Tomb writings: A Criticism on Tomb Writings in the Book of the History of Geographical Writings byIgnatyKrachkovsky

Tomb writings are one of the most important sources in the study of the geography of the Islamic lands. These have much similarities with other geographical sources. Krachkovsky a famous Russian Orientalist(1883-1951)in his The History of Geographical Writings in Islam World, has described and analyzed various geographical sources of Muslims and considered the tomb writings as the most evidences in this field. But he did not paid attention to Persian tomb writings and according to his opinion, afterward the Mongol onslaught Persian sources have endured distinctive characteristic.In this article we have tried to explain the position of tomb writings among geographical evidences and to criticize Krachkovsky’s views on these sources. Also, it has been attempted to criticize his non-attention to Persian tomb writings. It is worth to notice, we have concluded unlike Krachkovskypoint of views, Persian tomb writings have not any differences with their Arabic counterparts whether structurally or the content or the purpose of writing.