Abu Mikhnaf

Lut ibn Yahya ibn Sa'id al-Azdi (; –773/775), commonly known by his Abu Mikhnaf , was an early Muslim historian.

Life Abu Mikhnaf was born in . His given name was Lut and his father was Yahya ibn Sa'id ibn Mikhnaf, who belonged to a noble clan of the powerful Azd tribe resident in Kufa. His great-grandfather was Mikhnaf ibn Sulaym a chieftain of the Azd and the commander of his tribesmen in the army of 'Ali at the Battle of Siffin in 657. He was reportedly the maternal cousin of Aisha, and was later killed among the Tawwabin uprising in 685. Mikhnaf's brothers, Saq'ab and Abdullah, were killed in the Battle of the Camel. Mikhnaf's son Muhammad, Abu Mikhnaf's paternal granduncle, was seventeen-years-old at Siffin and his reports of the battle were recorded by Abu Mikhnaf. He witnessed the mass Iraqi revolt led by Ibn al-Ash'ath against the Umayyad Caliphate in 700 and the toppling of the Umayyads by the Abbasids in 750. He was a friend of Muhammad ibn Sa'ib al-Kalbi and it was through the latter's son Hisham ibn al-Kalbi that much of Abu Mikhnaf's volumes were transmitted. He died in 774/75.

Historiography Abu Mikhnaf was the oldest Arab prose writer, and main source of the history of al-Tabari.

As a hadith transmitter, he is regarded as weak and unreliable by Sunni rijal scholars.

Some have interpreted his historical narratives to generally reflect a Kufan or Iraqi bias, rather than a purely Shia point of view.

He has presented narratives in abundance of details and fullness, in strikingly frank and arresting manner, in form of dialogue and staging, which he had gathered through independent enquiries, collection of facts and seeking first hand information, but he has not ignored other traditionists, older than or contemporary with himself, for instance, he has used such authorities as, Amir al-Sha'bi, al-Rasibi, Mujalid ibn Sa'id, and Muhammad ibn Sa'ib al-Kalbi.

Futuh Al Sham Various works titled Futuh Al Sham by al-Azdi, Ibn al-Kalbi, Ibn A'tham and al-Waqidi were based on Abu Mikhnaf's Futuh Al Sham. Both Ibn ʿAsākīr and Al-Balādhurī traced their narratives back to Abū Mikhnaf.