Elimination of Idol Worshiping and Recreation of Arab’s Ethnic Pride; an Investigation on the Historiography of Hosham e- Kalbi on the basis of Al-Asnam Book

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Assistant professor of history department, Tehran University

2 Ph. D student of history of Islam, Tehran University

Abstract

The historiography of Hosham e- Kalbi - 402 After Hijrah- particularly in Al- Asnam book is considered as a way of appreciating the Islamic historiography in the first Islamic centuries; it is also deserved to be reviewed.
Through surveying the meaning of Al- Asnam book- the analysis of text as well as the cultural, intellectual context- this writing is to answer the question regarding the motivation of Hosham e- Kalbi towards the creation of such a text related to idols of ignorant Arabs at the beginning of the third century.
The findings of this research reveals that Ibn e- Kalbi wrote this book due to Arabs’ need for developing individuality and challenging the principles of Islamic beliefs by the other religions particularly Christians in the first years of the third century After Hijrah . He has  re-manifested the history of Arabs’ idols and their idol worshiping , stabilized the rightfulness of Islamic concepts and defended prophecy, crystallized the great historical role of prophet Mohammad PBUH on the elimination of idol worshiping, compared with the other prophets and on the basis of this, he created an honorable Arabic-Islamic individuality for Arabs.

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