Tajarib al-Umam (The Experiences of the Nations)

Tajarib al-Umam ("The Experiences of the Nations") is a universal history by Abu Ali Ahmad ibn Muhammad Miskawayh al-Razi (d. 421 AH). It begins after the Flood and ends with the events of 369 AH, and its author set out to draw from the history of nations whatever yields an "experience" for politics and the conduct of rule. ^{1 2} It became known as an indispensable primary source for the fourth Islamic century and the Buyid age. ¹

Miskawayh says in his preface that he went through the histories of nations and the lives of kings and found in them matter for reflection: policies for making lands prosper, uniting the subjects and keeping the troops loyal; wars and stratagems; the reasons some rose in the ruler's favour and others fell; the policies of viziers and army commanders. ^{3 4} His reason is that "the affairs of the world are alike, and its conditions correspond": whoever retains such reports gains them as experiences of his own, as if he had lived through that time and handled those affairs himself, and so meets his own affairs as one who knows. ⁴ He then says he found this kind of report buried among tales that serve as night-time stories and fables, good only for bringing on sleep; so he compiled this book and named it "Tajarib al-umam". Those who gain most from it are viziers, army commanders and governors of cities, and even those with least share can use it in running a household and in friendship. ²

He says he begins with what is reported after the Flood, because reports from before it are little to be trusted, and that he did not deal with the miracles of the prophets because the people of his time draw no experience from them for what lies ahead, except "human management not joined to the miraculous". ^{2 5} The editor notes that Miskawayh wrote another book on "the states of the sages and the qualities of the former prophets", and sees this as a reply to the orientalist Carra de Vaux's charge that he did not respect the Sunna. ⁶

The editor states that Miskawayh relied first of all on al-Tabari's history, cutting much of its repetition and whatever fell outside his method, and runs parallel to it from the Pishdadid age to 295 AH, although al-Tabari continues to 302. ⁷ Yet he also gives Iranian texts found neither in al-Tabari nor in al-Mas'udi or Ibn al-Athir, among them the "Testament of Ardashir" and the account Anushirvan wrote of his own conduct, with his address; the editor traces this to his post as librarian to Buyid grandees such as Ibn al-Amid, his son Abu al-Fath and Adud al-Dawla. ⁸ He notes that the end of the book matches the end of "al-Kitab al-Taji" by Abu Ishaq al-Sabi, written at Adud al-Dawla's command, down to similar wording in their closing passages, as al-Rudhrawari, author of the continuation, observed. ⁹

From 340 AH Miskawayh himself becomes the source: at the head of that year's events he says that most of what he relates afterwards is "seen and witnessed, or a verified report", that the master Abu al-Fadl ibn al-Amid told him of what he had planned, and that the vizier Abu Muhammad al-Muhallabi told him most of what happened in his time, through long companionship and frequent sittings. ^{10 1} His history reaches 369 AH, though he lived until 421, leaving half a century unrecorded. ¹

Among the events of 355 AH Miskawayh tells of some twenty thousand men from Khurasan who came to Rayy professing to be ghazis, of the advice Ibn al-Amid gave Rukn al-Dawla, and of their fighting with the Daylamis and entry into the city; he says "I was with the party" when Rukn al-Dawla barely got out of his palace between the mules and the chests, and that Ibn al-Amid's library was in his charge and alone escaped the plunder. ^{11 12 13} See the Khurasani ghazis at Rayy in 355 AH. He closes his portrait of Ibn al-Amid with what he witnessed in a companionship of seven years. ¹⁴

The editor, Abu al-Qasim Imami, holds that Miskawayh distrusted reports from before the Flood and kept to his method so closely that he praises a single saying of the tyrant Dahhak because it suits his purpose; he cites Rosenthal for the view that Miskawayh represents a high level of historical writing, and counts him a pioneer of reasoned history ahead of those he influenced, such as Rashid al-Din, Ibn Khaldun, al-Kafiyaji and al-Sakhawi. ^{6 15} He says Miskawayh leans towards no one in writing history. ¹⁶ These are the editor's assessments.

The editor notes that in his closing formulas the author names the book once "Tajarib al-umam wa-awaqib al-himam" (The experiences of nations and the outcomes of ambitions) and once in the reverse order. ¹⁷ The only complete division to survive is that of the Aya Sofya manuscript in six parts, a division by quantity rather than subject; so he moved 43 pages from the start of part two to the end of part one to complete the pre-Umayyad period, and divided part one into a pre-Islamic and an Islamic section. ^{17 18}

Amedroz published the last two parts with the continuation in Cairo (1914-1916), translated into English by Margoliouth (Oxford 1920-1921); the editor says that edition covered less than half the book, from its end, and that his Tehran edition is the first complete one of all six parts with the continuation and indexes, in eight volumes, the first two published in 1987 and the rest between 1997 and 2001. ^{19 20}