The romance purports to be an accurate history, but, as Canard comments, in reality this means an "often very vague recollection of a certain number of facts and historical personages, garbed in romantic trappings and presented in an imaginary way, with constant disregard for chronology and probability". From the Umayyad era, the chief elements are those concerning the life of Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik, while the Abbasid material is treated unevenly: major events such as the founding of Baghdad or the civil war between Amin and Ma'mun are recorded in passing, while other episodes are heavily distorted, such as the attribution of the theft of the Black Stone from Mecca to a Khariji in Harun al-Rashid's time instead of the Qarmatians more than a century later. Similarly, al-Battal's adventures in the West feature the far later dynasties of the Almoravids and Almohads, as well as the Andalusian Umayyads and the Christians of northern Spain.