The following is a list of Muslim historians writing in the
Islamic historiographical tradition, which developed from
hadith
Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...
literature in the time of the first
caliph
A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...
s.
Chronological list
Historians of the Formative Period
The First Century BH 50 to AH 50 / CE 570–618
The
Companions of the Prophet
The Companions of the Prophet () were the Muslim disciples and followers of the Islamic prophet Muhammad who saw or met him during his lifetime. The companions played a major role in Muslim battles, society, hadith narration, and governance ...
and the early
Tabi'in (first generation) who left written works (some no longer extant, but are cited verbatim elsewhere.)
* -
*
Abd Allah ibn Amr ibn al-As - - ''Al-Sahifah al-Sadiqah''
*
Urwah ibn Zubayr -
*
Sa'id ibn Jubayr -
*
Mujahid ibn Jabr -
*
Aban bin Uthman bin Affan -
*
Wahb ibn Munabbih -
*
Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri -
The First Century - AH 50 to AH100 / CE 618–718
Latter Tabi'in and early
Tabi' al-Tabi'in
The Tābiʿū al-Tābʿīn (, singular ) is the generation after the Tabi‘un, Tābi‘ūn in Islam.
The first generation of Muslims are called the companions of Muhammad. The second generation of Muslims are called ''tābi‘ūn'' "Successor ...
*
Musa ibn ʿUqba -
*
Hisham ibn Urwah -
*
Muhammad ibn as-Sā'ib al-Kalbī -
*
Awana ibn al-Hakam d.
*
Ibn Ishaq
Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Yasar al-Muttalibi (; – , known simply as Ibn Ishaq, was an 8th-century Muslim historian and hagiographer who collected oral traditions that formed the basis of an important biography of the Islamic proph ...
-
Sirah Rasul Allah (The Life of the Apostle of God)
* -
*
Abu Ma'shar al-Sindi al-Madani -
*
Abi Mikhnaf d.
''Maqtal al-Husayn''
* d.
*
Ibn Lahi'a -
*
Malik ibn Anas - - ''Founder of the
Maliki Madhab''
*
Sayf ibn Umar -
Historians of the Classical Period
The Second Century AH 100-200 / CE 718–815
Latter Tabi' al-Tabi'in Historians - Era contemporaneous with
Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a membe ...
decline and
Abbasid
The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 C ...
Rise.
* -
*
Abu Ishaq al-Fazari d.
* d.
*
Hisham ibn al-Kalbi -
*
Al-Waqidi - ''Kitab al-Tarikh wa'l-Maghazi'' (Book of History and Battles).
*
Al-Haytham ibn 'Adi d.
*
Abd al-Razzaq al-San'ani -
* -
*
Al-Asmaʿi -
*
Ibn Hisham d.
* -
*
Ibn Sa'd
Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Sa‘d ibn Manī‘ al-Baṣrī al-Hāshimī or simply Ibn Sa'd () and nicknamed ''Scribe of Waqidi'' (''Katib al-Waqidi''), was a scholar and Arabian biographer. Ibn Sa'd was born in 784/785 CE (168 AH) and di ...
-
* -
* -
*
Wathima ibn Musa d.
*
Khalifa ibn Khayyat -
*
Ali ibn al-Madini -
* -
*
Muhammad ibn Habib al-Baghdadi d.
*
Al-Jahiz
Abu Uthman Amr ibn Bahr al-Kinani al-Basri (; ), commonly known as al-Jahiz (), was an Arab polymath and author of works of literature (including theory and criticism), theology, zoology, philosophy, grammar, dialectics, rhetoric, philology, lin ...
-
*
Ibn Habib -
*
Muhammad al-Bukhari
Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl ibn Ibrāhīm al-Juʿfī al-Bukhārī (; 21 July 810 – 1 September 870) was a 9th-century Persian Muslim '' muhaddith'' who is widely regarded as the most important ''hadith'' scholar in the histor ...
-
''Sahih al-Bukhari'', ''
The Great History''
*
Al-Zubayr ibn Bakkār -
*
Ibn Abd al-Hakam - ''Futuh Misr wa'l-Maghrib wa akhbaruha''
The Third Century AH 200-300 / CE 815–913
*
Omar ibn Shabba d.
