Historical writing was a primary Islamic discipline that underwent profound elaboration over centuries, and in its early appearance portrayed a universal vision of humanity from creation until the present. From the eras of Muḥammad Ibn Isḥāq (d. 150 H/767 CE), Ibn Wadīh al-Ya‛qūbī (d. 284/897), and Ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī (d. 310/923), until the work of the great fourteenth century Andalusian ‛Abd al-Raḥmān Ibn Khaldūn (d. 808/1406), Muslim historians offered a comprehensive account of human earthly existence within the universal perspective taught by the Qur‘ān. Reflecting upon human history with its diverse ethnicities, languages and religions was understood to yield moral lessons and guiding admonitions for attentive thinkers. ........ [click here to download the full article in pdf ]