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'Abi Mekhnaf' (Yahya ibn Sa'id ibn Mikhnaf Al-Kufi) ('أبو مخنَف') was a Muslim historian from the 8th century. He lived in Kufa and died in Kitab Maqtal al-Husayn, tranlators' forward. 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

Works

Notes

References

Biography

Style

In "Islamic Historiography", "Chase F. Robinson" has put him in the class of Ibn Ishaq and among the first Muslim historians.^[2]He was one of founder of Akhbari school in Historiography of early Islam.^[3] He wrote at least 13 monographs which later historians like Al-Tabari gathered them in one collection. ^[4]

Works

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

★ 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 Khotba Al-Zahra

★ Kitab Akhbar Al-Mukhtar
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. 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.^[5]

Notes

1. Abu Mihnaf: ein Beitrag zur Historiographie der umaiyadischen Zeit by Ursula Sezgin
2. [1]
3. [2]
4. [3]
5. 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

★ Robinson, Chase F. (2003), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521629365

★ 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
You can find a complete copy of the English Translation of the Maqtal al-Husayn(A) of Abi Mikhnaf at http://www.islamicdigest.net/abumikhnaf/