Tabaqat I Nasiri, 2 Volumes, English Translation

Tabaqat I Nasiri, 2 Volumes, English Translation

Year: 1881

Tabaqat-i Nasiri (Persian: طبقات ناصری‎), named for Sultan Nasir-ud-Din, is an elaborate history of the Islamic world written in Persian by Minhaj-i-Siraj Juzjani and completed in 1260. Consisting of 23 volumes and written in a blunt straightforward style, Juzjani devoted many years to the creation of this book even providing references for his information. Although a large portion of the book is devoted to the Ghurids, it also contains a history of the predecessors in Ghazna before the Ghaznavid Sebuktigin took power. In compiling his Tabaqat i Nasiri, Juzjani used other books now lost; part of Baihaqi's reign of Sebuktigin, Abu'l-Qasim Imadi's Ta'rikh-i mujadwal and most likely Ibn Haisam's Qisas-i thani. Juzjani's "tabaqat" would initiate the form of writing for dynastic history in centuries to come. The purpose of the Tabaqat-i Nasiri was to account for the Muslim dynasties that originated in Iran and Central Asia. It starts with the prophets and explains their piety and morality. This continues up to Abdullah, father of the prophet Muhammad, at which point a history of the prophet's life is told. Within his Tabaqat-i Nasiri, Juzjani tells of his religious views and his histori