Khalīfa b. Khayyāt’s Historiography Method

Khalīfa b. Khayyāt(d. 240/854-855) was an historian- mu？addith in the ？Abbāsid’s period. There are references in sources to his competence in history and lineage rather than ？adīth. Two works of him have survived. The first one is al-？aba？āt which is about study of men and the second one is al-Ta？rīkhwhich chronologically narratesthe events in the history of Islam until 232 AH. The latter is the most significant work to be applied for the historiography of ibnKhayyāt. In this article, Khalīfa b. Khayyāt’s methodology in historiography is examined. In this study, the early period of Islamic histography is handled and the subject is discussed comparatively. The main characteristics of his historiography are his adoption of a chronological style that facilitates the follow-up of the book, his knowledge for the lineage of those who died in wars and the details about the wars. Also, among the charactersitics are his application of isnād to his history book as a mu？addith, his knowledge for the previous resources via his teachers who belong to the schools of al-Madīna and ？Irā？ and when required, his usage of ayah, ？adīth and poems. These issues are dealed in the artcile with examples. Besides, a study in the West about Khalīfa b. Khayyātasserts that he was a follower of Umayyad dynasty and so this affected his historiography. In this article, this assertion is tackled by analyzing the whole book and it concludes that it is not valid because of some narrations against this assertion. Summary Khalīfa b. Khayyāt (d. 240 / 854-55), who grew up in Basra, one of the most important centers of scholarship of the time and the meeting point of scholars, and he continued his scholarly works in this city. Since his grandfather and father are engaged in the field of ？adīth, Khalīfa b. Khayyāt started his scholarly adventure at an early age and he took his first education in the field of ？adīth. Scholars, in the early periods, continued their studies in the fields of sciences related to each other. Khalīfa b. Khayyāt’s studies are also in this kind. Although there are references in sources to his accumulation of ？adīth, Khalīfa b. Khayyāt ’s main area of expertise is history and nasab/genealogy. The fact that his works and references to him in later sources are largely related to historical events, knowledge of the nasab/genealogy, and wafayāt (death dates of ？adīth scholars and narrators) reveals his considerable knowledge on these issues. Khalīfa b. Khayyāt lived in the period of ？Abbāsid caliphs al-Ma？mūn (813-833) and al-Mu？ta？im (833-842). This period is important