The Early History of the Seljuqs through the Chronicles of Sibt Ibn al-Jawzī (d. 654 AH / 1257 CE): Mirāṫ al-Zamān as a Paradigm for Comparative Study

Abstract

This article highlights the historian Sibt Ibn al-Jawzi (d. 645 AH / 1275 CE), detailing his upbringing and travels across the Islamic world in pursuit of knowledge, as well as examining how he received these sciences and disciplines. It provides a concise account of his main teachers and prominent scholars who lived contemporaneously with him, and mentions his writings, whether in the fields of history or jurisprudence. The article concludes with a discussion of his most important work in history, namely "Mir'at al-Zaman" (The Mirror of Time).

It also discusses the Seljuks (the Turkish peoples who migrated from their homeland to penetrate the heart of the Abbasid state and extend into the Levant, Iraq, and beyond) through the narratives of Sibt Ibn al-Jawzi in the aforementioned work, since he lived during a phase of the dynasty’s fragmentation into multiple independent emirates in Iraq, Khorasan, Asia Minor, and the Levant. He encountered the Seljuk realm in Syria and Iraq through his connections with the ruling dynasty of that period and through witnessing individuals who were eyewitnesses to the strength and influence of the state. Hence, these narratives gain significance: when compared with other contemporary writings from the same era, they enable researchers to form a vivid and well-defined picture of the history of the Seljuks and the legacies they left in the Abbasid state and the contemporaneous emirates.