THE MASSIVE Ta’īkh madīnat Dimashq [History of Damascus] by the emi-nent twelfth-century Damascene scholar, historian and biographer Ibn ‘Asākir (d. 571/1176) has long been recognized as an important source for understanding early Islamic history. Ibn ‘Asākir began compiling his TMD in 529/1134, but only completed it four decades later at the behest of Iiis patron, Nūr al-Dīn (d. 569/1174), the Zangid ruler of Damascus. Modeled after al-Khatīb al-Baghdādī's (d. 463/1071) Ta’īkh Baghdād [History of Baghdād],Ibn Asākir's TMD with its 10,226 biographical notices, is. veritable gold mine of information for our understanding of the first five and one-half cen-turies of Islamic history. Now that it has finally been edited and published in its entirety, scholars will have far greater access to this fundamentally important (and to date little exploited) Syrian source.

This volume of essays seeks to explore the kinds of questions that Ibn ‘Asākir can answer for us, and is intended as. contribution to the growing discussion of Ibn ‘Asākir's importance for the study of early Islamic history, especially in the context of geographic Syria (Bilād al-Shām). This essay is intended as an introduction to Ibn ‘Asākir's TMD by addressing three main issues: 1) Ibn ‘Asākir's life and the environment in which he compiled his TMD; 2) the structure and content of Ibn ‘Asākir's TMD; and 3) TMD's usefulness for understanding early Islamichistory as illustrated by the various contributors to this volume.