A Critical Study of Ashura Narrations of Tabari’s History (Period: Ashura Onwards)

The martyrdom epic [maqtal] of Al-Hossein (A.S) in Tabari’s (310 AH / 923 CE) book of “History” is one of the remaining and old martyrdom epics related to the third and fourth AH centuries. This book, like other historical and narrational books, has not been safe from the onslaught of thought-provoking reports, and some of its contents are questionable on various topics, including the movement of Ashura. Tabari’s report concerning the Ashura uprising is based on the narration of Abu Mikhnaf which is currently regarded as the oldest remained martyrdom epic. But at the same time, Tabari’s report suffers from textual confusion, so that in some cases it is inconsistent with certain historical events, or the dignity of the Infallible is damaged from the Shiite point of view. Of course, in the following centuries, some Shiite scholars have also cited this book. In the present article, after analyzing the various aspects of the questionable narrations, a preferred view is presented, which has considerable advantages over the opinions presented in this field. Findings of the article indicate that some of Tabari’s reports are in support of the Umayyad movement and sometimes some of them are considered against the Umayyad movement, which indicates his trustworthiness in the Ashura report from the narrators, and on the other hand, quoting conflicting or contradictory narrations provides the possibility to criticize this approach and method. The narrations of the humiliation of Imam Hossein (A.S), the captivity of the two children of Abdullah Ibn Jafar and their martyrdom after Ashura, the state of undress of Ali Ibn Hossein (A.S), and Yazid’s expression of remorse for killing the Imam are among the narrations that can be criticized and analyzed. This article criticizes these narrations with an analytical-critical approach and its findings can be used in Ashura studies.