The Muslim Banna' kept the world's earliest extant diary, but diary keeping was a widespread practice even in the tenth century. Hadith criticism, which was concentrated mainly on the chain of transmitters of the words and deeds of the Prophet of Islam and his followers, brought about the publication of the diary. The ta'rikh-diary in Islam was a diary kept for personal use, a dated record of notes kept by the author for use in writing other historical compositions. The substance (...) of biographical dictionaries and annalistic histories was drawn from these diaries. (shrink)