CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT CORNER. The Golden Pavilion, or Kinkakuji, in Kyoto, Japan. [©Dallas
and John Heaton/Corbis]; Thor’s hammer amulet, tenth century. National Museum of Iceland,
Reykjavik. [©Werner Forman/Art Resource, N.Y.]; Tenth- to twelfth-century stone carving of
Chacmool near the Temple of the Warriors at Chichen Itza in Mexico. [©Kevin Schafer/
Corbis]; Temple of Hatshepsut in Luxor, Egypt. [©Dallas and John Heaton/Corbis]; Nepalese
Ta ̄ra ̄. [©Christie’s Images/Corbis].
T
T:ABAR ̄I, AL- (AH 224/5–310; 839–923 CE), fully Abu ̄ JaEfar Muh:ammad ibn Jar ̄ır
al-T:abar ̄ı, was an Islamic religious scholar and historian. Born in A ̄mul in T:abarista ̄n,
northern Persia, just south of the Caspian Sea, al-T:abar ̄ı reports that by the age of seven
he had learned the QurDa ̄n by heart, by the age of eight had qualified as a prayer leader
(ima ̄m), and by the age of nine was studying traditions from Muh:ammad. At the age of
twelve he set off on the proverbial Muslim quest for knowledge, first by attending school
in Rayy (in what is now Tehran) and then, in 855, setting off for Baghdad, likely in hopes
of studying with the famous traditionist Ah:mad ibn H:anbal, who, however, died in that
same year just before al-T:abar ̄ı’s arrival. After a number of sojourns in other cities in Iraq,
Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, he settled in Baghdad and devoted his life to scholarly pursuits
involving teaching and writing. Al-T:abar ̄ı is reported to have written over twenty works,
although differentiating individual books is sometimes problematic because of the suspi-
cion that some works may be known under a variety of titles. According to various anec-
dotes, al-T:abar ̄ı avoided taking any positions of administrative responsibility, despite the
urging of government officials and colleagues, and devoted his energies purely to his work.
Stories are told of him writing forty pages a day for forty years, and while the accuracy
of the numbers is doubtful given their symbolic value, his dedication to his work is appar-
ent in the level of his output.
Al-T:abar ̄ı was an impressively prolific polymath. He wrote on such subjects as poet-
ry, lexicography, grammar, ethics, mathematics, and medicine, although none of his
works on these topics has survived. His fame today rests primarily upon his writings in
the fields of history, the QurDanic sciences, and law. The scope of his accomplishments
in the first two fields is especially significant given the unique value of his two main works,
the world history entitled TaDr ̄ıkh al-rusul wa-al-mulu ̄k (The history of the prophets and
the kings) and the commentary (tafs ̄ır) on the QurDa ̄n entitled Ja ̄miEal-baya ̄n Ean taDw ̄ıl
a ̄y al-QurDa ̄n (The gathering of the explanation of the interpretation of verses of the
QurDa ̄n).
Al-T:abar ̄ı’s Ja ̄miEal-baya ̄n Ean taDw ̄ıl a ̄y al-QurDa ̄n is, at least superficially, a volumi-
nous compendium of traditional matter concerned with the meaning of each verse of the
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