THIS PAPER is intended to be an introduction to three of my articles that all concern the interaction between theology, on the one hand, and narrative and myth, on the other hand, in the part of the Taʾrikh of al-Ṭabarī where he deals with “universal” history before the coming of Islam.

The “History of Salvation“and the “Basic Matrix of Religious Choice“

The expression “history of salvation” demands some explanation. Neither the Qur'ān nor Islam believe in progress within Revelation, unlike Christianity. They also do not believe that salvation comes from a messenger who is its architect (for instance the Saviour or the Redeemer in Christianity); therefore it follows that the concept of salvation differs in Christianity and Islam. In both cases, however, we face a sacred history whose goal is to show paradigms and models or counter-models which are supposed to conform (or not conform) to the divine plan for humanity.

Muḥammad did not view himself as bringing something radically new [“Say I am not an innovation (mā kuntu bidʿan) among the Claude Gilliot Messengers“]; rather he only brought new guidance to his people, and that only because the supposed “first Revelation” had sunk into oblivion. Islam presents itself as a reform. This new Revelation is at the same time the most ancient that was registered by God in the Heavenly Book;1 ever since, so to speak, copies or imitations of it have been made. Prophets are only Messengers through whom God Himself speaks. So: “All history [of the times before Islam, and especially the history of the Messengers and the Kings] becomes a set of mere rigid examples”.

The Interest of Caliphs and State Dignitaries in History

The history of times that we consider mythical was considered as an example, so we can understand why the caliphs took such an interest in the universal chronicles. It is this part of the chronicles, and above all the chronicle of al-Tabarī, which will hold our attention here, in other words universal history before the coming of Islam.