Sayf ibn Umar

{{Infobox person

| name = Sayf ibn Umar

| image =

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| birth_date = Unknown date

| birth_place = Kufa, Iraq

| death_date = {{circa|786–809}}

| death_place =

| era = Early Abbasid period

| occupation = Historian

| known_for = Being a source for al-Tabari ({839–923)

| notable_works = The Great book of Conquests and Apostasy Wars ({{Transliteration|ar|Kitāb al-futūh al-kabīr wa-l-ridda}})

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Sayf ibn Umar al-Usayyidi al-Tamimi ({{langx|ar|سيف بن عمر}}) was an 8th-century Islamic historian and compiler of reports who lived in Kufa. He wrote the {{Transliteration|ar|Kitāb al-futūh al-kabīr wa-l-ridda}} ('The Great book of Conquests and Apostasy Wars'),{{cite encyclopedia|last1=Thomas|first1=David|title=Kitāb al-futūḥ al-kabīr wa-l-ridda|editor1-last=Thomas|editor1-first=David|editor2-last=Mallett|editor2-first=Alex|encyclopedia=Christian-Muslim Relations 600 - 1500|publisher=Brill|url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/christian-muslim-relations-i/kitab-al-futuh-al-kabir-wa-l-ridda-COM_23609}} which was the later historian al-Tabari's (839–923) main source for the Ridda wars and the early Islamic conquests. It also contains important information on the structure of early Muslim armies and government. According to al-Dhahabi, Sayf died during the reign of Harun al-Rashid (786–809).{{Cite encyclopedia | edition = 2nd| publisher = Brill Academic Publishers| volume = 9| pages = 102–103| last = Donner | first = Fred | title = Sayf B. ʿUmar | encyclopedia = Encyclopaedia of Islam| isbn = 90-04-10422-4| date = 1995}}

Life

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

Reliability

The reliability of his hadiths 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.{{Cite book| publisher = SUNY Press| isbn = 978-0-7914-9684-8| title = History of al-Tabari Vol. 11, The: The Challenge to the Empires A.D. 633-635/A.H. 12-13| date = 2015-06-15|page=xvi}} 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.{{Cite book| publisher = Hachette UK| isbn = 978-0-297-86559-9| last = Kennedy| first = Hugh| title = The Great Arab Conquests: How the Spread of Islam Changed the World We Live In| date = 2010-12-09|quote=Medieval and modern historians have suspected that he fabricated some of his accounts, but the most recent scholarship suggests that he is more reliable than previous authors had imagined.}}{{Cite book| publisher = Cambridge University Press| isbn = 978-0-521-88384-9| last = Tucker| first = William Frederick| title = Mahdis and millenarians: Shī'ite extremists in early Muslim Iraq| year = 2008| pages=10–12}} W. F. Tucker and Ella Landau-Tasseron note that although Sayf may have been an unscrupulous hadith 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, Albrecht Noth, and Martin Hinds have also challenged Wellhausen's views and placed Sayf on an equal footing with other traditionalists.{{Cite journal| issn = 1613-0928| volume = 67| pages = 1–26| last = Landau-Tasseron| first = Ella| title = Sayf Ibn 'Umar in Medieval and Modern Scholarship| journal = Der Islam| date = January 1990| doi=10.1515/islm.1990.67.1.1| s2cid = 164155720}}

Sayf ibn Umar

Life

Reliability

Notes

Further reading