Sayf ibn Umar al-Usayyidi al-Tamimi () was an 8th-century Islamic historian and compiler of reports who lived in

Kufa Kufa ( ), also spelled Kufah, is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates, Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000. Along with Samarra, Karbala, Kadhimiya ...

. He wrote the ('The Great book of Conquests and Apostasy Wars'), which was the later historian

al-Tabari Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr ibn Yazīd al-Ṭabarī (; 839–923 CE / 224–310 AH), commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Sunni Muslim scholar, polymath, historian, exegete, jurist, and theologian from Amol, Tabaristan, present- ...

's (839–923) main source for the

Ridda wars The Ridda Wars were a series of military campaigns launched by the first caliph Abu Bakr against rebellious Arabian tribes, some of which were led by rival prophet claimants. They began shortly after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in ...

and the early Islamic conquests. 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 Atharism, Athari ...

, Sayf died during the reign of

Harun al-Rashid Abū Jaʿfar Hārūn ibn Muḥammad ar-Rāshīd (), or simply Hārūn ibn al-Mahdī (; or 766 – 24 March 809), famously known as Hārūn al-Rāshīd (), was the fifth Abbasid caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate, reigning from September 786 unti ...

(786–809).

Life

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

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

Reliability

The reliability of his

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 ...

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, his research interest moved from Old Testament research through Islamic studies to New Testament scholarship. Wellhau ...

. 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.

Fuat Sezgin Fuat Sezgin (24 October 1924 – 30 June 2018) was a Turkish scholar and researcher who specialized in the history of Science in the medieval Islamic world. He was ''professor emeritus'' of the History of Natural Science at Johann Wolfgang Goet ...

, Albrecht Noth, and

Martin Hinds Martin Hinds (10 April 1941 – 1 December 1988) was a British scholar of the Middle East and Historiography of early Islam, historiographer of early Islamic history who was born in Penarth, Wales. Life Dr. Hind's interest in Islamic culture b ...

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

Life

Reliability

Notes

Further reading