Examine Zia-ul-Barani’s advocacy and defense of historiography as a field of knowledge.

Zia–Ul–Barani and his views on the knowledge of history are very important. Predating their contributions, Baranī’s writings represent the only discussion on the subject in Islamic literature of South Asia from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. As with many historians of his time and earlier, Baranī shared a high view of history. In the introduction to the Tārīkh-i Fīrūzshāhī, Baranī writes, “I have not profited from the benefits of any system of knowledge or study, besides Qurʾānic exegesis (tafsīr), ḥadīth, law (fiqh), and the way of the shaykhs (ṭarīqat-i mushāʾikh), as I have in the knowledge of history (ʿilm-i tārīkh).”

Baranī noted seven qualities of history that make it worthy of dedication. On the basis of these qualities, he builds his foundation for the knowledge of history. At that time it was popular amongst historians to list the qualities of history in a prefatory matter. What did Baranī consider the proper place for history among various fields of knowledge? In the introduction to the Tārīkh-i Fīrūzshāhī, Baranī expresses his views on four related historiographical topics that reveal his opinion on this question:

(a) The relationship of the Qurʾān to Islamic historiography;

(b) The role of Muḥammad as an historical exemplar of religious and worldly rule;

(c) The knowledge of history (ʿilm-i tārīkh) as a discipline of scholarship

(d) The history of Islamic historiography.

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