Abu Mikhnaf

Muslim historian
Lut ibn Yahya ibn Sa'id ibn Mikhnaf Al-Kufi
Title Abi Mekhnaf
Died 157 AH (774) [1]
Maddhab Shia
Main interests History of Islam
Works Kitab Al-Saqifa, Kitab Al-Ridda, Kitab Al-Shura, Kitab Al-Jamal, Kitab Al-Siffin, Kitab Maqtal Al-Hasan, Kitab Maqtal Al-Husayn, Sirat Al-Hussayn, ...[1]
Influenced Tabari[2]

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1st millennium AH
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  • 8th century AH: (1301 – 1398 CE)
  • 9th century AH: (1398 – 1495 CE)
  • 10th century AH: (1495 – 1592 CE)
2nd millennium AH

Abi Mekhnaf (Lut ibn Yahya ibn Sa'id ibn Mikhnaf Al-Kufi) (أبو مخنَف) was a classical Shia Muslim historian from the 8th century. He lived in Kufa and died in 157 AH (774) .[1] He attributes to Shiism by some Rijal scholars but it's doubtful and not accepted with all of them. However his works represent great tendency to Ali and his sons Hasan and Husayn.

Contents

Biography

Style

In "Islamic Historiography", "Chase F. Robinson" has put him in the class of Ibn Ishaq and among the first Muslim historians.[3] He was one of founder of Akhbari school in Historiography of early Islam.[4] He wrote at least 13 monographs which later historians like Al-Tabari gathered them in one collection.[5]

Works

Ibn Nadim in Al-Fihrist enumerates 22 and Najashi lists 28 monographs composed by him comprising [1]:

He was the first historian to systematically collect the reports dealing with the events of the Battle of Karbala. His work was considered reliable among later Shi'a and Sunni historians like Tabari.[1] He has based his work on the eyewitness testimony of Muhammad ibn Qays , Harith ibn Abd Allah ibn Sharik al-Amiri , Abd Allah ibn Asim and Dahhak ibn Abd Allah Abu , Abu Janab al-Kalbi and Adi b. Hurmula , Muhammad ibn Qays.[6]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Kitab Maqtal al-Husayn, translator's forward
  2. ^ Abu Mihnaf: ein Beitrag zur Historiographie der umaiyadischen Zeit by Ursula Sezgin
  3. ^ [1]
  4. ^ [2]
  5. ^ [3]
  6. ^ History of the Prophets and Kings by Muhammad al-Tabari; Volume XIX The Caliphate of Yazid b. Muawiyah, translated by I.K.A Howard, SUNY Press, 1991, ISBN 0-7914-0040-9

References