Dr. Hitti has undertaken this task in connection with the, record of one of the earliest Arab historians whose work’ has been preserved. Since its publication in 1866 by Professor de Goeje, al-Baladhuri’s “ Futuh al-Buldan ” has been recognized as one of our chief authorities for the period during which the Arab state was in process of formation. This task of translating has not been a simple one : proof is that the attempt has not been made before this. The style of al-Baladhuri is often cryptic and unintelligible. This is perhaps due to the fact that the work, as it has reached us, is a shortened edition of a much larger one
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