rophet
Muhammad. His work was published under the patronage of the Abbaside
princes, and was, in fact, composed for the Khalif Al-Mansur (A.D.
754-775). It was used as the chief source of information by Ibn
Hisham, the next historian of note, in his life of the Prophet, which
work has been edited by Dr. Wustenfeld, and translated into German by
Dr. Weil, and into English by Mr. E. Rehatsek, whose manuscript,
however, has not yet been printed. Ibn Hisham, who died in A.D. 828,
was the father of Arabic genealogy, and Abu-el-Siyadi, who died in
A.D. 857, is next to him.

But the real father of Arabian history was Al-Wackidi, a good and
trustworthy historian, thirty-two of whose works are known, all
relating to the conquests of the Arabs, and other such subjects. He
died A.D. 822. With him generally has been associated his secretary,
Muhammad bin Saad, a man of unimpeachable integrity, and of the
highest talents, merit, and eminence. He has left us some most
interesting works, full of valuable information relating to those
times. He died at Baghdad A.D. 844.

Al-Madaini, who died A.D. 839, was the author of two hundred and fifty
historical works, of which, however, nothing has yet been discovered,
except their titles as given in the 'Fihrist.'

Passing over many other historians, two more only will be mentioned,
viz., Abu Jafir at-Tabari and Al-Masudi.

Tabari (whose annals are now being edited by a company of European
Orientalists) was born A.D. 838, at Amol, in the province of
Tabaristan. He travelled a great deal, and composed many works on
history, poetry, grammar and lexicography. His work on jurisprudence
extends to several volumes, and his historical works stamp him as one
of the most reliable of Arab historians, while his numerous other
works also bear witness to the variety and accuracy of his
acquirements. He died at Baghdad A.D. 923, and has been called by
Gibbon the Livy of the Arabians.

Al-Masudi, a contemporary of the great historian Tabari, died
thirty-four years after him, in A.D. 957. His great work, 'Meadows of
Gold and Mines of Gems,' with the Arabic text above and a French
translation below, has been published in nine volumes (1861-1877) by
Barbier de Meynard, in connection with Pavet de Courteille, at the
expense of the French Government. Dr. A. Sprenger (who translated one
volume of the work into English for the Oriental Translation Fund,
London, 1841) calls the author of it the Herodotus of Ar