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| Author | Al-Masudi |
|---|---|
| Original title | مُرُوج ٱلذَّهَب وَمَعَادِن ٱلْجَوْهَر |
| Translator | Paul Lunde,Caroline Stone andAloys Sprenger |
| Language | Arabic, Translations:English,French |
| Subject | History |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Publisher | Lunde & Stone: Kegan Paul International |
Publication date | L&S: 1989 |
| Publication place | Medieval Iraq |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| ISBN | 0-7103-0246-0 |
| OCLC | 23145342 |
| 909/.097671 20 | |
| LC Class | DS38.6 .M3813 1989 |
Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems (Arabic:مُرُوج ٱلذَّهَب وَمَعَادِن ٱلْجَوْهَر,Murūj aḏ-Ḏahab wa-Maʿādin al-Jawhar) is a 10th century history book by anAbbasid scholaral-Masudi. Written inArabic and encompassing the period from the beginning of the world (starting withAdam and Eve) through to the lateAbbasid era, the book contains historically documentedfacts,hadiths or sayings from reliable sources and stories, as well aspoetry andanecdotes.
The Meadows of Gold is considered unique in medieval Islamic history. Due to its reliance on and references to Islam, the style of the book makes up an example of what constitutesIslamic historiography.
A first version of the book was allegedly completed in the year 947 AD and the author spent most of his life adding and editing the work.[1]
The first European version ofThe Meadows of Gold was published in both French and Arabic between 1861 and 1877 by theSociete Asiatique of Paris byBarbier de Meynard andPavet de Courteille. For over 100 years this version was the standard version used by Western scholars untilCharles Pellat published a French revision between 1966 and 1974. This revision was published by the Université Libanaise inBeirut and consists of five volumes.[2]
Versions of the source text by Mas'udi have been published in Arabic for hundreds of years, mainly from presses operating inEgypt andLebanon.
OneEnglish version is the abridgedThe Meadows of Gold: The Abbasids, published in 1989, and was translated and edited byPaul Lunde and Caroline Stone. According to this edition's introduction, their English translation is heavily edited and contains only a fragment of the original manuscript due to the editors' own personal research interests and focuses almost exclusively on the Abbasid history of Mas'udi. Their introduction also outlines how the editors relied mainly on the Pellat revision in French and are therefore mainly working from the French translation with the Arabic source text as a background guide.[3]
Another English version was published in 1841 byAloys Sprenger, which includes a full translation of the first volume and extensive footnotes.[citation needed]
HistorianHugh N. Kennedy calls the book "Probably the best introduction to the Arabic historical tradition for the non-specialist."[4]
Written in the "new style" of historical writing ofal-Dinawari andal-Ya'qubi,Meadows of Gold is composed in a format that contains both historically documentedfacts,hadiths or sayings from reliable sources and stories,anecdotes,poetry andjokes that the author had heard or had read elsewhere. Due to its reliance on and references to Islam this style of history writing makes up an example of what constitutesIslamic historiography in general.[1]
Masudi also contributed an important role in this historicity by adding the importance of eye-witnessing a place or event in order to strengthen its veracity. Khalidi states that "Mas'udi's own observations form a valuable part of his work."[5] And that "In contrast toTabari, who provides little or no information on the lands and peoples of his own day, Mas'udi often corroborated or rejected geographical and other data acquired second-hand."[5]
The contents of the Lunde & Stone version are broken into small vignettes which take up less than a full page of text in most cases. In addition are several pages of poetry.
The Lunde & Stone edition focuses primarily on theAbbasid period in modern-dayIraq and begins with a story involving the Caliphal-Mansur (r. 754–775) and ends with the reign ofal-Muti (r. 946–974).
Some notable sections include several stories involving the various Caliphs and their interactions with commoners like "Mahdi and the Bedouin" (37) in which the Caliphal-Mahdi (r. 775–785) is served a humble meal by a passingBedouin who in turn is rewarded with a large monetary reward.
A large portion of the English text is dedicated to stories involving the CaliphHarun al-Rashid (r. 786–809) and hisBarmakid advisors. These stories from Masudi are key elements in several English-language historical non-fiction books about Harun al-Rashid, includingHugh N. Kennedy'sWhen Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World,André Clot'sHarun al-Rashid and the World of The Thousand and One Nights andH. St. John Philby'sHarun Al-Rashid.
Another significant portion of the text involves thecivil war between Caliphal-Amin (r. 809–813) at Baghdad and his half-brotheral-Ma'mun (r. 813–833), who defeated Amin and became Caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate. The text spends a considerable number of pages relaying several lengthy poems about the horrors of thesiege of Baghdad (812–813).
While the French version has been a key historical text for over a century, the newer English version has received mixed reviews.
The British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies' review suggests that although the English version leaves out several passages of Pellat's edited version the book still retains important historical text and the passages omitted "are digressions from the main story and interrupt its flow."[6]
The Journal of the American Oriental Society, however, takes issue with the fact that the English version relied heavily on the French edited version (and not the entire French or Arabic version) and that the editing of the text cut out passages of "no less historical import than the ones included."[7]
This review also is critical of the English version's use of vignette-style segments versus the style of Mas'udi, whose original work is not cut into small pieces but rather is written in full pages without apparent breaks or chapters.
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