Remaking the Narrative of the Conquest of Iran in Abū Bakr’s Caliphate in the Works of Historians of Third Century AH

Abstract

The early phases of conquest had a significant impact on the following centuries of the Islamic government. This impact made Muslims pay attention to the conquests. One result was integrating conquest news into historical writings. Because of temporal proximity, the narration of conquests of Iran in third-century historians' books such as Ibn Khayyat, Balādhurī, Dīnawarī, Yaqubi becomes importance. There are various similar and different narratives in these books, especially on the first caliph's conquests. Therefore, the study focuses on the methods that historians of the third century AH used for remaking the narratives of Iran's conquests and its relationship with the historical and political status of Abū Bakr's caliphate. The descriptive-analytical study showed that accepting the dominant Islamic culture, many of the historians tried to make Iran's conquest in line with the saint history of the Islamic Caliphate. However, their place attachment and social status pushed them towards specific considerations on ethnic pride and local and regional rivalries. They resulted in differences in describing details of the conquest narratives.

Keywords

• conquests of iran
• abū bakr’s caliphate
• islamic historiography
• tarikh al-yaqubi
• futūh al-buldān
• akhbar al-tival
• history book of khaliha ibn khayyat