Scott Savran - Arabs and Iranians in the Islamic Conquest Narrative: Memory and Identity Construction in Islamic Historiography, 750-1050

Arabs and Iranians in the Islamic Conquest Narrative analyzes how early Muslim historians merged the pre-Islamic histories of the Arab and Iranian peoples into a didactic narrative culminating with the Arab conquest of Iran.

This book provides an in-depth examination of Islamic historical accounts of the encounters between representatives of these two peoples that took place in the centuries prior to the coming of Islam. By doing this, it uncovers anachronistic projections of dynamic identity and political discourses within the contemporaneous Islamic world. It shows how the formulaic placement of such embellishment within the context of the narrative served to justify the Arabs rise to power, whilst also explaining the fall of the Iranian Sasanian empire. The objective of this book is not simply to mine Islamic historical chronicles for the factual data they contain about the pre-Islamic period, but rather to understand how the authors of these works thought about this era.

By investigating the intersection between early Islamic memory, identity construction, and power discourses, this book will benefit researchers and students of Islamic history and literature and Middle Eastern Studies.

Scott Savran obtained his PhD from the University of Wisconsin in 2011. Dr Savrans research focuses on identity-based discourses in early Islamic historiography.

Culture and Civilization in the Middle East

General Editor: Ian Richard Netton
Professor of Islamic Studies, University of Exeter

This series studies the Middle East through the twin foci of its diverse cultures and civilisations. Comprising original monographs as well as scholarly surveys, it covers topics in the fields of Middle Eastern literature, archaeology, law, history, philosophy, science, folklore, art, architecture and language. While there is a plurality of views, the series presents serious scholarship in a lucid and stimulating fashion.

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Arabs and Iranians in the Islamic Conquest Narrative
Memory and Identity Construction in Islamic Historiography, 7501050
Scott Savran

Memory and Identity Construction in Islamic Historiography, 7501050

Scott Savran

First published 2018
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2018 Scott Savran

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: Savran, Scott, author.
Title: Arabs and Iranians in the Islamic conquest narrative : memory and
identity construction in Islamic historiography, 750-1050 / Scott Savran.
Other titles: Culture and civilisation in the Middle East ; 57.
Description: Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge,
2018. |
Series: Culture and civilization in the Middle East ; 57 | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017016187| ISBN 9780415749688 (hbk) |
ISBN 9781315795959 (ebk)
Subjects: LCSH: IranHistory640-1256Historiography. | Islamic
EmpireHistory750-1258Historiography. | Arabs. | Iranians. |
Sassanids.
Classification: LCC DS288.3 .S28 2018 | DDC 955/.02dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017016187

ISBN: 978-0-415-74968-8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-79595-9 (ebk)

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Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders for their permission to reprint material in this book. The publishers would be grateful to hear from any copyright holder who is not here acknowledged and will undertake to rectify any errors or omissions in future editions of this book.

For my father

This book is based on my dissertation which I completed at the University of Wisconsin in 2011. My idea for this study first came about during the summer of 2004, during which time I spent in Damascus reading Arabic chronicles. Though I was originally a student of Mamlk studies, my colleague, Martyn Smith, convinced me that we read together al-Masds Murj al-dhahab wa-madin al-jawhar, and that we focus on the section of pre-Islamic antiquities. I was drawn to this authors chapter on the Sasanian empire, which cites pre-Islamic Persian texts. Whose voice was speaking to us, I wondered, al-Masd or the composers of these ancient texts? Furthermore, what did the Sasanian era mean for al-Masd, and how did other Muslim historians, living in different times and places, think about the pre-Islamic period? These questions led me down the path of this current study, which analyzes early Islamic historiography on the relationship between the Sasanian empire and the tribes and states of the Arabian peninsula and Iraq through the lens of contemporaneous discourses and processes.

Many people have helped and supported me through the course of this project. While space limitations prevent me from mentioning everyone by name, there are several individuals whom I would particularly like to acknowledge. I would first like to thank my graduate and undergraduate advisors, David Morgan and Rudi Lindner, who have supported and inspired me throughout my education and in writing this book. From the University of Wisconsin, Uli Schamiloglu has also been a supportive figure throughout my career. Next, I would like to express my gratitude towards Tayeb El-Hibri, who kindly read a draft of my introduction, and provided invaluable advice. Sarah Savant, Greg Fisher, Conor Whately, Michael Bates, and Ignacio Snchez graciously shared their scholarship with me, which I found most helpful. Likewise, the faculty and students participating in the History Reading Circle at Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan, provided a much welcome assessment of my early chapters. While writing both my dissertation and this book, I benefited from my communication with Boaz Shoshan, Mahmoud Omidsalar, Parvaneh Pourshariati, Shaul Shaked, Reuven Amitai, Julia Rubanovich, Michael Morony, Elizabeth Urban, D. Gershon Lewental, and the late Patricia Crone, who gave me useful feedback on my dissertation.