Islam · Pillar II

The Classical Chronicles

The foundational works of Islamic historiography — 14 titles spanning the Prophet's biography, the conquests, the universal chronicles, and the great journeys. All original Arabic texts are public domain; full on-site readers are being ingested from the OpenITI corpus cycle by cycle, and each card states its copyright position honestly.

السيرة النبويةAl-Sira al-NabawiyyaIbn Ishaq (d. 767), recension of Ibn Hisham (d. 833)Sira (Prophetic biography) · AbbasidThe earliest surviving biography of the Prophet Muhammad, composed by Ibn Ishaq and transmitted in the edited recension of Ibn Hisham — the foundational source for all later sira literature.Original Arabic public domain; major English translation (Guillaume, 1955) under copyright.Read on site · 264 chapters
كتاب المغازيKitab al-MaghaziAl-Waqidi (d. 823)Maghazi (campaigns) · AbbasidA detailed chronicle of the military campaigns of the Prophet's Medinan decade, arranged expedition by expedition with dates, participants, and transmitted reports.Original Arabic public domain.Catalog · reader in progress
كتاب الطبقات الكبيرKitab al-Tabaqat al-KabirIbn Sa'd (d. 845)Biographical dictionary · AbbasidThe great generational register: biographies of the Prophet, the Companions, and the Successors arranged by class (tabaqa) and region — a primary source for early Islamic prosopography.Original Arabic public domain.Read on site · 237 chapters
تاريخ الرسل والملوكTarikh al-Rusul wa-l-MulukAl-Tabari (d. 923)Universal chronicle · AbbasidThe monumental annalistic history from creation to 302 AH, preserving competing transmitted reports side by side with their chains — the backbone of early Islamic historiography.Original Arabic public domain; the 40-volume SUNY English translation under copyright.Read on site · 356 chapters
الكامل في التاريخAl-Kamil fi al-TarikhIbn al-Athir (d. 1233)Universal chronicle · Zengid / AyyubidA complete history of the Islamic world to 628 AH, prized for its coverage of the Crusades and the first Mongol invasions, which the author witnessed.Original Arabic public domain.Catalog · reader in progress
البداية والنهايةAl-Bidaya wa-l-NihayaIbn Kathir (d. 1373)Universal chronicle · MamlukHistory from the beginning of creation to the author's own 14th-century Damascus, ordered by hadith-critical method — among the most read of all Islamic histories.Original Arabic public domain.Read on site · 840 chapters
مروج الذهب ومعادن الجوهرMuruj al-Dhahab wa-Ma'adin al-JawharAl-Mas'udi (d. 956)History & geography · Abbasid"The Meadows of Gold": history interwoven with geography and ethnography by a traveler who reached India and the shores of the Caspian — a masterpiece of adab historiography.Original Arabic public domain.Read on site · 107 chapters
فتوح البلدانFutuh al-BuldanAl-Baladhuri (d. 892)Conquest history · AbbasidThe classic account of the early Islamic conquests region by region, with treaties, garrisons, taxation, and settlement — the standard source on how each land entered the caliphate.Original Arabic public domain; Hitti/Murgotten English translation (1916–24) also public domain.Read on site · 90 chapters
تاريخ اليعقوبيTarikh al-Ya'qubiAl-Ya'qubi (d. c. 897)Universal chronicle · AbbasidA compact world history notable for its early date, its interest in pre-Islamic nations, and for preserving perspectives often associated with the family of the Prophet.Original Arabic public domain.Catalog · reader in progress
المقدمةAl-MuqaddimaIbn Khaldun (d. 1406)Philosophy of history · Marinid / MamlukThe celebrated "Introduction" to his universal history: a theory of civilization, group solidarity ('asabiyya), economics, and the rise and fall of dynasties — often called the birth of social science.Original Arabic public domain; Rosenthal English translation under copyright.Catalog · reader in progress
كتاب العبرKitab al-'IbarIbn Khaldun (d. 1406)Universal chronicle · Marinid / MamlukThe full history to which the Muqaddima is the preface — especially valuable for the Maghrib and the Berber dynasties, on which it remains a primary source.Original Arabic public domain.Read on site · 67 chapters
نفح الطيب من غصن الأندلس الرطيبNafh al-TibAl-Maqqari (d. 1632)History of al-Andalus · Ottoman / SaadianThe great compendium on Muslim Spain — its cities, scholars, poets, and the life of the vizier Ibn al-Khatib — compiled from sources many of which now survive only here.Original Arabic public domain.Catalog · reader in progress
تحفة النظار في غرائب الأمصار وعجائب الأسفارRihla of Ibn BattutaIbn Battuta (d. 1369), redacted by Ibn JuzayyTravel literature · MarinidThe account of nearly thirty years of travel from Tangier to China — the most famous journey narrative of the medieval world and a unique window on 14th-century Islamic societies.Original Arabic public domain; Gibb English translation under copyright.Catalog · reader in progress
رحلة ابن جبيرRihla of Ibn JubayrIbn Jubayr (d. 1217)Travel literature · Almohad / AyyubidA Valencian secretary's pilgrimage diary (1183–85) through Egypt, the Hijaz, Iraq, Syria, and Norman Sicily — the model on which later rihla literature, including Ibn Battuta's, was built.Original Arabic public domain.Read on site · 130 chapters