}) was an 8th-century Islamic historian and compiler of reports who lived in Kufa. He wrote the ('The Great book of Conquests and Apostasy Wars'), which was the later historian

al-Tabari ( ar, أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), more commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Muslim historian and scholar from Amol, Tabaristan. Among the most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Tabari ...

's (839–923) main source for the Ridda wars and the

early Islamic conquests The early Muslim conquests or early Islamic conquests ( ar, الْفُتُوحَاتُ الإسْلَامِيَّة, ), also referred to as the Arab conquests, were initiated in the 7th century by Muhammad, the main Islamic prophet. He estab ...

. It also contains important information on the structure of early Muslim armies and government. According to

al-Dhahabi Shams ad-Dīn adh-Dhahabī (), also known as Shams ad-Dīn Abū ʿAbdillāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿUthmān ibn Qāymāẓ ibn ʿAbdillāh at-Turkumānī al-Fāriqī ad-Dimashqī (5 October 1274 – 3 February 1348) was an Islamic historia ...

, Sayf died during the reign of

Harun al-Rashid Abu Ja'far Harun ibn Muhammad al-Mahdi ( ar , أبو جعفر هارون ابن محمد المهدي) or Harun ibn al-Mahdi (; or 766 – 24 March 809), famously known as Harun al-Rashid ( ar, هَارُون الرَشِيد, translit=Hārūn ...

(786–809).

Life

Little is known about Sayf, except that he lived in Kufa and belonged to the tribe of

Banu Tamim Banū Tamīm ( ar, بَنُو تَمِيم) is an Arab tribe that originated in Najd in the Arabian Peninsula. It is mainly present in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, Algeria, and has a strong presence in Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia ...

Reliability

The reliability of his

hadith Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...

s has long been contested. Since he was the sole transmitter of many of his historical narrations, especially pertaining to the conquest of Iraq, some historians have accused him of fabrication or exaggeration, most notably

Julius Wellhausen Julius Wellhausen (17 May 1844 – 7 January 1918) was a German biblical scholar and orientalist. In the course of his career, he moved from Old Testament research through Islamic studies to New Testament scholarship. Wellhausen contributed to t ...

. His narrations are said to be influenced by the tribal traditions of Banu Tamim. However, he also collected accounts that highlight other tribes. Recent scholarship suggests that Sayf is more reliable than previously thought. W. F. Tucker and Ella Landau-Tasseron note that although Sayf may have been an unscrupulous

collector, this should not detract from his general reliability as a transmitter of historical information (akhbārī). Tucker adds that accusations of bias could equally be leveled at other akhbārīs contemporary to Sayf, including the Shi'a historian

Abu Mikhnaf Lut ibn Yahya ibn Sa'id ibn Mikhnaf al-Azdi ( ar, لوط ابن يحيٰ ابن سعيد ابن مِخنَف الأزدي, Lūṭ ibn Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd ibn Mikhnaf al-Azdī), more commonly known by his '' kunya'' (epithet) Abu Mikhnaf ( ar, أ ...

. Fuat Sezgin,

Albrecht Noth Albrecht Noth (1937 – 22 February 1999) was a German historian of Islam. Noth was born on 23 September 1937 to the Old Testament scholar Martin Noth in Königsberg. He completed his PhD from the Bonn University in 1964 with thesis titled ''Heil ...

, and

Martin Hinds Martin Hinds (10 April 1941 in Penarth, Wales – 1 December 1988) was a British scholar of the Middle East and historiographer of early Islamic history. Life Dr. Hind's interest in Islamic culture began as early as the year 1960 when he was a ...

have also challenged Wellhausen's views and placed Sayf on an equal footing with other traditionalists.

Life

Reliability

Notes

Further reading