Classical Arabic Biography: The Heirs of the Prophets in the Age of al-Ma'mun

Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization

by Michael Cooperson

Premodern Arabic biography has served as a major source for the history of Islamic civilization. In the first book-length study to explore the origins and development of classical Arabic biography, Michael Cooperson demonstrates how Muslim scholars used the notions of heirship and transmission to document the activities of political, scholarly and religious communities. The author also explains how medieval Arab scholars used biography to reconstruct the life stories of important historical figures. He then examines the careers of four of these figures, analyzing their relationships and their place in later biography.

Genres: Islam

242 pages, Hardcover

First published May 24, 1996

About the author

Michael Cooperson is an American scholar and translator of Arabic literature.He is currently professor of Arabic at UCLA. He has written two books: Classical Arabic Biography: The Heirs of the Prophets in the Age of al-Ma'mun and Al-Mamun (Makers Of The Muslim World). He is also the translator of a number of works from Arabic and French. Among these are:

Abdelfattah Kilito's The Author and His Doubles: Essays on Classical Arabic Culture
Khairy Shalaby's The Time-Travels of the Man Who Sold Pickles and Sweets
Jurji Zaydan's The Caliph's Heirs — Brothers at War: the Fall of Baghdad

Cooperson has also taught at the Middlebury School of Arabic and Stanford University.

Reviews

[Husein Almuhtaram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good comparison of reports over time about each individual, split into 4 main chapters. It was really interesting to see how narratives changed over time in the writings of the supporters or opponents of each person, especially in cases where a principle is developed and accepted in the future, then propagated into the past through fabrication of reports as support for itself.