A Critical Examination of Masʿūdī’s Solitary ʿĀshūrāʾ Narrations in Murūj al-Dhahab

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Associate Professor, Department of Quranic Sciences and Hadith, Hazrat-e Masoumeh University, Qom, Iran.

Abstract

 The account of the martyrdom of Ḥusayn (AS) in al-Masʿūdī’s Murūjal-Dhahab (d. 346 AH) holds a special place among extant ʿĀshūrāʾ sources due to both its antiquity and the author’s stature in Islamic historiography. Part of
al-Masʿūdī’s report reflects the concise narrations of earlier authorities, while another part contains solitary reports found only in his transmission. An analysis of these unique reports, constituting the central problem of this study, shows that some of them suffer from textual inconsistencies and conflict with established historical and transmitted accounts. Nevertheless, these reports influenced later historians’ narratives. Hence, al-Masʿūdī’s Maqtal is at once a valuable source and a subject of caution and scrutiny. Using a descriptive-analytical method and a critical approach, this article seeks to clarify al-Masʿūdī’s method and perspective in narrating the events of ʿĀshūrāʾ and, through comparison of his unique reports with other historical and narrative sources, to evaluate their content reliability. The findings show that assessing al-Masʿūdī’s solitary narrations is only possible through historical-narrative analysis; without such scrutiny, parts of ʿĀshūrāʾ literature remain confused and ambiguous. Accordingly, this study reexamines and evaluates these unique reports.

Keywords

Main Subjects

Full Text

Abū Mikhnaf al-Kūfī, L. (1996 AD/1417 AH). Waqʿat al-Ṭaff. (Yusufi Gharawi, M. Ed). Qom: Muʾassasat al-Nashr al-Islāmī.

Andalusī, I. (1983 AD/1404 AH). al-ʿIqd al-Farīd. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya.

ʿAskarī, A. (1956 AD/1376 SH). "Masʿūdī and al-Tanbīh wa al-Ishrāf." Articles & Reviews. No. 62.

ʿAsqalānī, A.  (1970 AD/1390 AH). Lisān al-Mīzān. Beirut: Mu’assisah al-A’lami.

ʿAsqalānī, A.  (1983 AD/1404 AH). Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb. Beirut: Dar al-Fikr.

ʿAsqalānī, A.  (1994 AD/1415 AH). Taqrīb al-Tahdhīb. Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyyah.

ʿAsqalānī, A. (1994 AD/1415 AH). al-Iṣāba. Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyyah.

Baḥrānī, H. (1990 AD/1411 AH). Ḥilyat al-Abrār. Qom: Muʾassasat al-Maʿārif al-Islāmiyya.

Baḥrānī, H. (2006 AD/1427 AH). Bahjat al-Naẓar. Mashhad: Astan Quds Razawi.

Balādhurī, A. (1976 AD/1397 AH). Ansāb al-Ashrāf. Beirut: Dār al-Taʿāruf.

Damīrī, K. (2003 AD/1424 AH). Ḥayāt al-Ḥayawān al-Kubrā. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya.

Dhahabī, Sh.  (1962 AD/1382 AH). Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl. Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifa.

Dhahabī, Sh.  (1992 AD/1413 AH). Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ. Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Risāla.

Dhahabī, Sh.  (1999 AD). Duwal al-Islām. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir.

Dhahabī, Sh. (1989 AD/1410 AH). Tārīkh al-Islām. Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-ʿArabī.

Dīnawarī, A. (1948 AD/1368 AH). al-Akhbār al-Ṭiwāl. Qom: Manshūrāt al-Raḍī.

Dīnawarī, A. (1989 AD/1410 AH). al-Imāma wa al-Siyāsa. Beirut: Dār al-Aḍwāʾ.

Diyār Bakrī, H. (n.d.). Tārīkh al-Khamīs. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir.

Faṭṭāl al-Nīshābūrī, M. (1955 AD/1375 SH). Rawḍat al-Wāʿiẓīn. Qom: Radi.

