Divine Trials and Political Authority

This article examines the representation of natural catastrophes in al-Ṭabarī’s Tārīkh al-rusul wa-l-mulūk, focusing on droughts and plagues as central motifs through which divine will, moral order and political authority are articulated. By analysing selected episodes ranging from the prophetic narratives of ʿĀd and David to his account of the caliphate of ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb, as well as his reports on the Umayyad period, and the Abbasid rise and consolidation of power, this study highlights the multiplicity of interpretive functions ascribed to calamities — generally viewed as forms of divine punishment, moral trial, or ominous signs — and draws out the political implications that emerge from these readings, particularly their role as instruments of dynastic legitimisation or delegitimisation and as mechanisms for restructuring authority. The article emphasises al-Ṭabarī’s methodological strategy of embedding natural disasters within a broader, coherent ethical, theological and political framework. By situating al-Ṭabarī’s historiography within the wider context of Islamic intellectual traditions on catastrophe, the study sheds light on the enduring interplay between providence, governance and communal responsibility in early Islamic historical consciousness, highlighting the foundational framework on which later historians will base their own (re)interpretations of natural catastrophes. Keywords: al-Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-rusul wa-l-mulūk, natural catastrophes, drought, epidemics, plague