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.

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). Second era: 750–800
 * Urwah ibn Zubayr (d. 712)
 * Aban bin Uthman bin Affan (d. 723)
 * Wahb ibn Munabbih (d. 735)
 * 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
 * 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)

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).
 * 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
 * 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
 * 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

 * 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)

Turkish: Ottoman Empire

 * Aşıkpaşazade (d. 1481)
 * Tursun Beg (d. after 1488)
 * 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)