Al Tabari Volume 6 Page 111
By the time the narrative reaches page 111, the Abbasid forces have successfully toppled the Umayyad dynasty. The "Black Flags" of the Abbasids have swept from Khorasan into Iraq, and the last Umayyad Caliph, Marwan II, has been defeated and killed in Egypt. However, for the new Caliph, Abu al-Abbas al-Saffah, the war is not over. The page details the systematic effort to extinguish the remaining members of the Umayyad house to prevent any future uprisings.
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Non-Muslim secular historians, such as William Montgomery Watt, often viewed the incident with historical curiosity, arguing that early Muslims would unlikely invent a story that seemed superficially embarrassing to their prophet. Conversely, Islamic apologists and scholars emphasize that early historical works like The History of al-Tabari were never meant to be read as absolute scripture, but rather as raw compilations requiring rigorous source criticism. al tabari volume 6 page 111
The account further notes that God consoled Muhammad by revealing that all messengers before him faced similar temptations from Satan, as noted in the Quranic verse 22:52: "Never did We send a messenger or a prophet before you but that Satan cast [words] into his desire..."
The sixth volume of the English translation, titled Muhammad at Mecca , covers a specific and pivotal period in early Islamic history. It details the life of the Prophet Muhammad before his migration (Hijrah) to Medina in 622 AD, including his lineage, early life, the beginning of his prophetic mission, and the persecution faced by him and his followers in Mecca.
"These are the high-flying cranes (al-gharāniq al-'ulā), whose intercession is to be hoped for." By the time the narrative reaches page 111,
"Have you thought upon al-Lat and al-Uzza and Manat, the third, the other? "
This is where the historical analysis becomes crucial. Al-Tabari, true to his methodology as a historian, did not simply invent this story. His work is an annal , a collection of historical reports ( khabar ) that he gathered from various earlier sources, each with its own chain of transmission ( isnad ), a standard practice of Islamic historiography.
To understand why this text exists in al-Tabari’s chronicle, it is crucial to understand his specific methodology. Unlike canonical Hadith collectors (like Bukhari or Muslim), who vetted chains of transmission strictly to establish religious law, al-Tabari acted as an encyclopedic compiler . The page details the systematic effort to extinguish
The report remains a historical relic, preserved not as a fact but as a testament to the diversity of early Islamic tradition. Its value lies in what it reveals about the scientific precision of Islamic scholars in preserving and categorizing knowledge—knowledge that later generations could weigh for themselves. It ultimately stands as a powerful reminder to examine the methodology, the source, and the full narrative before passing judgment on a text.
Page 111 of The History of al-Ṭabarī, Volume VI , typically appears within the section recounting how early believers dealt with the severe persecution by the Quraysh, prompting some Muslims to migrate to Abyssinia.