THE BEGINNING OF MUSLIM HISTORICAL RESEARCH*

As we also find from the later works, the history of the Caliphs
offered a good opportunity to the Muslim historians to exercise their judg-
- ment in march by comparing the numerous variations of the same tradi-
tion. Certainly, since it was the people of immediate past with which it
dealt, political passions were not conducive to allowing a sense of impar-
tiality to appear in the writing of history. In contrast, however, to religious
inhibitions that were apparent in the biographers of the Prophet, this in-
duced the rival parties to undertake a more thorough investigation of the
sources in order to refute their opponents.
While the writing of Islamic history encouraged thoroughness in
the investigation of individual facts, and while the acquaintance with the
traditions of the Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians contributed to the
widening of temporal horizons of the distant past, the spread of Muslims
over a large part of the world led to the attempt to collate historical
material from a geographical point of view(q). For this reason
al-Balldhuri(~) (d. 891) records in an important work the history of the
conquest of the individual Islamic countries.18 In this, as in his other
genealogical works, we find in al-Balldhuri a historian of importance, who
does not concern himself with matters of secondary importance, but seeks
to carry out research into the facts of the past and has also left behind
valuable data, concerning the origin of the Islamic state.
With this the second stage of the development of Muslim historical
resedrch comes to an end. An examination of the works of the first two
periods shows that their concept of human history was more a product of
the previous period rather than of their own. This fundamentally conserva-
tive characteristic of historical science manifests itself also in the works of
the third period.
In the 9th century A.D., in which the historical works of the second
period appeared, the Caliphate was at the height of its power. In this
period the Muslims developed trade relations with all the parts of the world,
which they came to know and thereby became acquainted with the customs
and traditions of all peoples.
The scientific activities of the Muslims witnessed a remarkable pro-
gress as they were now acquainted with the philosophy and sciences of the
Greeks, the wisdom of the Indians, the astronomy of the Babylonians(s),
the literature of the Persians and the arts and industries of the Chinese.
Due to this the world picture of the Muslims became more comprehensive