*
Ibn Majah -
*
Abu Dawud -
*
Ibn Qutaybah
Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muslim ibn Qutayba al-Dīnawarī al-Marwazī better known simply as Ibn Qutaybah (; c. 828 – 13 November 889 CE/213 – 15 Rajab 276 AH) was an Islamic scholar of Persian people, Persian descent. He served as a q ...
- ''Uyun al-akhbar'',
''Al-Imama wa al-Siyasa''[(Robinson hasn't mentioned his name.)]
*
Al-Baladhuri
ʾAḥmad ibn Yaḥyā ibn Jābir al-Balādhurī () was a 9th-century West Asian historian. One of the eminent Middle Eastern historians of his age, he spent most of his life in Baghdad and enjoyed great influence at the court of the caliph al ...
-
*
Al-Dinawari - ''Akbar al-tiwal''
*
Ibrahim Al-Thaqafi d.
*
al-Tirmidhi -
*
Al-Fakihi -
*
Umara ibn Wathima d.
*
Aslam ibn Sahl ibn Aslam d.
*
Ya'qubi d. or
''Tarikh al-Yaqubi''
*
Al-Nasa'i
Al-Nasāʾī (214 – 303 Islamic calendar, AH; 829 – 915 CE), full name Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Aḥmad ibn Shuʿayb ibn ʿAlī ibn Sinān ibn Baḥr ibn Dīnar al-Khurasānī al-Nasāʾī (), was a noted collector of hadith (sayin ...
-
*
Ibn Fadlan d. after
*
Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari -
''History of the Prophets and Kings''
*
Ibn A'tham d. ''al-Futuh''
*
Ibn Wahshiyya d.
*
Abu Ahmed Al-Jaloudi d.
*
Abu al-Arab al-Tamimi -
*
Sinan ibn Thabit d.
*
Abū Muhammad al-Hasan al-Hamdānī -
*
Abu Bakr bin Yahya al-Suli d.
* -
*
Ali al-Masudi -
''The Meadows of Gold''
*
Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Kindi -
* -
*
Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani
Ali ibn al-Husayn al-Iṣfahānī (), also known as Abul-Faraj, (full form: Abū al-Faraj ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥaytham al-Umawī al-Iṣfahānī) (897–967Common Era, CE / 284–356Islamic calendar, AH) w ...
-
The Fourth Century AH 300-400 / CE 913–1010
* d.
*
Qadi al-Nu'man - (
Fatimid
The Fatimid Caliphate (; ), also known as the Fatimid Empire, was a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries CE under the rule of the Fatimid dynasty, Fatimids, an Isma'ili Shi'a dynasty. Spanning a large area of North Africa ...
) d.
*
Ibn al-Qūṭiyya (
Anadalusian) d. ''Ta'rikh iftitah al-Andalus''
* d.
*
al-Saghani d. one of the earliest
historians of science
The history of science covers the development of science from ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural, social, and formal. Protoscience, early sciences, and natural philosophies such as al ...
*
Al-Muqaddasi - - ''Aḥsan al-taqāsīm'' has a detailed description on his birthplace in Palestine and the Levant
*
Ibn an-Nadīm -
*
al-Daraqutni -
*
Ibn Faradi (Anadalusian) -
*
al-Musabbihi (Fatimid) - , ''Akhbar Misr''
*
Ibn Miskawayh -
* d.
*
al-Bīrūnī - ''Kitab fi Tahqiq ma li'l-Hind'' (Researches on India),
The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries
''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...
*
Hilal ibn al-Muhassin al-Sabi' -
*
al-Khatib al-Baghdadi
Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī ibn Thābit ibn Aḥmad ibn Māhdī al-Shāfiʿī, commonly known as al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī () or "the lecturer from Baghdad" (10 May 1002 – 5 September 1071; 392 AH-463 AH), was a Sunni Muslim scholar known ...
- ''Tarikh Baghdad'' (a biographical dictionary of major Baghdadi figures)
*
Abolfazl Beyhaqi d. ''Tarikh-e Mas'oudi'' (also known as ''Tarikh-e Beyhaqi'').
