Literary Interdisciplinary Research

A critical rereading of the story of Yaqoob Laith Saffari from the book History of Sistan with an interdisciplinary approach in literary and historiographical studies

Document Type : Original Article

Author

faezeh arabyousefabadi

Associate Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Zabol, Zabol, Iran

10.30465/lir.2025.51295.1988
Abstract
1. Introduction
The study of classical Persian texts has increasingly moved beyond purely philological or factual-historical analysis towards interdisciplinary approaches that uncover the complex layers of meaning, ideology, and narrative construction within them. This research positions itself within this evolving scholarly tradition by conducting a critical examination of the narrative of Ya'qub al-Layth al-Saffar in the medieval chronicle Tarikh-e Sistan through the theoretical lens of Hayden White's literary historiography. The central problem this investigation addresses is the ontological status of historical texts. Traditional historiography often treated chronicles like the Tarikh-e Sistan as transparent records of past events. However, the pioneering work of Hayden White, particularly in his seminal work Metahistory: The Historical Imagination in Nineteenth-Century Europe (1973), fundamentally challenges this view. White argues that historiography is not merely a reflection of reality but a literary artifact shaped by the same narrative structures, rhetorical tropes, and emplottment strategies found in fiction. The historian, consciously or not, constructs a story from the chronicle of events, employing techniques such as metaphor, synecdoche, and metonymy to impose a meaningful form on the past. This perspective does not dismiss historical truth but rather investigates how that truth is represented and made comprehensible through narrative.
The Tarikh-e Sistan, an anonymous text compiled in the 4th/5th century AH (11th century CE), presents a rich case study for this approach. It offers a foundational, yet deeply literary, account of the Saffarid dynasty and its charismatic founder, Ya'qub al-Layth—a figure who rose from the ranks of the 'ayyārān (popular militias) to challenge the political and cultural hegemony of the Abbasid Caliphate in the East. The primary research question guiding this study is: How does the narrative structure of the Tarikh-e Sistan, specifically in its sections on Ya'qub al-Layth, employ literary and rhetorical techniques to create a specific, ideologically charged image of its protagonist, thereby transforming historical account into ideological narrative?

2. Materials & Methods
This research is grounded in a qualitative methodological framework, specifically a critical close reading of the Persian text of the Tarikh-e Sistan. The analytical toolkit is drawn directly from Hayden White's theory of literary historography, which provides the conceptual vocabulary to dissect the text's narrative mechanics. The primary "Material" under investigation is the narrative discourse of the Tarikh-e Sistan itself, focusing intently on the passages detailing the life, campaigns, and character of Ya'qub al-Layth. The analysis deliberately brackets the question of the text's factual accuracy concerning "what really happened." Instead, the focus is squarely on the "how": the techniques of representation. The "Methods" of analysis are organized around three core components derived from White's work, which serve as the investigative lenses for this study:
Employment: This involves identifying the type of story into which the historical events are cast. The research investigates whether the narrative of Ya'qub is emplotted as a Romance (a story of triumph), a Tragedy (a story of downfall), a Comedy (a story of reconciliation), or a Satire. The hypothesis is that a Romantic and Epic employment is dominant.
Ideological Implication: This examines the underlying political or social ideology that the narrative serves. The analysis probes how the text's implicit worldview—whether Anarchist, Conservative, Radical, or Liberal—shapes its portrayal of Ya'qub and his adversaries. Tropological Analysis: This explores the fundamental rhetorical figures (tropes) that structure the narrative's logic, such as Metaphor (seeing one thing in terms of another) or Synecdoche (representing the whole by the part).
Furthermore, the study focuses on specific narrative mechanisms, including:
The Selection and Omission of Information: Analyzing what events are highlighted, downplayed, or entirely erased from the record.
The Construction of "Self/Other" Dichotomies: Examining how a binary of "Us" (Ya'qub, Sistan, legitimacy) versus "Them" (Abbasids, Tahirids, illegitimacy) is textually manufactured.

3. Discussion & Results
Applying Hayden White's framework to the Tarikh-e Sistan reveals it as a sophisticated work of ideological narrative, not a neutral historical report. The analysis demonstrates how the text constructs a specific image of Ya‘qub al-Layth through deliberate literary techniques.
The narrative is structured as an Epic Romance, transforming Ya‘qub from a military commander into a legendary hero. His life is emplotted as a heroic rise from humble origins to power, following a classic pattern of adventure, triumph, and legacy-building. This framing embodies a regional desire for autonomy and cultural self-assertion.
Key narrative mechanisms forge this heroic image:
Strategic Omission & Exaggeration: The text systematically minimizes Ya‘qub's defeats and magnifies his victories, a deliberate strategy to maintain an unblemished heroic persona.
Fabricated Genealogy: Attributing a Sasanian lineage to Ya‘qub is a potent ideological tool, elevating him from a mere amir to a pre-ordained, legitimate ruler connected to Iran’s imperial past, thus countering Arab-centric Caliphal legitimacy.
The "Self/Other" Dichotomy: A rigid binary opposition is constructed. Ya‘qub and his followers are associated with positive values (bravery, justice, divine favor), while his enemies (Abbasids, Tahirids) are depicted in pejorative terms, stripped of agency and complexity to delegitimize them and secure reader sympathy.
The capture of Nishabur is a pivotal case study where these techniques converge. The event is narrated not just as a military conquest, but as a powerful symbolic drama. By presenting Ya‘qub as a "symbolic successor to the Caliphate," the text performs an act of political subversion, challenging the core of Abbasid authority. Through a Whitean lens, this scene’s primary significance is its meaning: it serves as a narrative device for articulating a discourse of political and cultural independence for Sistan.

4. Conclusion
In conclusion, this research shows that the Tarikh-e Sistan is a prime example of history as narrative-ideological practice. The authors were not mere recorders but architects of memory, using storytelling tools to build an enduring epic hero. This affirms the value of applying critical theory to classical texts, revealing how the past is continuously made and remade through the literary act of narration.

Keywords

Representation
Literary Historiography
Narration
Yaqoob Laith Saffari
History of Sistan
Subjects
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