Toward a Theory of Historical Narrative
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By Marilyn Robinson Waldman Toward a Theory of Historical Narrative A Case Study in Perso-Islamicate Historiography TOWARD A THEORY OF HISTORICAL NARRATIVE A Case Study in Perso-Islamicate Historiography By Marilyn Robinson Waldman However suggestive studies of the rhetoric of formal historiography have been, they have not as yet caused modern historians in gen eral to view and to use historical narratives from the past in new and quite different ways. And however much they may undertake to assess the importance of the literary styles, precommitments, and world views of the au thors of the texts on which they depend, most professional historians persist in regarding historical writings essentially as the means of getting at past "reality," which they continue to see as the primary object of interest. In the field of Islamicate history, where scholars have tended in the main to use historical narratives almost exclusively as unstructured mines of largely uninterpreted factual information, the handling of sources has been particularly problematic; for the criteria that serve to establish the validity of the facts that have been extracted from his torical narratives have remained largely ex ternal to the works themselves. Rarely do they relate in any way to the internal dynamics of the sources, or take into account the interaction of an author's mind with the materials he treats — considerations that have long been of singular importance in European and American historiography. And because systematic methods and precise ana lytical categories with which to address such questions are virtually nonexistent, the util ity of the facts drawn from historical writings remains severely limited; and the place of these sources in the history of ideas suffers serious neglect and goes largely unap preciated. Traditionally, the student of Is lamicate history has, instead of asking what a premodern Muslim author was trying to do and how he went about achieving his goals as a historian, been largely content merely to seek out from his sources whatever informa tion that they provided and that he found useful in solving his own historiographical problem. $15.00 Toward a Theory of Historical Narrative Toward a Theory of Historical Narrative A Case Study in Perso-Islamicate Historiography Marilyn Robinson Waldman Ohio State University Press: Columbus Copyright ® 1980 by the Ohio State University Press All Rights Reserved. Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data Waldman, Marilyn Robinson Toward a theory of historical narrative. Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Bayhaqi, Abu al-Fazl Muhammad ibn Husayn, 996 (ca.)-1077. Tarikh-i Bayhaqi. 2. Iran—Historiography. I. Title. DS288.7.B33W34 955'.007'2 79-886 ISBN 0-8142-0297-7 For my parents, who taught me to value learning Contents Acknowledgments xi Note on Transliteration xiii Note on the Islamic Calendar xiv 1 Toward a Mode of Criticism for Premodern Islamic ate Historical Narratives 3 2 The Life and Times of Abu'1-Fazl al-Bayhaql 27 3 The Method of the Secretary as Historian: An Analysis of the Structure and Contents of Ta'nkh-i Bayhaqi 51 4 The Pattern in Bayhaqi's Carpet: An Analysis of the Themes of Ta'rikh-i Bayhaqi 79 5 History and Language: The Style of Ta'rikh-i Bayhaqi 109 6 Bayhaqi's Place in Persian and Islamicate Cultural History 121 viii Contents 7 Ta'rikh-i Bayhaqi in the Light of Speech Act Theory 131 Appendixes 143 Glossary 199 Bibliography 205 Index 211 Maps 1 The Dar al-Islam circa 1050 28 2 The Break-up of the Caliphate, Showing the Independent Dynasties 29 3 The Extent of the Ghaznavid Empire circa 1030 32 Acknowledgments The inspiration for this study came from my teacher and friend, the late Marshall Hodgson of the University of Chicago, who made his students want to understand the human meaning of the cultural works of other civilizations. Thanks to the sympathy of Professors William H. McNeill, Heshmat Moayyad, Reuben Smith, and John Woods, I was able to continue my pursuit of this goal after Marshall Hodgson's death. To my classmate at the University of Chicago, Guity Nash'at Mirdamad, my thanks for opening up the treasures of Persian historiography for me. This work has also benefited immeasurably from those patient listeners — my colleagues and students at the Ohio State University—who have made many suggestions that have broadened and deepened my vision. Without the help of Mrs. Clara Goldslager and her Inter-library Loan staff at the Ohio State University, it would have been impossible for me to complete this work. My husband and daughter, who have often had to allow me to be with them in name only as I toiled at this labor, expect none but deserve the best of thanks. May their patience and compassion have been justified. Note on Transliteration The system of transliteration of Persian words (including Arabic words in Persian) used