1. Muslim Historiography-Examples

2. 1. Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq (d.150/761)
Ibn Isḥaq collected oral traditions about the life of the prophet Muhammad. These traditions, which he orally dictated to his pupils, are now known collectively as Sīratu Rasūli l-Lāh‎ “(Life of the Messenger of God") and survive mainly in the following sources:
An edited copy, or recension, of his work by his student al-Bakka'i, which was further edited by Ibn Hisham. Al-Bakka'i's work has perished and only ibn Hisham's has survived, in copies.
An edited copy, or recension, prepared by his student Salamah ibn Fadl al-Ansari. This also has perihed, and survives only in the copious extracts to be found in the voluminous History of the Prophets and Kings, by Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari.

3. 2. Ābu Ḥanīfah Āḥmad ibn Dawūd Dīnawarī (d.282/896):
His book: al-Akhbar al-tiwal.
Akhbar is one of the earliest Islamic universal histories that draws on ancient Persian narratives of royal history.
Dominat themes in Akhbar:1. the genesis of human history.
2. Iranian dynastic history with an emphasis on the Sasanian period. Within the scope of Iranian history, al-Dinawari also incorporates pre-Islamic Arab(Yemenite)history.
3. thirde theme deals with the Islamic caliphate. He concludes his work with the reign of al-Mu’tasim ( ).

4. In many respects the Akhbar represents a break from early Islamic traditional historical writing. This divergence is exemplified in the absence of chain of transmission (isnad), the way events are presented, the choice of sources, and the narrative arrangements that the author chooses to apply.
Dinawari treats certain episodes in detail, whereas he mentions others in passing. He emphasis on Sasanian history and the first civil war (fitna) and its consequences (one fifth of his book), yet his reference to the ilfe of the Prophet Muhammad is limited to a few lines.

5. 3. Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī (d.310/923)
His book: Ta’rikh al-rusûl wa’l-mulûk (the Ta’rikh)
“ the reader should know that with respect to all I have mentioned and made it a condition to set down in this writing of ours, I rely upon traditions and reports which I have transmitted and which I attribute to their transmitters. I rely on very exceptionally upon what is learned throught rational arguments and deduced by internal thought processes.

6. For no knowledge of the history of men of the past and of recent men and events is attainable by those who were not able to observe them and did not live in their time, except through information and transmission provided by informants and
transmitters. This cannot be brought out by reason or deduced by internal thought processes. This writing of mine may [be found to] contain some information, mentioned by us on the authority of certain men of the past, which the reader may disapprove of and the listener may find detestable, because he can find nothing sound and no real meaning in it. In such cases, he should know that such information has come to him not from us, but from those who transmitted it to us. We have merely reported it as it was reported to us.” (Tabari)

7. Tabari’’s method is first to present authoritative reports on a given
issue, then give variants to them, and then proceed to evaluate which
ones are the most reliable, his main criteria of evaluation being
soundness of the isnad, and reference to God and His Messenger.
The exception is reports from Abbasid history, where the isnads are
inexplicably dropped. If the prophetic reports are contradictory,
Tabari; measures them against the Qur’an, which he interprets to fit
his preferred version.