Structure and Historical Methodology of the Tarikh

The full title of at-Tabari's historical work is Tarikh ar-Rusul wal-Muluk — the History of the Prophets and Kings — though it is commonly referred to simply as Tarikh at-Tabari or Tarikh al-Umam wal-Muluk. In scope, it is universal history beginning with the creation of the world and continuing through the events of at-Tabari's own lifetime, concluding with the year 302 AH (915 CE). The work spans, in the most complete modern editions, approximately eleven volumes of dense Arabic text, representing one of the most extensive historical compilations ever produced by a single scholar.

At-Tabari's methodological approach to history is fundamentally isnad-based — the same method used in hadith transmission. For each event or report, he presents the chain of transmitters leading back to an eyewitness or early authority, then records the report in its received form without typically adjudicating between conflicting accounts. When multiple reports on the same event exist, he often presents all of them, allowing the reader to compare and evaluate. This approach means the Tarikh functions both as a primary source for events and as a treasury of historical reports whose chains can be evaluated by later scholars.

The work is organized chronologically, with two major phases of organization. The first part covers pre-Islamic history: creation, the stories of the prophets from Adam through Jesus and the period immediately before Muhammad ﷺ, including Persian imperial history and biblical narratives as understood in the Islamic tradition. The second and historically more reliable part covers Islamic history from the Prophet ﷺ through the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates. The Islamic period is organized year by year (annalistically), with events listed under each hijri year.

At-Tabari draws on a vast range of sources. For pre-Islamic and early Islamic history, he relies heavily on the works of early historians like Ibn Ishaq (as transmitted by Ibn Hisham and others), Waqidi, Sayf ibn Umar, and Abu Mikhnaf — sources whose reliability varies considerably. His willingness to include reports from contested narrators like Sayf ibn Umar (who is considered weak by hadith critics) has been a point of scholarly discussion, though at-Tabari's intent was evidently to preserve the record of what was transmitted rather than to vouch for its accuracy.

For the Abbasid period closer to his own time, at-Tabari's sources become more reliable, including direct eyewitness testimony and reports from trusted contemporaries. These later sections are among the most valuable historical records for the Abbasid caliphate and the political events of the ninth century CE.

The Tarikh set the template for Islamic annalistic history writing and directly influenced subsequent historians including al-Masudi, Ibn al-Athir, and Ibn Kathir, the last of whom relied heavily on it for his own Al-Bidayah wal-Nihayah.