= Historians by Region
=
Arabian Peninsula, Mesopotamia and Persia
*
Abu'l-Faraj ibn al-Jawzi
Abu al-Faraj Jamal al-Din Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Hasan Ali Al-Jawzi also known as Ibn al-Jawzi (16 June 1201) was a Muslim jurisconsult, preacher, orator, heresiographer, traditionist, historian, judge, hagiographer, and philologist who played ...
(d. 1201)
*
Yaqut al-Hamawi
Yāqūt Shihāb al-Dīn ibn-ʿAbdullāh al-Rūmī al-Ḥamawī (1179–1229) () was a Muslim scholar of Byzantine ancestry active during the late Abbasid period (12th–13th centuries). He is known for his , an influential work on geography con ...
(1179–1229) author of ''
Mu'jam al-Buldan'' ("The Dictionary of Countries")
*
Ibn al-Athir (1160–1231)
al-Kamil fi'l-Tarikh
*
Muhammad bin Ali Rawandi (c.1204) ''Rahat al-sudur'', (a history of the Great Seljuq Empire and its break-up into minor ''beys'')
*
Zahiriddin Nasr Muhammad Aufi (d. 1242)
*
Sibt ibn al-Jawzi (d. 1256)
*
Hamdollah Mostowfi (d. 1281)
*
Ibn Bibi (d. after 1281)
*
Ata-Malik Juvayni (1283)
*
Ibn al-Tiqtaqa (d. after 1302)
*
Ibn al-Fuwati (d. 1323)
*
Wassaf (d. 1323)
*
Rashid-al-Din Hamadani (d. 1398)
Jami al-Tawarikh
*
Sharaf ad-Din Ali Yazdi (d. 1454)
*
Mirkhond (d. 1498)
Rauzât-us-safâ
Egypt, Palestine and Syria
* Ẓāhir al-Dīn Nīshāpūrī around 1175
*
Ibn al-Qalanisi
Abū Yaʿlā Ḥamzah ibn al-Asad ibn al-Qalānisī (; c. 1071 – 18 March 1160) was an Arab politician and chronicler in 12th-century Damascus.
Biography
Abu Ya'la ('father of Ya'la'), whose surname was al-Qalanisi ('the Hatter'), descended fro ...
(d. 1160)
*
Ibn Asakir
Ibn Asakir (; 1105–c. 1176) was a Syrian Sunni Islamic scholar, who was one of the most prominent and renowned experts on Hadith and Islamic history in the medieval era. and a disciple of the Sufi mystic Abu al-Najib Suhrawardi. Ibn Asakir was ...
(d. 1176)
*
Usamah ibn Munqidh (d. 1188)
*
Imad al-Din al-Isfahani (d. 1201)
*
Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi (d. 1231)
*
Baha al-Din ibn Shaddad (d. 1235) ''al-Nawādir al-Sultaniyya wa'l-Maḥāsin al-Yūsufiyya'' (The Rare and Excellent History of Saladin)
*
Sibt ibn al-Jawzi (d. 1256) ''Mir'at al-zaman'' (Mirror of the Time)
*
Ibn al-Adim (d. 1262)
*
Abu Shama (AH 599–665/CE 1203–68) full name Abū Shāma Shihāb al-Dīn al-Maqdisī
*
Ibn Khallikan (d. 1282)
*
Ibn Abd al-Zahir (d. 1293)
*
Abu'l-Fida
Ismāʿīl bin ʿAlī bin Maḥmūd bin Muḥammad bin ʿUmar bin Shāhanshāh bin Ayyūb bin Shādī bin Marwān (), better known as Abū al-Fidāʾ or Abulfeda (; November 127327 October 1331), was a Mamluk Sultanate, Mamluk-era Kurds, Kurdish ...
(d. 1331)
*
al-Nuwayri (d. 1332)
*
al-Mizzi (d. 1341)
*
al-Dhahabi (d. 1348)
Tarikh al-Islam al-kabir
*
Ibn Kathir
Abu al-Fida Isma'il ibn Umar ibn Kathir al-Dimashqi (; ), known simply as Ibn Kathir, was an Arab Islamic Exegesis, exegete, historian and scholar. An expert on (Quranic exegesis), (history) and (Islamic jurisprudence), he is considered a lea ...