Ḥamawī, A. (1993 AD/1414 AH). Muʿjam al-Udabāʾ. Beirut: Dar al-Gharb al-Islami.

Khuṣaybī, H. (1998 AD/1419 AH). al-Hidāya al-Kubrā. Beirut: al-Balagh.

Haythamī, N. (1987 AD/1408 AH). Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid. Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyyah.

Ḥillī, H. (1922 AD/1342 SH). al-Rijāl. Tehran: Tehran University.

Ḥillī, H. (1996 AD/1417 AH). Khulāṣat al-Aqwāl. N.p.: Mu’assisat Nashr al-Fiqahah.

Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī. (1965 AD/1385 AH). Amal al-Āmil. Najaf: Maktabat al-Andalus.

Ḥusaynī Mūsawī, M. (1997 AD/1418 AH). Tasliyat al-Majālis wa Zīnat al-Majālis. Qom: Mu’assisat al-Ma’arif al-Islamiyyah.

Husseini, A. (2007 AD/1386 SH). Introduction and Critique of Ashura Sources. Qom: Science and Islamic Culture Institute.

Ibn Abbār, A. (1986 AD/1407 AH). Durar al-Simṭ fī Khabar al-Sibṭ. Beirut: Dār al-Gharb al-Islāmī.

Ibn ʿAjamī, S. (1986 AD/1407 AH). al-Kashf al-Ḥathīth. Beirut: Maktabat al-Nahḍa al-ʿArabiyya.

Ibn Aʿtham al-Kūfī, A. (1990 AD/1411 AH). al-Futūḥ. Beirut: Dār al-Aḍwāʾ.

Ibn Athīr, I. (1965 AD/1385 AH). al-Kāmil fī al-Tārīkh. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir- Dār Beirut.

Ibn Ḥazm, A. (1982 AD/1403 AH). Jamharat Ansāb al-ʿArab. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya.

Ibn ʿIbrī, Gh. (1992 AD). Tārīkh Mukhtaṣar al-Duwal. Beirut: Dār al-Sharq.

Ibn Idrīs, M. (1989 AD/1410 AH). al-Sarāʾir. Qom: Islamic Publishing House.

Ibn Jawzī, A. (1991 AD/1412 AH). al-Muntaẓam. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya.

Ibn Kathīr Dimashqī, A. (2001 AD/1422 AH). al-Bidāya wa al-Nihāya. Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifa.

Ibn Nadīm, M. (1996 AD/1417 AH). al-Fihrist. Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifa.

Ibn Namā Ḥillī, J. (1985 AD/1406 AH). Muthīr al-Aḥzān. Qom: Madrasa al-Imām al-Mahdī.

Ibn Saʿd, M. (1993 AD/1414 AH). al-Ṭabaqāt al-Kubrā. (al-Sulamī, M. Ed). Taef: Maktabat al-Ṣiddīq.

Ibn Shahr Āshūb al-Māzandarānī, M. (1959 AD/1379 AH). Manāqib Āl Abī Ṭālib (AS). Qom: Allamah.

Ibn Ṭāwūs, A. (1928 AD/1348 SH). al-Luhūf ʿalā Qatlā al-Ṭufūf. (Zanjani, A. Trans). Tehran: Jahan Press.

Ibn Ṭāwūs, A. (1948 AD/1368 SH). Faraj al-Mahmūm. Qom: Dar al-Zakha’ir.

Ibn Ṭāwūs, A. (1999 AD/1420 AH). Ṭarf min al-Anbāʾ wa al-Manāqib. Mashhad: Tasua.

Jaʿfariyan, R. (2003 AD/1382 SH). Sources of Islamic History. Qom: Ansariyan.

Jaʿfariyan, R. (2007 AD/1386 SH). Political History of Islam (Sīra of the Prophet). Qom: Dalile Ma.

