Who Wrote the Compendium of Chronicles (Jami al-Tawarik) and the Collection of Letters Attributed to Rashid al-Din?

This chapter highlights the Compendium of Chronicles or Jami' al-Tawarikh, which is a three-volume work that John A. Boyle described as “the first world history.” It explains how the Compendium of Chronicles is attributed to the Persian statesman, physician, and historian Rashid al-Din Hamadani. It also looks into the claim of a writer named Abu al-Qasim Abdallah ibn 'Ali Kashani that he was the author of the Compendium of Chronicles. The chapter analyzes the general acceptance among scholars that even if Rashid did not write every word of the Compendium of Chronicles, the entire work was at least accomplished under his direction. It discusses how the scholars' have hypothesized that Kashani was one of those writers who worked under Rashid's direction.