(d. 1373)
al-Bidaya wa'l-Nihaya (The Beginning and the End)
*
Ibn al-Furat (d. 1405)
*
al-Maqrizi (d. 1442) ''al-Suluk li-ma'firat duwwal al-muluk'' (Mamluk history of Egypt)
*
Ibn Hajr al-Asqalani (d. 1449)
*
al-Ayni (d. 1451)
*
Ibn Taghribirdi
Jamal al-Din Yusuf bin al-Amir Sayf al-Din Taghribirdi (), or Abū al-Maḥāsin Yūsuf ibn Taghrī-Birdī, or Ibn Taghribirdi (2 February 1411— 5 June 1470; 813–874 Islamic calendar, Hijri) was an Islamic historian born in the 15th century i ...
(d. 1470) ''Nujum al-zahira fi muluk Misr wa'l-Qahira'' (History of Egypt)
*
al-Sakhawi (d. 1497)
*
al-Suyuti
Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (; 1445–1505), or al-Suyuti, was an Egyptians, Egyptian Sunni Muslims, Muslim polymath of Persians, Persian descent. Considered the mujtahid and mujaddid of the Islamic 10th century, he was a leading Hadith studies, muh ...
(d. 1505)
History of the Caliphs
*
Mujir al-Din al-'Ulaymi (d.1522)
al-Andalus and the Maghreb
*
Ibn Hazm
Ibn Hazm (; November 994 – 15 August 1064) was an Andalusian Muslim polymath, historian, traditionist, jurist, philosopher, and theologian, born in the Córdoban Caliphate, present-day Spain. Described as one of the strictest hadith interpre ...
(d. 1063)
*
Yusuf ibn abd al-Barr (d. 1071)
*
Ibn Hayyan (d. 1075)
*
al-Udri (d. 1085)
*
Abū 'Ubayd 'Abd Allāh al-Bakrī
Abū ʿUbayd ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Muḥammad ibn Ayyūb ibn ʿAmr al-Bakrī (), or simply al-Bakrī (c. 1040–1094) was an Arabs, Arab Al-Andalus, Andalusian historian and a geographer of the Muslims in Western Europe, Muslim W ...
(d. 1094)
*
Qadi Iyad (d. 1149)
*
Mohammed al-Baydhaq (d. 1164)
*
Ibn Rushd (d. 1198)
*
Abdelwahid al-Marrakushi
*
al-Qurtubi (d. 1273)
*
Abdelaziz al-Malzuzi (d. 1298)
*
Ibn Idhari
Abū al-ʽAbbās Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʽIḏārī al-Marrākushī () was a Maghrebi historian of the late-13th/early-14th century, and author of the famous '' Al-Bayan al-Mughrib'', an important medieval history of the Maghreb (Morocco, No ...
(d. 1312)
*
Ibn Battuta
Ibn Battuta (; 24 February 13041368/1369), was a Maghrebi traveller, explorer and scholar. Over a period of 30 years from 1325 to 1354, he visited much of Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Iberian Peninsula. Near the end of his life, Ibn ...
(d. 1369))
*
Ibn al-Khatib (d. 1374)
*
Ibn Abi Zar (d. ca. 1320)
Rawd al-Qirtas
*
Ismail ibn al-Ahmar (d. 1406)
*
Ibn Khaldun
Ibn Khaldun (27 May 1332 – 17 March 1406, 732–808 Hijri year, AH) was an Arabs, Arab Islamic scholar, historian, philosopher and sociologist. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest social scientists of the Middle Ages, and cons ...
(d. 1406)
al-Muqaddimah and ''al-I'bar''
India
*
Minhaj-i-Siraj (d. after 1260)
*
Amir Khusro
Abu'l Hasan Yamīn ud-Dīn Khusrau (1253 – 1325 AD), better known as Amīr Khusrau, sometimes spelled as, Amir Khusrow or Amir Khusro, was an Indo-Persian culture, Indo-Persian Sufi singer, musician, poet and scholar, who lived during the per ...
