Power-Knowledge in Tabari’s «Histoire» of Islam

A. Moghadam is a conjoint academic at the University of Newcastle, Australia. His PhD thesis was on the power and knowledge dynamics in the medieval historiographies. He also works on historical narratives, the problems of historical consciousness, and violence.Terence Lovat is Emeritus Professor at the University of Newcastle, Australia, and holds honorary positions at Oxford and Glasgow Universities in the UK and Royal Roads University, Canada. He has researched and written widely in the area of Islamic theology and education.

• CONTENTS: About The History: History versus Histoire - Late Antiquity Horizons of Knowing: Reviewing the Context of Tabari - The History as Political Myth: Nativity Narratives and Semiotics - Narrative and Myth as Common Sense: Theorization of Islamic Pastorality - Common Sense and Formation of the Maale: The Phenomenon of «Other» in the Religious Weltanschauung.

«This is an outstanding work on all accounts. It takes on a major challenge, being the critical examination of the cultural and textual roots of an important Islamic text. The authors demonstrate unusual competence in dealing with these kinds of literatures and, by doing so, are making a substantial, original and timely contribution to the study of Islam and appreciating the challenges facing Muslim scholars today.» (Emeritus Professor Gary D Bouma, UNESCO Chair in Interreligious and Intercultural Relations – Asia Pacific, Monash University, Australia)«Power-Knowledge in Tabari’s Histoire of Islam offers readers a penetrating look at the construction of Islamic origins in Tabari's foundational history. Through this work readers will appreciate Islamic historiography with all of its political, social, and religious complexity. The authors not only shed new light on the motivations behind the founding narratives of Islam, they also show how appreciating the constructed nature of these narratives is a first step to overcoming pejorative notions of the other in today's world.» (Gabriel Said Reynolds, Professor of Islamic Studies and Theology, University of Notre Dame, USA)