A Glimpse of the Works and Traditions of Seif ien Omar Tamimi Assadi (death c. 180 Hejri), with Emphasize on Tabari's History

Abstract

At its first stage, the Islamic historiography began in the oral form by the narrators of news known as Akhbari Traditionalists. These traditionalists mostly lived during later 1st century, 2nd century , and early 3rd century, and Ibn-Nadim has given a comprehensive list of them. Seif ibn Omar is a special figure among them, with a lot of traditions and controversial news from Camel War, and he is worth more consideration. The present article attempts to discuss Seif ibn Omar and his particular approach to traditions, relying on Tabari’s History, such as why Tabari favored Seif’s traditions and what are the factors that led to this favor. Moreover, controversial traditions of Seif are too much to be neglected, and this has made historians and researchers vary over the evaluation of his traditions, even to the point of disagreement. Why researchers are so sensitive to his traditions?

Keywords

• islamic historiography
• akhbari traditionalists
• seif ibn omar
• shoaib ibn abrahim