Awaʾil, the Best Devices in Knowing the Firsts: On the Medieval Importance of Protography and the Systematisation of Knowledge

This article focuses on ancient and especially early medieval writings obsessed with the idea of being the first and in particular, on the emergence of the medieval Arabic genre of writing called al-awaʾil (the plural of al-awwal, namely the first) in the early days of Islam. It draws attention to this type of knowledge which provides the necessary foundations for arranging and systematising sequences of events – a branch of history usually called protography. As opposed to recent notions of writing on medieval art today, in which the aesthetic of modern art is either discerned as attracted by medieval aesthetic or that medieval and ancient works of art are being praised for their modern aesthetics, this article aims at detecting and recognising the earliest notions of searching for the first and the original in Muslim history. It is accepted that awaʾil literature could have functioned as a source of pride among different communities in the newly established Abbasid Empire, in which each clan could have taken pride in its own first and developed a sense of belonging and distinct identity. Moreover, it is likely that this genre enhanced consciousness about times past, evoked an awareness of the concept of temporal duration, and told apart mythical time from historical time. Yet, this article challenges how this trend in literature might have had its impact on the ways in which monumental architecture was regarded in the early Abbasid period, especially in those specific moments in which awaʾil literature flourished and was enthusiastically studied. Predictably, reflections on the past were evoked when people were confronted by the ruins of the impressive monumental architectural projects of the pre-Islamic periods. Yet, these reflections, as argued in this article, might contribute to the re-thinking of mythical times and clarify the novel megalomanic aesthetic of the early Abbasid period, of which the fragmentally surviving architecture of the city of Samarra bears witness.