes have been published. For further details concerning the series and acknowledgments, see Preface to Volume ii. Ehsan Yar-Shater 4 Translator's Foreword This volume continues the accounts of the prophets of ancient Israel and of ancient Arabian tradition, and further illustrates al-Tabari's efforts at the historical synchronization of these accounts with ancient Iranian foundation myths. In this difficult process, al-Tabari shows again and again his striving for historical accuracy, despite the heavy odds against him. Lacking the requisite linguistic knowledge and the "primary sources" that are the sine qua non of modem scholarship, al-Tabari trained his critical and quite skeptical eye on the tales transmitted by various traditionists, accepting some, questioning or rejecting others. In this ongoing story, several key figures loom especially large: the mysterious al-Khid whose identification with the prophet Elijah al-Tabari rejects; Moses; David; and Solomon, David's son. Tales about these figures make up the bulk of this volume, although stories of other individuals are included in briefer form as well: Balsam, Korah, Elijah, Elisha, Ezekiel, the Judges of Israel, Samuel, Saul, and Goliath, not to speak of ancient Iranian figures, including the story of how the boundary between the Iranians and the 'Ilrks was determined. Perhaps serving as a bridge between these traditions, there is the enigmatic figure of Dhi al- Qamayn, who is mentioned in the Qur'an. Al-Tabari sees the name as encompassing two individuals: one the semimythical figure of the Alexanderroman, living at the time of Moses, who accompanies al-Khidr on his strange journey, and the later Dhii al-Qamayn, the historical Alexander, whose exploits will be recounted in the next volume of this series. In rendering Qur'anic quotations into English, I have relied on M. M. Pickthall's The Meaning of the Glorious Koran, both for the English translation and the numbering of verses. I have, however, modified his biblical style and, in places where an alternative translation seemed more apposite, have turned to A. J. Arberry's The Koran Interpreted. In his Introduction to Volume XXXVIII of this translation series Franz Rosenthal stresses the need for a new, critical edition of the Arabic text of al-Tabari. Lacking that, one is left with some difficult textual problems, some of which may be solved by references to the works of such other 5 medieval Muslim writers as al-Tha`labi, who used some, though not all, of the same sources as al-Tabari, or Ibn al-Athir, who, centuries later, used this text as the basis for his own, much-abbreviated rendition of these tales. In dealing with some of these problems, I have been greatly aided by the advice and suggestions of several colleagues and friends, but, above all, by the knowledge of Iranian matters of Prof. Martin Schwartz and Dr. P. Skjarvo and the meticulous editing of Dr. Everett K. Rowson. I wish to thank them for their assistance in preventing some egregious errors. Those that remain are my own responsibility. I also wish to express my sincere thanks to my student assistant, Amy Forga, for her devoted work in the preparation of the manuscript for publication. William M. Brinner 6 The Tale of al-Khidrl and His History; and the History of Moses and His Servant Joshua Abu Jafar said that al-Khidr lived in the days of Afridhun the king, the son of Athfiyan, according to the report of the majority of the first scriptuaries, and before the days of Moses b. Amram. Still others say he was over the vanguard of Dhu al-Qarnayn the Elder, who lived in the days of Abraham, the Friend of the Merciful. Dhu al-Qamayn passed judgment in favor of Abraham in Beersheba, at an arbitration Abraham brought
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