Assessing of Fotouh al-Baldan with an Emphasis on Belazari’s Financial Resources

Fotouh al-Baldan Book is the only historical source which pays full attention to the historical-financial and jurisprudential narrations and issues of conquered lands in addition to mentioning the conquests of different regions and therefore it can be called a ‘historical and jurisprudential historiography’. Although Belazari, like many of his contemporaries and historians, has reported financial narrations in the documentary and oral manner (said, told me, told us, etc.) and has not mentioned the written reference, it can be said with certainty that he quoted all the financial narrations of this book from written financial references of historians, narrators, and jurists except for some cases that Belazari referred to local reports. These narrations, which amount to 151 cases, have been quoted from 13 historical and jurisprudential financial references, some of which are now available such as the books of Al-Kharaj Abu Yusuf, Yahya bin Adam, and Al-Amwal of Qasim bin Salam and many are missing. On the one hand, most of the financial sources cited by Belazari in Fotouh al-Baldan are also considered in terms of documentation and credibility of the narrators and their elders.

One of the features of contemporary historiography is the emergence of a new style called ‘the financial historiography’. Financial historiography investigates some of the human actions taken towards earning his/her livelihood. Applying the concept of financial historiography as an independent department or discipline (field) may not be so common in historical studies, but the writings of great thinkers such as Voltaire, Vico, Montesquieu, Adam Ferguson, Adam Smith, and John Miller show that they had achievements with this approach from the Enlightenment Era (18th century) onwards. Although they considered the concept of ‘economic historiography’ for the first time, it seems that Muslims paid attention to the ‘financial historiography’ issue in the specific style and context of that time, that is, centuries earlier than western writers of financial affairs. For example, Abu Yusuf (182 AH) in his book Al-Kharaj states certain viewpoints on the financial issues of the government and proposes certain criteria that precede the proposed principles of Adam ‌smith (1776 AD) that were proposed 1000 years later as the four criteria of taxation (i.e. justice, certainty, ease of collection, and economic efficiency). Muslim authors compiled many jurisprudential-hadith and historical monographs with financial topics under titles such as properties, ransom, trade, khums (1/5 of properties), weights, quantities and rates, and the like from the half of the second century AH. Of course, written financial works were not limited to monographs, and it can also be found in general histories, local histories, geographical sources, and conquests. In addition to mentioning the conquests, Belazari has paid significant attention to financial issues and has benefited from monographs and other financial resources of the second and third centuries in Fotouh al-Baldan.

This research intends to validate the Fotouh al-Baldan references by using the library method with a historical-analytical approach relying on two criteria of written references continuity with oral narration and the documentary criteria and reliability of financial resources cited by Belazari.

In citing the early references, quoting his elders, despite adhering to the common tradition of historians and narrators of the first to sixth centuries, namely using the ‘attribution and oral narration’ method, Belazari had access to many ‘written references’ of these narrations, so it can be seen that although he has utilized the words like said, told me, about… and told us from the historians and jurists such as Waghedi, Madaeni, Abu Yusuf, and Qasim bin Salam, etc., in compiling Fotouh al-Baldan (conquests of lands), he has not mentioned any names of his cited financial sources. However, concerning the continuity between written references and oral narrations in the first centuries, he mentioned reasons such as the invalidity of the mere narration of Sheikh Hadith without having a written document for his narrations, the mere invalidity of Wejade and referring to the book without listening to the narrator sheikh (elder) and the author of the book, the Arab historical memory being a myth, and the unique place and value of writing in Qur'an, etc. It can be said that all the financial sources cited by Belazari in Fotouh al-Baldan are written, and this indicates the validity of the financial resources (especially the missing ones) cited by Belazari and, consequently, the historical validity of the Fotouh al-Baldan book. In Fotouh al-Baldan, with the exception of a few narrators and authors elders whose authenticity are in doubt, Belazari cites a total of 13 financial resources in mentioning the financial narrations (151 narrations) out of a total of 8 historians and jurist authors in which most of the resources are authentic and valid in terms of documentation and credibility of its narrators, elders, and authors. This also indicates the historical authenticity and credibility of the Fotouh al-Baladan book.