Turk Kulturu ve Haci Bektas Veli - Arastirma Dergisi, no.93, pp.241-266, 2020 (SCI-Expanded)
© 2020 Ankara Haci Bayram Veli University. All rights reserved.Written by Abū al-'Alā Ibn Hassūl Hamadānī, Tafdīl al-Atrāk 'alā Sā'ir al-Ajnād is the first of the historical works written during the Seljuq period. This work was written during the conquests of Sultān Tughril and in the political-military competition and struggle environment between the Buyids and the Seljuqs. Ibn Hassūl who took aim at literary men-historian al-Sābī's work named al-Tājī fī Akhbār al-Dawlat al-Daylimiyya carried the political-military competition and struggle between the Buyids and the Seljuqs to the field of historiography. He wrote Tafdīl al-Atrāk as an answer to Abū Ishāk al-Sābī's work, al-Tājī. Therefore, the first and the main part of the Tafdīl al-Atrāk was devoted to criticize the historiography of al-Sābī on the origin of the Dailamites and the Buyids. Although Ibn Hassūl criticized severely al-Sābī's style of historiography, he followed himself a similar way in the writing of Tafdīl al-Atrāk. As al-Sābī praised genealogy and characteristics of the Dailamites, the Buyids and Adud al-Dawla at al-Tājī, Ibn Hassūl also praised genealogy and virtues of the Turks, the Seljuqs and Sultān Tughril at Tafdīl al-Atrāk. In this article, the issue of the degree of success of Ibn Hassūl in competition with al-Sābī in the field of historiography will be discussed. The findings of this study show that Kitāb al-Tājī was used as a source by succeeding historians because it contains detailed and original information on the history of the Dailamites and the Buyids. However, Tafdīl al-Atrāk was hardly ever used as a source by later historians since his author Ibn Hassūl remained indifferent to recording of historical events about the Seljuqs and Tughril Beg.