in this work follows the Library of Congress Persian Romaniza tion system except in the following five cases: h instead of h s instead of s z instead of z t instead of t z instead of z A few Persian words and names that have common Anglicized forms have not been changed, e.g., Tehran, Said Nafisi, Turkestan. Where Arabic words appear in Arabic, the Library of Congress Arabic Romanization system has been used, except in the following five cases: h instead of h s instead of s d instead of d t instead oft z instead of z Note on the Islamic Calendar The Islamic calendar has twelve lunar months and a total of 354 or 355 days: Muharram 30 days Rajab 30 days Safar 29 Sha'ban 29 Rablcah I 30 Ramadhan 30 Rablcah II 29 Shawwal 29 Jumadah I 30 Dhu'l-Qa'dah 30 Jumadah II 29 Dhu'l-Hijjah 29* For every thirty years, thirty-one lunar years elapse. The first Muslim year is considered by Muslims to have been 16 July 622 of the Common Era (C.E.), when the founder of the Muslim community, Muhammad, emigrated from his native town of Mecca. This emigration was called the hijrah, so a year of the Muslim calendar is referred to as A.H., after the hijrah. The entire system of dating is called hijri dating. This work frequently retains the system of double dating, for example, fourth/tenth century; 1393/1973; 7 Shawwal 421/8 October 1030; the first date given is the hijri, the last the Common Era. Sometimes the hijri year may be linked to two C.E. years, for example, 1387/1967-68, because the Muslim year 1387 ran from 11 April 1967 to 31 March 1968. This double-dating system is retained primarily because the hijri years communicate as much or more than the Common Era ones for many Islamic ists. *Thirty in leap year. Toward a Theory of Historical Narrative 1 Toward a Mode of Criticism for Premodern Islamicate Historical Narratives "It is easy to cut to pieces a dead elephant." —Yoruba Proverb INTRODUCTION However suggestive previous studies of the rhetoric of formal historical writ ing may have been, they have not forced today's historians to view or to use historical narratives from the past in new and different ways.1 Professional historians, however much they may try to weigh the importance of the styles, precommitments, and world views of the authors on whose narratives they depend, still look upon formal historical compositions essentially as a filter through which to view past "reality," their true focus. In the field of Islamicate history, where scholars have tended to use histori cal narratives almost exclusively as unstructured, uninterpretive mines of factual information, the handling of sources has been particularly problemat ic.2 The criteria of validity for the facts obtained from historical narratives are largely external; rarely are they related to the internal dynamics of the work from which the facts have been taken or to the interaction of the author's mind with the material he has presented, matters that have long been important in European and American historiography.3 Systematic methods and categories of analysis through which such questions could be approached are virtually nonexistent. The usefulness of facts mined from historical writings is thus reduced and the relevance of the whole source to the history of ideas entirely neglected.4 Instead of asking what a premodern Muslim author was trying to 4 Toward a Theory of Historical Narrative do as a historian and how he accomplished his goals, the scholar of Islamicate history has usually been content to ask what information the source provides that can be useful in solving his own problems. This study challenges the status quo in Islamicate historiography through attempting a multifaceted analysis of a single text, in this case a major Islami cate historical narrative and a pivotal work in the history of new Persian (post-tenth-century) language and culture—the Ghaznavid period Ta'nkh-i Bayhaqi.5 A brief survey of the fields of Ghaznavid and Islamicate historiog raphy as they exist now and as they are beginning to change will demonstrate the need for such a study and its problems in such a way as to point to possible solutions. GHAZNAVID HISTORIOGRAPHY The study of Ghaznavid history and historians is not yet well-developed. The Ghaznavids have only recently begun to attract serious and critical schol arly attention6 for at least two reasons: (1) scholars have tended to view them as less important than the better-known Saljuqs, for whom they paved the way, and consequently only the heroics of their most famous member Mahmud have merited much attention;7 (2) the sources for Ghaznavid history are in Arabic and Persian, often difficult to read and scattered over a broad spectrum of genres; and though many have been published and/or translated for some time, updated critical editions and translations in Western languages are only now beginning to appear.8 A thorough historiographical study of any or all of the primary sources for Ghaznavid history is yet to be undertaken.