Jaʿfariyan, R. (2008 AD/1387 SH). History of Shiʿism in Iran: From the first to the Rise of Safavid Era. Tehran: Elm.

Kamran Moqaddam, Sh. (1971 AD/1351 SH). "Biography of Masʿūdī." Vahid Journal. No. 100.

Khaṭīb Baghdādī, A. (1998 AD/1419 AH). Tārīkh Baghdād. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya.

Khūʾī, A. (1992 AD/1372 SH). Muʿjam Rijāl al-Ḥadīth. Qom: Markaz Nashr al-Thaqāfa al-Islāmiyya.

Kohlberg, E. (1992 AD/1371 SH). The Library of Ibn Ṭāwūs. (Qaraei, A; Jafariyan, R. Trans). Qom: Mar’ashi Najafi Library.

Kūfī, F. (1984 AD/1405 AH). "Naming Those Killed with al-Husayn." (Husseini Jalali, M. Res). N.p.: Turathuna.

Kulaynī, M. (1968 AD/1388 AH). al-Kāfī. Tehran: Dar al-Kutub al-Islamiyyah.

Maghribī, Q. (1978 AD/1409 AH). Sharḥ al-Akhbār. Qom: Teachers Society.

Mahdavi Damghani, M. (1973 AD/1353 SH). "al-Masʿūdī and His Works." Islamic Studies. No. 12.

Majlisī, M. (1982 AD/1403 AH). Biḥār al-Anwār. Beirut: Dar Ihya’ al-Turath al-Arabi.

Maqrīzī, T. (1999 AD/1420 AH). Imtāʿ al-Asmāʿ. Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyyah.

Masʿūdī, A.  (n.d.). al-Tanbīh wa al-Ishrāf. Cairo: Dar al-Sawi.

Masʿūdī, A. (1978 AD/1409 AH). Murūj al-Dhahab. (Daghir, A. Res). Qom: Dar al-Hijrah.

Masʿūdī, A. (2005 AD/1426 AH). Ithbāt al-Waṣiyya. Qom: Ansariyan.

Milani, A. (2009 AD/1388 SH). Untold Truths of Ashura. Qom: Islamic Truth Center.

Miskawayh Rāzī, A. (1959 AD/1379 AH). Tajārib al-Umam. Tehran: Soroush.

Mizzī, J. (1985 AD/1406 AH). Tahdhīb al-Kamāl. Beirut: al-Risalah Institute.

Muaddab, R; Molja Kazemi, A. (2014 AD/1394 SH). Hadith Studies. 13, 69-96.

Mufīd, M. (1992 AD/1413 AH). al-Amālī. Qom: Shaykh Mufid Congress.

Mufīd, M. (1992 AD/1413 AH). al-Irshād. Qom: Shaykh Mufid Congress.

Najāshī, A. (1945 AD/1365 AH). Rijāl al-Najāshī. Qom: Islamic Publishing Institute.

Noori, H. (1987 AD/1408 AH). Mustadrak al-Wasāʾil. (Al al-Bayt Institute, Ed). Qom: Al al-Bayt Institute.

Nuwayrī, Sh. (2002 AD/1423 AH). Nihāyat al-Arab. Cairo: Dar al-Kutub wa al-Withaq al-Qawmiyyah.

Qarashī, B. (1974 AD/1394 AH). The Life of Imam al-Husayn (AS). Qom: Irvani School.

Qummī, A. (1993 AD/1414 AH). Safīnat al-Biḥār. Qom: Oswah.

Qummī, A. (n.d.). al-Kunā wa al-Alqāb. Tehran: Maktabah al-Sadr.

Rafat, M. (2017 AD/1397 SH). "The Ashura Narrations of al-Dīnawarī’s al-Akhbār al-Ṭiwāl: A Critical Review." Islamic History Journal. 19 (76), 7-40.

Rafat, M. (2021 AD/1400 SH). "The Ashura Reports in Ibn Saʿd’s al-Ṭabaqāt al-Kubrā Under Critical Evaluation (Pre-Ashura Period)." Journal of Islamic Culture and Civilization History. 107–132.

