Date of Award
Summer 2011
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Graduate Group
Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations
First Advisor
Paul M. Cobb
Second Advisor
Joseph Lowry
Third Advisor
Jamal Elyas
Abstract
The Battle of Ṣiffīn (36/657) is the flash point in the emergence of sects within the Islamic religion. This dissertation traces the presentation of the story Ṣiffīn in a specific line of Arabic universal histories, starting with the establishment of the ―vulgate‖ text, Naṣr ibn Muzāḥim al-Minqarī‘s Waqʿat Ṣiffīn, and culminating in the Sunnī Syrian works of Ibn ʿAsākir, Ibn al-ʿAdīm, and Ibn Kathīr. As the vulgate text, al-Minqarī‘s Waqʿat Ṣiffīn forms the basis for every presentation of the story that follows it, including often being reproduced word for word. Developments in the Islamic political and religious spheres, as well as developments in styles of Arabic historical writing, were highly influential in shaping the development of the story. Of particular focus is the development of a narrative voice that seeks to use the story to rehabilitate early Syrian figures by later Syrian historians.
Recommended Citation
Hagler, Aaron M., "The Echoes of Fitna: Developing Historiographical Interpretations of the Battle of Siffin" (2011). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 397.
https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/397
Included in
Islamic World and Near East History Commons, Near Eastern Languages and Societies Commons