Hussein (The Book of the Murder of Hussein), written by
the Kufan Abu Mikhnaf just ɹfty years after Karbala
from ɹrsthand eyewitness accounts, including that of
Hussein’s one surviving son.
For anyone who delights in the Middle Eastern style of
narrative, al-Tabari is a joy to read, though Western
readers accustomed to tight structure and a clear
authorial point of view may be disconcerted at ɹrst.
Sometimes the same event or conversation is told from
more than a dozen points of view, and the narrative
thread weaves back and forth in time, with each
separate account adding to the ones that came before,
but from a slightly diʃerent angle. This use of multiple
voices creates an almost postmodern eʃect; what seems
at ɹrst to be lack of structure slowly reveals itself as a
vast edifice of brilliant structural integrity.
Given his method, it should come as no surprise that
some of the dialogue quoted in the present book is given
several times in al-Tabari, as recounted by diʃerent
witnesses and sources. While the general drift of these
accounts is usually the same, the wording obviously
diʃers according to who is speaking, as do the details:
one person remembers this detail; another, that. My sole
criterion in deciding which of multiple versions of a
quote to use was the desire for clarity, eschewing more
ornate and worked-over versions for clearer, more direct
ones and opting for detail over generality.