Hisham ibn al-Kalbi

{{Short description|Arab historian (737–819)}}

{{Distinguish|Ibn Hisham}}

{{Infobox religious biography

| religion = Shi'ite

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| name = Hishām ibn al-Kalbī

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| birth_date = 737 CE

| birth_place = Kufa, Iraq

| death_date = 819 CE

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| main_interests = History

| notable_ideas = *Theory of all Arabs being descended from Ishmael, the son of Abraham

| works = Jamharat al-Ansab, Kitab al-Asnam

| influences =

| influenced = Yaqut al-Hamawi, Tabari, Al-Masudi, Ibn Sa'd

| father = Muhammad ibn as-Sā'ib al-Kalbī

}}

Hishām ibn al-Kalbī ({{langx|ar|هشام بن الكلبي}}), 737 – 819 CE / 204 AH, also known as Ibn al-Kalbi ({{Lang|ar|إبن الكلبي}}), was an Arab historian.{{cite web|publisher=Centre for Sinai|url=http://www.centre4sinai.com.eg/arabia%20in%20ancient%20history.htm|title="Arabia" in Ancient History|access-date=2009-04-16|archive-date=2008-11-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081119151506/http://www.centre4sinai.com.eg/arabia%20in%20ancient%20history.htm|url-status=dead}} His full name was Abu al-Mundhir Hisham ibn Muhammad ibn al-Sa'ib ibn Bishr al-Kalbi. Born in Kufa,{{Cite book |last=Ibrahim |first=Ayman S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kvYTEAAAQBAJ&dq=Al-Hasan+ibn+Ali+al-Kalbi+born&pg=PA116 |title=Conversion to Islam: Competing Themes in Early Islamic Historiography |date=2021-02-09 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-753071-9 |language=en}} he spent much of his life in Baghdad. Like his father, he collected information about the genealogies and history of the ancient Arabs. He was considered unreliable by Hadith scholars.

Ibn al-Kalbi's most famous work is the Book of Idols (Kitab al-Asnam), which aims to document the veneration of idols and pagan sanctuaries in different regions and among different tribes in pre-Islamic Arabia. In this work, Hisham posited a genealogical link between Ishmael and the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and put forth the idea that all Arabs were descended from Ishmael. He relied heavily on the ancient oral traditions of the Arabs, but also quoted writers who had access to Biblical and Palmyrene sources. According to the {{transliteration|ar|Fihrist}}, he wrote 140 works. His account of the genealogies of the Arabs is continually quoted in the {{transliteration|ar|Kitab al-Aghani}}.{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Ḥishām ibn al-Kalbī|volume=13|pages=525–526|first=Griffithes Wheeler|last=Thatcher}} He also wrote the Strain of Horses (Ansab al-Khayl), which tries to document the history of the Arabian horse from 3000 BC to his own time.{{Cite book |last=Watson |first=Janet C. E. |url=https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Lexicon_Of_Arabic_Horse_Terminology/lHYWDAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=ansab%20al-khayl%20kalbi&pg=PR14&printsec=frontcover |title=Lexicon of Arabic horse terminology |date=1996 |publisher=Kegan Paul International |isbn=978-0-7103-0542-8 |edition= |location= |pages=xiv}}