Rafat, M; Rahman Setayesh, M. (2023 AD/1402 SH). "A Critical Study of Ibn Saʿd’s Report on the Husaynid Uprising in al-Ṭabaqāt al-Kabīr (Post-Ashura Period)." Imamiyya Studies Journal. 266–302.

Rahman Setayesh, M; Rafat, M. (2010 AD/1389 SH). "The Ashura Narrations in al-Futūḥ of Ibn Aʿtham al-Kūfī: A Critical Study." Hadith Studies. 3, 79-116.

Ṣadūq, A. (1956 AD/1376 SH). al-Amālī. Tehran: Ketabchi.

Ṣaffār, M. (1983 AD/1404 AH). Baṣāʾir al-Darajāt. Qom: Maktabah Ayatollah al-Marashi al-Najafi.

Sezgin, F. (1996 AD/1375 SH). History of the Arabic Heritage. Qom: Library of Ayatollah Marʿashī Najafī.

Shablanjī, M. (n.d.). Nūr al-Abṣār. Qom: Manshurat al-Razi.

Shakouri, A. (1996 AD/1375 SH). "Masʿūdī’s Historiographical Method." Ayine Pazhouhesh. No. 38.

Shavi, A; Tabasi, N. (2007 AD/1386 SH). With the Husaynid Caravan from Medina to Medina. Qom: Zamzam Hedayat.

Shubayri Zanjani, M. (2002 AD/1381 SH). "Ithbāt al-Waṣiyya and al-Masʿūdī." Entezar Mawʿud. No. 4.

Sibt Ibn Jawzī, Y. (1997 AD/1418 AH). Tadhkirat al-Khawāṣ. Qom: Manshūrāt al-Sharīf al-Raḍī.

Subkī, A. (n.d.). al-Ṭabaqāt al-Shāfiʿiyya al-Kubrā. Beirut: Dar Ihya’ al-Turath
al-Arabi.

Ṭabarī Āmulī, I. (1963 AD/1383 AH). Bishārat al-Muṣṭafā. Najaf: Maktabah al-Haydariyyah.

Ṭabarī Āmulī, M. (1992 AD/1413 AH). Dalāʾil al-Imāma. (al-Ba’thah Institute, Ed). Qom: Matba’ah al-Ba’thah.

Ṭabarī Āmulī, M. (1994 AD/1415 AH). al-Mustarshid. Qom: Koushanpour.

Ṭabarī, A. (1967 AD/1387 AH). Tārīkh al-Ṭabarī. Beirut: Dar al-Turath.

Ṭabrisī, F. (1970 AD/1390 AH). Iʿlām al-Warā. Tehran: Islamiyyah.

Ṭabrisī, F. (2001 AD/1422 AH). Tāj al-Mawālīd. Beirut: Dar al-Qari.

Tafreshī, M. (1997 AD/1418 AH). Naqd al-Rijāl. N.p.: Muʾassasat Āl al-Bayt.

Tehrani, A. (1982 AD/1403 AH). al-Dharīʿa. Beirut: Dar al-Azwa’.

Ṭūsī, M. (1993 AD/1411 AH). al-Ghayba. Qom: Dar al-Maaref.

Ṭūsī, M. (1993 AD/1414 AH). al-Amālī. Qom: Dar al-Thiqafah.

Walawi, A. (1996 AD/1375 SH). "Masʿūdī’s Historiography." Farhang Journal. No. 19.

Yāfiʿī, A. (n.d.). Mirʾāt al-Jinān. Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyyah.

Ziriklī, Kh. (1980 AD). al-Aʿlām. Beirut: Dār al-ʿIlm.

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 02 October 2025
  • Revise Date: 22 February 2026
  • Accept Date: 11 April 2026
  • First Publish Date: 21 April 2026
  • Publish Date: 21 April 2026

Share

How to cite

Statistics