Lut ibn Yahya ibn Sa'id al-Azdi (Arabic:لُوط بْن يَحْيَى بْن سَعِيد الأَزْدِيّ,romanized: Lūṭ ibn Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-ʾAzdī;c. 689–773/775), commonly known by hiskunyaAbu Mikhnaf (Arabic:أَبُو مِخنَف,romanized: ʾAbū Mikhnaf), was an early Muslim historian.

Abu Mikhnaf was born inc. 689.[3] His given name was Lut and his father was Yahya ibn Sa'id ibn Mikhnaf, who belonged to a noble clan of the powerfulAzd tribe resident inKufa.^[3][4] His great-grandfather wasMikhnaf ibn Sulaym, a chieftain of the Azd and the commander of his tribesmen in the army of CaliphAli (r. 656–661) at theBattle of Siffin in 657.^[4][5] Mikhnaf's son Muhammad, Abu Mikhnaf's paternal granduncle, was seventeen-years-old at Siffin and his reports of the battle were recorded by Abu Mikhnaf.^[6] He witnessed the mass Iraqi revolt led byIbn al-Ash'ath against theUmayyad Caliphate in 700 and thetoppling of the Umayyads by theAbbasids in 750.^[4] He was a friend of Muhammad ibn Sa'id al-Kalbi and it was through the latter's sonHisham ibn al-Kalbi that much of Abu Mikhnaf's volumes were transmitted.^[4] He died in 774/75.^[3]

Abu Mikhnaf was the oldest Arab prose writer,^[7] anAkhbari (propagator of news or traditions),^[8] an important source of early Iraqi historical traditions,^[9] and main source of the history ofal-Tabari.^[7] Abu Mikhnaf is the latter’s almost exclusive source for the events inIraq during the long governorship ofal-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf (694–714), theZubayrid and Umayyad conflict with theAzariqa rebels in Persia (684–698) and the expedition of Ibn al-Ash'ath againstSistan (699–700).^{[10][7][1][8]}

As ahadith transmitter, he is regarded as weak and unreliable.^[11]The hadith scholarYahya ibn Ma'in stated that “He is not reliable” and Ibn ‘Adiyy said “A flaming Shi’ite who is the transmitter of their reports".^[12]

Some have interpreted his historical narratives to generally reflect aKufan or Iraqi bias, rather than a purelyShia point of view.^[11]

He has presented narratives in abundance of details and fullness, in strikingly frank and arresting manner, in form of dialogue and staging, which he had gathered through independent enquiries, collection of facts and seeking first hand information, but he has not ignored other traditionists, older than or contemporary with himself, for instance, he has used such authorities as, Amir Al Shahi, Rasibi, Mugalid ibn Said, and Muhammad ib Said Al Kalbi.^[7]

Ibn Asakir in his bookTa'rikh madinat Dimashq has listed Ibn Al Kalbi as transmitter of Abu Mikhnaf in several places.^[13] Abd al-Malik ibn Nawfal ibn Musahiq who lived in first half of the second century Hijri, Abd al-Rahman ibn Jundab, al-Hajjaj ibn Ali, and Numayr ibn Walah were authority on Abu Mikhnaf.^[9]

In "Islamic Historiography", "Chase F. Robinson" has put him in the class ofIbn Ishaq and among the first Muslim historians who contributed about 40 titles inhistorical tradition of which no fewer than thirteen titles were monographicmaqtal works.^[8] His monographs were gathered by later historians likeAl-Baladhuri andAl-Tabari in their collections.^[8] Many Sunni scholars likeAl-Dhahabi,Yahya ibn Ma'in,Al-Daraqutni, and Abu Hatim have been critical of him,^[14] while some describe him as pure source.^[6]

Ibn Nadim in hisal-Fihrist lists 22, andal-Najashi lists 28 monographs composed by Abu Mikhnaf, comprising:^[1]

• Kitab Al-Saqifa (The book ofSaqifah)
• Kitab Al-Ridda (The book ofRidda wars)
• Kitab Al-Shura (The book ofThe election of Uthman)
• Kitab Al-Jamal (The book ofBattle of Bassorah)
• Kitab Al-Siffin (The book ofBattle of Siffin)
• Kitab MaqtalAl-Hasan
• KitabMaqtal Al-Husayn (The history ofBattle of Karbala)
• Sirat Al-Hussayn
• Kitab KhutbaAl-Zahra
• Kitab AkhbarAl-Mukhtar
• Futuh Al Sham (Conquest of Syria)

He was the first historian to systematically collect the reports dealing with the events of theBattle of Karbala. His work was considered reliable among later Shi'a andSunni historians likeTabari.^[1] 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.^[15]

Various works titledFutuh Al Sham by Al Azdi, Ibn Al Kalbi, Ibn A'tham and Al Waqidi were based on Abu Mikhnaf'sFutuh Al Sham. Both Ibn ʿAsākīr and Al-Balādhurī traced their narratives back to Abū Mikhnaf.^[13]

• Fishbein, Michael, ed. (1990).The History of al-Ṭabarī, Volume XXI: The Victory of the Marwānids, A.D. 685–693/A.H. 66–73. SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press.ISBN 978-0-7914-0221-4.
• Robinson, Chase F. (2003), Cambridge University Press,ISBN 0-521-62936-5
• Howard, I. K. A., ed. (1990).The History of al-Ṭabarī, Volume XIX: The Caliphate of Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiyah, A.D. 680–683/A.H. 60–64. SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press.ISBN 978-0-7914-0040-1.
• Rowson, Everett K., ed. (1989).The History of al-Ṭabarī, Volume XXII: The Marwānid Restoration: The Caliphate of ʿAbd al-Malik, A.D. 693–701/A.H. 74–81. SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press.ISBN 978-0-88706-975-8.
• Landau-Tasseron, Ella, ed. (1998).The History of al-Ṭabarī, Volume XXXIX: Biographies of the Prophet's Companions and their Successors: al-Ṭabarī's Supplement to his History. SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press.ISBN 978-0-7914-2819-1.
• Wellhausen, Julius (1927).The Arab Kingdom and its Fall. Translated by Margaret Graham Weir. Calcutta: University of Calcutta.OCLC 752790641.

• Biodata at MuslimScholars.info

• 780s births
• 770s deaths
• 8th-century Arab people
• 8th-century people from the Abbasid Caliphate
• 8th-century Arabic-language writers
• 8th-century people from the Umayyad Caliphate
• Azd
• People from Kufa
• 8th-century historians of the medieval Islamic world

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• Articles containing Arabic-language text