Ibn A‘tham al-Kūfī and his Kitāb al-futūḥ

With a New Edition of the Text on the Ridda.
This two-volume set delves deeply into the life of the Muslim scholar Ibn A‘tham al-Kūfī and his monumental
historical work, the Kitāb al-futūḥ (Book of Conquests). Previous research has treated this work with considerable
suspicion, and its historical value was called into question almost from the very moment of its discovery. This
study firmly situates Ibn A‘tham within the historical context of the early fourth/tenth century, shedding new light
on his notable contributions to Islamic historiography.
Volume 1 examines Ibn A‘tham’s biography, proposes a refined timeframe for his life and work, and investigates
the reception of his work across the Muslim world and in modern scholarship, identifying significant periods of
popularity in different regions. Detailed codicological descriptions of the Kitāb al-futūḥ’s surviving Arabic
manuscripts underscore the complexity of the textual tradition, while analyses of the sources of the narrative on
the ridda (’apostasy’) wars and its poetic elements enrich our understanding of Ibn A‘tham’s sources and his
authorial methods. The book also provides critical editions of the Kitāb al-futūḥ’s collective isnāds, prepared on
the basis of all available Arabic manuscripts, alongside their translations and detailed analyses.
Volume 2 presents a new critical edition of the Kitāb al-futūḥ’s first sections, covering the saqīfa and ridda
narratives based on the chronicle’s two manuscripts kept in the Forschungsbibliothek Gotha and the Khuda
Bakhsh Oriental Public Library in Patna.