List of Muslim historians

The following is a list of Muslim historians writing in the Islamic historiographical tradition, which developed from hadith literature in the time of the first caliphs. This list is focused on pre-modern historians who wrote before the heavy European influence that occurred from the 19th century onward.

Chronological list

See also: Historiography of early Islam and List of biographies of Muhammad

Historians of the formative period

First era: 700–750 (Ibn Zubayr and al-Zuhri's histories no longer exist, but they are referenced in later works).

• Urwah ibn Zubayr (d. 712)
• Aban bin Uthman bin Affan (d. 723)
• Wahb ibn Munabbih (d. 735)

Second era: 750–800

• Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri (d.741)
• Ibn Ishaq (d. 761) Sirah Rasul Allah (The Life of the Apostle of God)
• Abi Mikhnaf (d. 774) Maqtal al-Husayn

Third era: 800–860

• Hisham ibn al-Kalbi (d. 819)
• Al-Waqidi (d. 823) Kitab al-Tarikh wa'l-Maghazi (Book of History and Battles).
• Ibn Hisham (d. 835)
• Ibn Sa'd (d. 845)
• Khalifa ibn Khayyat (d. 854)
• Muhammad ibn Habib al-Baghdadi (d. 860)

Fourth era: 860–900

• Ibn Abd al-Hakam (d. 871) Futuh Misr wa'l-Maghrib wa akhbaruha
• Ibn Qutaybah (d. 889) Uyun al-akhbar, Al-Imama wa al-Siyasa^[1]
• Al-Dinawari (d. 891) Akbar al-tiwal
• Baladhuri (d. 892)
• Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari (838–923) History of the Prophets and Kings

Fifth era: 900–950

• Ya'qubi (d. 900) Tarikh al-Yaqubi
• Ibn Fadlan (d. after 922)
• Ibn A'tham (d. 314/926-27) al-Futuh
• Abū Muhammad al-Hasan al-Hamdānī (d. 945)

Historians of the classical period

Iraq and Iran

• Abu Bakr bin Yahya al-Suli (d. 946)
• Ali al-Masudi (d. 955) The Meadows of Gold
• Sinan ibn Thabit (d. 976)
• al-Saghani (d. 990) one of the earliest historians of science
• Ibn Miskawayh (d. 1030)
• al-Utbi (d. 1036)
• Hilal ibn al-Muhassin al-Sabi' (d. 1056)
• al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (d. 1071) Tarikh Baghdad (a biographical dictionary of major Baghdadi figures)
• Abolfazl Beyhaqi (995–1077) Tarikh-e Mas'oudi (also known as Tarikh-e Beyhaqi).^[1]
• Abu'l-Faraj ibn al-Jawzi (d. 1201)
• Yaqut al-Hamawi (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

• Al-Muqaddasi (d.1000)
• Ẓāhir al-Dīn Nīshāpūrī around 1175
• al-Musabbihi (d. 1030), Akhbar Misr^[2]
• Ibn al-Qalanisi (d. 1160)
• Ibn Asakir (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/AD 1203–68) full name Abū Shāma Shihāb al-Dīn al-Maqdisī^[3]
• Ibn Khallikan (d. 1282)
• Ibn Abd al-Zahir (d. 1293)
• Abu'l-Fida (d. 1331)
• al-Nuwayri (d. 1332)
• al-Mizzi (d. 1341)
• al-Dhahabi (d. 1348) Tarikh al-Islam al-kabir
• Ibn Kathir (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 (d. 1470) Nujum al-zahira fi muluk Misr wa'l-Qahira (History of Egypt)
• al-Sakhawi (d. 1497)
• al-Suyuti (d. 1505) History of the Caliphs
• Mujir al-Din al-'Ulaymi (d.1522)

al-Andalus and the Maghreb

• Qadi al-Nu'man (d. 974)
• Ibn al-Qūṭiyya (d. 977) Ta'rikh iftitah al-Andalus
• Ibn Faradi (d. 1012)
• Ibn Hazm (d. 1063)
• Yusuf ibn abd al-Barr (d. 1071)
• Ibn Hayyan (d. 1075)
• al-Udri (d. 1085)
• Abū 'Ubayd 'Abd Allāh al-Bakrī (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 (d. 1312)
• Ibn Battuta (d. 1369))
• Ibn al-Khatib (d. 1374)
• Ibn Abi Zar (d. ca. 1320) Rawd al-Qirtas
• Ismail ibn al-Ahmar (d. 1406)
• Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406) al-Muqaddimah and al-I'bar

India

Further information: Muslim chronicles for Indian history

• al-Bīrūnī (d. 1048) Kitab fi Tahqiq ma li'l-Hind (Researches on India), The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries
• Minhaj-i-Siraj (d. after 1260)
• Amir Khusro (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)^[4]
• 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 (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
• Lists of Islamic scholars
• List of historians

Notes

1. (Robinson hasn't mentioned his name.)
2. Bianquis, "Al-Musabbihi", Encyclopaedia of Islam, Leiden: Brill, 1960-2004.
3. Antrim, Zayde G. "Abū Shāma Shihāb al-Dīn al-Maqdisī". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (3rd ed.). Brill Online. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_22839. ISSN 1873-9830. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
4. "Tursun Beg." Encyclopaedia of Islam. Leiden: Brill, 1960-2004.

References

• Robinson, Chase F. (2003), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-62936-5. 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. Leiden: Brill, 1960-2004.