Abu Mikhnaf
Abu Mikhnaf | |
---|---|
Personal | |
Born | c. 689 |
Died | AH 157 (773/774) |
Religion | Maqtal Al-Husayn, Sirat Al-Hussayn, ...[1] |
Muslim leader | |
Influenced
|
Lut ibn Yahya ibn Sa'id al-Azdi (
Life
Abu Mikhnaf was born in c. 689.[3] His given name was Lut and his father was Yahya ibn Sa'id ibn Mikhnaf, who belonged to a noble clan of the powerful Azd tribe resident in Kufa.[3][4] His great-grandfather was Mikhnaf ibn Sulaym, a chieftain of the Azd and the commander of his tribesmen in the army of Caliph Ali (r. 656–661) at the Battle of Siffin in 657.[4][5] Mikhnaf's son Muhammad, Abu Mikhnaf's paternal granduncle, was seventeen-years-old at Siffin and his reports of the battle were recorded by Abu Mikhnaf.[6] He witnessed the mass Iraqi revolt led by Ibn al-Ash'ath against the Umayyad Caliphate in 700 and the toppling of the Umayyads by the Abbasids in 750.[4] He was a friend of Muhammad ibn Sa'id al-Kalbi and it was through the latter's son Hisham ibn al-Kalbi that much of Abu Mikhnaf's volumes were transmitted.[4] He died in 774/75.[3]
Historiography
Abu Mikhnaf was the oldest Arab prose writer,[7] an Akhbari (propagator of news or traditions),[8] an important source of early Iraqi historical traditions,[9] and main source of the history of al-Tabari.[7] Abu Mikhnaf is the latter’s almost exclusive source for the events in Iraq during the long governorship of al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf (694–714), the Zubayrid and Umayyad conflict with the Azariqa rebels in Persia (684–698) and the expedition of Ibn al-Ash'ath against Sistan (699–700).[10][7][1][8]
His historical narratives generally reflect a
He has presented narratives in abundance of details and fullness, in strikingly frank and arresting manner, in form of dialogue and staging, which he had gathered through independent enquiries, collection of facts and seeking first hand information, but he has not ignored other traditionists, older than or contemporary with himself, for instance, he has used such authorities as, Amir Al Shahi, Rasibi, Mugalid ibn Said, and Muhammad ib Said Al Kalbi.[7]
Ibn Asakir in his book Ta'rikh madinat Dimashq has listed Ibn Al Kalbi as transmitter of Abu Mikhnaf in several places.[12] Abd al-Malik ibn Nawfal ibn Musahiq who lived in first half of the second century Hijri, Abd al-Rahman ibn Jundab, al-Hajjaj ibn Ali, and Numayr ibn Walah were authority on Abu Mikhnaf.[9]
In "Islamic Historiography", "Chase F. Robinson" has put him in the class of
As a hadith transmitter, he is regarded as weak and unreliable.[11]
Works
- Kitab Al-Saqifa (The book of Saqifah)
- Kitab Al-Ridda (The book of Ridda wars)
- Kitab Al-Shura (The book of The election of Uthman)
- Kitab Al-Jamal (The book of Battle of Bassorah)
- Kitab Al-Siffin (The book of Battle of Siffin)
- Kitab Maqtal Al-Hasan
- Kitab Maqtal Al-Husayn (The history of Battle of Karbala)
- Sirat Al-Hussayn
- Kitab Khutba Al-Zahra
- Kitab Akhbar Al-Mukhtar
- Futuh Al Sham (Conquest of Syria)
Maqtal Al-Husayn
He was the first historian to systematically collect the reports dealing with the events of the
Futuh Al Sham
Various works titled Futuh Al Sham by Al Azdi, Ibn Al Kalbi, Ibn A'tham and Al Waqidi were based on Abu Mikhnaf's Futuh Al Sham. Both Ibn ʿAsākīr and Al-Balādhurī traced their narratives back to Abū Mikhnaf.[12]
References
- ^ a b c d "Kitab Maqtal al-Husayn, translator's forward" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-02-19. Retrieved 2007-01-02.
- ^ Abu Mihnaf: ein Beitrag zur Historiographie der umaiyadischen Zeit by Ursula Sezgin
- ^ a b c Fishbein 1990, p. 4, note 18.
- ^ a b c d Wellhausen 1927, p. vii.
- ^ Landau-Tasseron 1998, p. 93, note 453.
- ^ ISBN 9789004137936.
- ^ ISBN 0415244641.
- ^ ISBN 9780521629362. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
- ^ ISBN 9780791400401.
- ^ Rowson 1989, p. xiii.
- ^ OCLC 495469456.
- ^ ISBN 9789004218857. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
- ^ "الكتب – سير أعلام النبلاء – الطبقة السابعة – أبو مخنف- الجزء رقم7".
- ISBN 0-7914-0040-9
Bibliography
- Fishbein, Michael, ed. (1990). The History of al-Ṭabarī, Volume XXI: The Victory of the Marwānids, A.D. 685–693/A.H. 66–73. SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-0221-4.
- Robinson, Chase F. (2003), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-62936-5
- Howard, I. K. A., ed. (1990). The History of al-Ṭabarī, Volume XIX: The Caliphate of Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiyah, A.D. 680–683/A.H. 60–64. SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-0040-1.
- ISBN 978-0-88706-975-8.
- Landau-Tasseron, Ella, ed. (1998). The History of al-Ṭabarī, Volume XXXIX: Biographies of the Prophet's Companions and their Successors: al-Ṭabarī's Supplement to his History. SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-2819-1.
- OCLC 752790641.