Saqifah in Balazori’s Historiography with the Emphasis on Ansaab ol- Ashraf

Abstract

Saqifah is considered as the most significant incidents of history of Islam after the departure of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and it is of particular position in the historical sources; moreover, too many scientific researches were done pertaining to its diverse dimensions. To investigate this trend, more accuracy and reflection toward the early historians’ reports is required. Balazori’s (279 A.H) in Ansaab ol - Ashraf, has endeavored to extensively gather the works of earlier scholars of hadith and narrators and to record the incident of Saqifah. The present research has studied Balazori’s reports on Saqifah via the content analysis and it is to break the cliché formats in the historical reports to achieve the main facts or the knowledge developed the thought of historian and reflected in his writings. The findings of this research indicate that Balazori’s has written the incident of Saqifah with more clarification compared with his contemporary historians such as Ibn e- Hashem (213 or 218), Mohammad ibn e- Sa’d (230), and Yaqubi (284) and he has investigated this event with more general approach. Although he was Sunnite, he included the narrations related to the disagreement with the succession of Abu Bakr as well as a report of some disputes on Saqifah. It is concluded that the dependency of Balazori’s on Abbasid caliphate has been so effective on his approach towards the issue of Saqifah

Keywords

• balazori’s
• ansaab ol - ashraf
• saqifah
• succession of the holy prophet (pbuh)
• abbasid caliphate