al-Bad wa al-Tarikh

al-Bad' wa al-Tarikh (The Beginning and History) is an encyclopedic universal history and theological-geographical compendium compiled in 355 AH (966 CE) by al-Mutahhar ibn Tahir al-Maqdisi Majallat al-Muqtabas+1.

Authorship and Composition

Al-Maqdisi composed the work in Bust, in the province of Sijistan, and completed it in 355 AH Majallat al-Muqtabas+1. He presented it to a contemporary ruler whose name he did not explicitly provide; the editor suggested this patron may have been the vizier of the Samanid dynasty ruler al-Mansur ibn Nuh Majallat al-Muqtabas.

For centuries, the work was widely misattributed to the earlier scholar and geographer Abu Zayd al-Balkhi (d. 322 AH), an attribution repeated in Kashf al-Zunun by Katip Çelebi and in Kharidat al-'Aja'ib (attributed to Ibn al-Wardi) Majallat al-Muqtabas+1. This confusion arose largely because an owner had erroneously inscribed al-Balkhi's name on a copy that later entered the library of the Grand Vizier Damad Ibrahim Pasha Mujam al-Matbuat al-Arabi…. The correct attribution to al-Mutahhar ibn Tahir al-Maqdisi is substantiated by several pieces of evidence:

• Abu Mansur al-Tha'alibi (d. 429 AH) cited the book twice in Ghurar al-Siyar and explicitly attributed it to al-Mutahhar ibn Tahir Majallat al-Muqtabas.
• Ibn al-Nadim omitted the title from the bibliography of al-Balkhi in al-Fihrist Majallat al-Muqtabas+1.
• The chronology of the text extends down to 355 AH, more than three decades after al-Balkhi's death in 322 AH Majallat al-Muqtabas+1.

Structure, Scope, and Method

The work is organized into twenty-two comprehensive chapters (fasl), each subdivided into thematic sections Majallat al-Muqtabas. It opens with philosophical and theological discussions on epistemology, the principles of debate (hudud al-nazar wa-al-jadal), and proofs for the existence of the Eternal Creator Mujam al-Matbuat al-Arabi…. It then surveys the origin and ultimate end of creation, stories of the prophets, the histories of ancient peoples, and pre-Islamic Arab and non-Arab dynasties Majallat al-Muqtabas.

In its treatment of Islamic history, it details the life of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, early military campaigns (al-maghazi), the Islamic conquests, and the successive caliphs up to the author's day in 355 AH Majallat al-Muqtabas. The book also covers eschatology and the portents of the Hour, the geography of the inhabited world, the division of climates and kingdoms, and the doctrines, sects, and customs of various religious communities Majallat al-Muqtabas+1.

The text is characterized by fourth-century prose that incorporates rationalist interpretations; modern commentators note Mu'tazilite doctrinal tendencies in its treatment of human free will and divine providence Majallat al-Muqtabas.

Manuscripts and Editions

Manuscripts of the work are preserved in collections such as Damad Ibrahim Pasha, Yusuf Agha, Reisülküttab, and Ayasofya (which also holds an abridgment, Mukhtasar Kitab al-Bad' wa-al-Tarikh) Mujam Tarikh al-Turath al….

The French Orientalist Clément Huart edited and published the Arabic text alongside a French translation in six volumes between 1899 and 1919 in Paris and Chalon, consulting scholars such as M. J. de Goeje, Ignaz Goldziher, D. S. Margoliouth, Hartwig Derenbourg, and Barbier de Meynard Majallat al-Muqtabas+1. It was later reprinted in Baghdad (1962 and 1964) and translated into Persian Mujam Tarikh al-Turath al…. The work has served as a valuable historical source on early Islamic intellectual movements and religious sects, utilized by scholars such as Ahmad Amin and Adam Mez Majallat al-Jami'a al-Isl….