Al-T:abar ̄ı is considered a master of historical writing
and of tafs ̄ır, and in subsequent generations he was seen as
the most important intellect of his age, a mujtahid. He
gained this stature not only because of his prodigious output
but also because of his critical acumen, especially as displayed
in Ja ̄miE al-baya ̄n. The tafs ̄ır is also the earliest complete and
extensive work of its type available today (although other
briefer but earlier works do still exist), and the history has
been a major source for all reconstructions of events in early
Islam, since it is, like the tafs ̄ır, the earliest comprehensive
compilation of historical reports for the Islamic period. Con-
sidering the importance and value of the works, it is some-
what surprising that few complete manuscript copies have
survived to the present (scattered single volumes are available
in numerous libraries, however) and that, until the end of
the nineteenth century, the complete work of the tafs ̄ır was
believed lost. Perhaps because of the voluminous nature of
the texts, they remained works suitable only for other schol-
ars; later summaries and translations of the works became
particularly important and, in some ways, eclipsed the origi-
nal work, even though al-T:abar ̄ı’s fame as a historian and
religious scholar remained intact.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
TaDr ̄ıkh al-rusul wa-al-mulu ̄k was published under the general edi-
torship of M. J. de Goeje with the title Annales quos scripsit
Abu ̄ Djafar Moh:ammed ibn Djar ̄ır at:-T:abari, 15 vols. (Lei-
den, 1879–1901). Other editions were printed in Cairo in
1909 and in 1960–1965. The entire work has been translat-
ed into English in thirty-nine volumes, The History of
al-T:abar ̄ı (Albany, N.Y., 1985–1999), volume 1, General
Introduction, and From the Creation to the Flood, translated
and annotated by Franz Rosenthal (1989), provides a de-
tailed survey of al-T:abar ̄ı’s life, works, and accomplishments.
For an understanding of the scope of al-T:abar ̄ı’s history, see
Claude Gilliot, “Récit, mythe, et histoire chez Tabari: Une
vision mythique de l’histoire universelle,” Mélanges de
l’institut dominicain d’études orientales du Caire 21 (1993):
277–289; and Chase F. Robinson, Islamic Historiography
(Cambridge, U.K., 2003). A full treatment of al-T:abar ̄ı’s
history and studies about it is found in Franz-Christoph
Muth, Die Annales von at:-T:abar ̄ı im Spiegel der europäischen
Bearbeitungen (Frankfurt, 1983).
Al-T:abar ̄ı’s commentary (tafs ̄ır) on the QurDa ̄n, Ja ̄miE al-baya ̄n
Ean taDw ̄ıl a ̄y al-QurDa ̄n, was first published in Cairo in 1903
and again in 1905; a new Cairo edition was begun in 1954.
A summary translation has been published in French by
Pierre Godé, Commentaire du Coran (Paris, 1983), in five
volumes, and a portion, through su ̄rah 2, verse 103 (includ-
ing the introduction), is available in English as The Commen-
tary on the QurDa ̄n, by Abu ̄ JaEfar Muh:ammad b. Jar ̄ır
al-T:abar ̄ı, Being an Abridged Translation of Ja ̄miE al-baya ̄n
Ean taDw ̄ıl a ̄y al-QurDa ̄n, with an introduction and notes by
J. Cooper, edited by Wilferd Madelung and Alan Jones (Ox-
ford, 1987). A fundamental study on this work is Otto Loth,
“Tabari’s Korancommentar,” Zeitschrift der Deutsche morgen-
ländischen Gesellschaft 35 (1881): 588–628. Harris Birke-
land, The Lord Guideth: Studies on Primitive Islam (Oslo,
1956), provides a detailed study of the structure of the tradi-
tions cited by al-T:abar ̄ı. Herbert Berg, The Development of
Exegesis in Early Islam: The Authenticity of Muslim Literature
from the Formative Period (Richmond, U.K., 2000), uses
al-T:abar ̄ı’s tafs ̄ır as a source of data to discuss the issue of
the reliability of the ascription of material to early authori-
ties. Claude Gilliot, Exégèse, langue, et théologie en Islam:
L’exégèse coranique de Tabari (m. 311/923) (Paris, 1990), is
a masterful study of al-T:abar ̄ı’s exegetical approach; it is sup-
plemented by Gilliot’s articles “Exégèse et sémantique insti-
tutionelle dans le commentaire de Tabari,” Studia Islamica
77 (1993): 41–94, and “Mythe, recit, histoire du salut dans
le commentaire coranique de Tabari,” Journal Asiatique 282
(1994): 237–270.
On al-T:abar ̄ı’s h:ad ̄ıth work, see Claude Gilliot, “Le traitement du
H:ad ̄ı
̄t dans le Tahd
̄̄ıb al-a ̄
̄ta ̄r de Tabari,” Arabica 41 (1994):
309–351. Al-T:abar ̄ı’s creed is translated in Dominique
Sourdel, “Une profession de foi de l’historien al-T:abar ̄ı,”
Revue des études islamiques 36 (1968): 177–199.
ANDREW RIPPIN (2005)T:ABA ̄T:ABA ̄D ̄I, EALLA ̄MA. Muh:ammad H:usayn
T:aba ̄t:aba ̄D ̄ı (1903–1981) was arguably one of the most
prominent Sh ̄ıE ̄ı Muslim scholars of the twentieth century;
he was given the honorific title EAlla ̄ma, a testimony to the
extent and depth of his knowledge in the Sh ̄ıE ̄ı tradition of
Islamic scholarship.
T:aba ̄t:aba ̄D ̄ı was born into a family of Sh ̄ıE ̄ı Eulama ̄D (Is-
lamic scholars) in Tabr ̄ız, northwest of Iran, in 1903. In
1918, after finishing his primary education, he entered the
field of religious studies and, until 1925, he studied Arabic
grammar, logic, principles of Islamic jurisprudence, Islamic
law, theology, and philosophy. In 1926 he settled in Najaf,
the most famous Sh ̄ıE ̄ı seminary (h:awza) in Iraq at that time,
in order to complete his higher studies, attaining a license
to perform ijtiha ̄d—independent reasoning and deduction
based on the principles and sources of Islamic law.
He returned to Tabr ̄ız, his birthplace, in 1934. In 1946,
due to the political situation in the northwest of Iran, which
at that time was under the influence of the Soviet Union, he
went to the city of Qum, where he resumed his scholarly re-
search. In Qum he taught Islamic philosophy and QurDanic
studies for the rest of his life and became one of the greatest
contemporary masters in these two disciplines.
T:aba ̄t:aba ̄D ̄ı was a prolific writer in both Arabic and Per-
sian. His work had a profound impact on contemporary
Sh ̄ıE ̄ı thought, principally through his contribution to four
areas: QurDanic commentary and interpretation, philosophy,
mysticism, and sociocultural debate.
T:aba ̄t:aba ̄D ̄ı successfully revitalized the discipline of
QurDanic exegesis (tafs ̄ır), making this one of the core sub-
jects of the curriculum within the seminary of Qum. His
own monumental commentary on the QurDa ̄n, al-M ̄ıza ̄n f ̄ı
Tafs ̄ır al-QurDa ̄n, is ample evidence of his mastery of all the
sciences required for in-depth QurDanic interpretation.T:ABA ̄T:ABA ̄D ̄I, EALLA ̄MA 8945