num_pages: 242
description: Premodern Arabic biography has served as a major source for the history of Islamic civilization. In the first book-length study to explore the origins and development of classical Arabic biography, Michael Cooperson demonstrates how Muslim scholars used the notions of heirship and transmission to document the activities of political, scholarly and religious communities. The author also explains how medieval Arab scholars used biography to reconstruct the life stories of important historical figures. He then examines the careers of four of these figures, analyzing their relationships and their place in later biography.
language: English
title: Classical Arabic Biography: The Heirs of the Prophets in the Age of al-Ma'mun
titlecomplete: Classical Arabic Biography: The Heirs of the Prophets in the Age of al-Ma'mun (Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization)
ratings_count: 5
series: Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization
publisher: Cambridge University Press