Editing Ali b. Hussain al-Masʿudi

{{Infobox companion of Imam (a)
 |name=|image=|image size=|caption=|Full name=|Companion of=|Kunya=|Epithet=|Well Known As=Muslim historian and geographer|Religious Affiliation=|Lineage=|Well known relatives=|Birth=|Place of Birth=|Place of Residence=|Death/martyrdom=|Cause of Death/martyrdom=|Burial place=|Professors=|Students=|Works=|Activities=|Native name=علی ابن الحسین مسعودی}}'''Ali b. Hussain al-Masʿudi'''  (b. 280/893 - d. 346/957), known as al-Mas'udi, was a Muslim historian and geographer in the 4th/10th century. His known works number over twenty and deal with a wide variety of religious and secular subjects, including history (both Islamic and universal), geography, the natural sciences, philosophy, and theology. Only two of his works survive, both historical-geographical in scope: Muruj al-dhahab wa maadin al-jawahir (Meadows of gold and mines of gems) and Akhbar al-zaman (The history of time). Masudi wrote for an audience eager to acquire useful knowledge outside of the traditional religious sciences and appreciative of a fluent, nontechnical literary style. A native of Baghdad, he lived and worked in Syria and Egypt, where he died. Associated in his early life with the Mutazilis, he is known for initiating the Arabic historiographic model of treating events topically (rather than strictly chronologically).

==An Account on the Battle of Karbala==
In Muruj al-Dhahab, Masudi gives a slightly different version of [[Obayd-Allah Ibn Ziad|Ibn Ziad]]'s entry into [[Kufa]] and adds some descriptions of the attempt to persuade al-Hussain not to go to Kufa. He then reverts to [[Ammar b. Mu’awiya]]'s account and faithfully reproduces it.<ref>Al-Mas'udi, Muruj al-Dhahab (Beirut, n.d.), III, pp. 60-1.</ref>

It seems conceivable that al-Mas'udi got his account from al-Tabari. Nowhere does al-Baladhurri use this account. Nor does Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani use it, although he was aware of it. He uses an isnad with a different intermediary from al-Tabari.<ref>Abu al-Faraj, op. cit., p. 63.</ref>

There are two main reasons why his account of [[Ashura]] is disputable among Shi’a. The first is that he reports when [[Hussain ibn Ali|Imam al-Hussain]] heard of the news of [[Muslim b. ʿAqil b. Abi Talib|Muslim b. `Aqil]]'s death, he wanted to return; and the second is that he reports when [[Omar Ibn Sa’d|`Umar b. Sa`d]]'s army came near, the Imam offered three options:

(i) that he should return,

(ii) that he should go to the outposts of the empire, and

(iii) that he should go to [[Yazid]].

==Sources==

*[http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e1463 Oxford Islamic studies]
*[http://alhassanain.org/Arabic%20Accounts%20of%20al-Hussain's%20Martyrdom/arabic_accounts_of_al_Hussain_s_martyrdom_html/arabic_accounts_of_al_Hussain_s_martyrdom.htm A. Howard, Arabic Accounts of al-Hussain's Martyrdom]

<br />

==References==
<br />
[[Category:Islamic History]]
[[Category:Historians]]
<references />