The book is a study of al-Tabari's (d. 923 CE) famous History of the Messengers and the Kings, which compares it with the Hebrew Bible and its key concepts Covenant and Promised Land. By applying Michel de Certeau's discourse analytical method, it is argued that the Biblical concepts of Covenant and Promised Land refer to a specific system of vassalage and its legal-political structures of land owning and taxation. Al-Tabari's history follows the Biblical outline and concepts, although he places them within a new and expanded context which includes the political and religious histories...