Mojahed Gholami

Studying Bayhaqi's history takes us across the valleys and ravines of the times to meet a seasoned historian who, after retiring from civil service, was busy organizing his notes on the events of the Ghaznavid era and writing Bayhaqi's history during the reign of Abu Shuja' Farrokhzad (443-452 AH) and for some time before and after that. Aware of the importance of the work he has undertaken, he aims to convey to future generations with "honesty", "accuracy" and "realism", impartiality and exaggeration what he has seen with his own eyes or heard from reliable people. In dealing with Bayhaqi's history, we will be introduced to two types of active readers: first, those who, from a traditional perspective, consider Bayhaqi's history to be a completely realistic and trustworthy report and praise Bayhaqi's honesty and accuracy in describing events and identifying personalities. The other two, who, with an eye on new theories, especially post-structuralist and neo-historicist theories, believe that history is essentially a "narrative" based on the mentality of the author who is consciously or unconsciously subjugated by the dominant discourse and does not allow the subordinate discourses to be seen in parallel with the whims of the power institution. Therefore, it is a mistake to believe in the existence of something called "reality" in the text and to seek to discover it.