(d. 1325)
*
Ziauddin Barani (d. 1357)
*
Akbar Shah Khan Najibabadi (1875–1938)
*
Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman Medieval Indian medical historian
*
Sayyid Shamsullah Qadri (24 November 1885 – 22 October 1953)
*
Muhammad Asadullah Al-Ghalib (15 January 1948)
Early modern historians
Turkish: Ottoman Empire
*
Aşıkpaşazade (d. 1481)
*
Tursun Beg (d. after 1488)
["Tursun Beg." ]Encyclopaedia of Islam
The ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'' (''EI'') is a reference work that facilitates the Islamic studies, academic study of Islam. It is published by Brill Publishers, Brill and provides information on various aspects of Islam and the Muslim world, Isl ...
. Leiden: Brill, 1960-2004.
*
İdris-i Bitlisi (d. 1520)
*
Ibn Kemal (d. 1534)
*
Matrakçı Nasuh (d. 1564)
*
Hoca Sadeddin Efendi (d. 1599)
*
Mustafa Âlî (d. 1600)
*
Mustafa Selaniki (d. 1600)
*
Katip Çelebi (d. 1647)
*
İbrahim Peçevi (d. 1650)
*
Evliya Çelebi (d. after 1682)
*
Mustafa Naima (1655–1716) ''Ta'rīkh-i Na'īmā''
*
Silahdar Findiklili Mehmed Aga
* Silahtar (Disambiguation)
Silahdar Fındıklılı Mehmed Ağa (7 December 1658– 1726–27 ) was an Ottoman Empire, Ottoman historian, serving under sultans Mehmed IV, Suleiman II of the Ottoman Empire, Suleiman II, Ahmed II, Mustafa II and ...
(d. 1723)
*
Ahmed Resmî Efendi (d. 1783)
*
Ahmet Cevdet Pasha (d. 1895)
Arabic: Ottoman Empire and Morocco
*
Ibn Iyas (d. after November 1522)
*
Ahmed Mohammed al-Maqqari (d. 1632)
*
Mohammed al-Ifrani (d. 1747)
*
Mohammed al-Qadiri (d. 1773)
*
Khalil al-Muradi (d. 1791)
*
Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti (d. 1825) ''Aja'ib al-athar fi'l-tarajim wa'l-akhbar''
*
Ahmad ibn Khalid al-Nasiri (d. 1897)
Persian: Safavid Empire and Mughal India
*
Muhammad Khwandamir (d. 1534)
*
Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak (d. 1602)
Akbarnama
*
Abd al-Qadir Bada'uni (d. 1615)
*
Firishta (d. 1620)
*
Iskandar Beg Munshi (d. 1632)
*
Nizamuddin Ahmad (d. 1621)
*
Inayat Allah Kamboh (d. 1671)
*
Muhammad Saleh Kamboh (d. c. 1675)
*
Abul Fazl Mamuri (c. 1700)
*
Mirza Mehdi Khan Astarabadi (d. c. 1760)
Historians of the modern period
*
Mohammad Iqbal (b. 1877)
*
Joel Hayward (b. 1964)
See also
*''
Ulama
In Islam, the ''ulama'' ( ; also spelled ''ulema''; ; singular ; feminine singular , plural ) are scholars of Islamic doctrine and law. They are considered the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious knowledge in Islam.
"Ulama ...
''
*
Lists of Islamic scholars
*
List of historians
Notes
References
* Robinson, Chase F. (2003), Cambridge University Press, . XIV and XV ("Chase F. Robinson" in "Islamic Historiography" has mentioned the chronological list of Islamic historians.)
* Babinger, Franz. ''Geschichtsschreiber der Osmanen''. Leipzig: O. Harrassowitz, 1927.
*
Encyclopaedia of Islam
The ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'' (''EI'') is a reference work that facilitates the Islamic studies, academic study of Islam. It is published by Brill Publishers, Brill and provides information on various aspects of Islam and the Muslim world, Isl ...
. Leiden: Brill, 1960-2004.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Historians, List Of Muslim
*
Lists of Muslims
Islam-related lists