Allama Abi Jaffar Muhammad Ibn Habib Baghdadi and His Kitab al Muhabbar

Abstract

The third century of the Islamic era was a period of great intellectual attainments in the history of the Arabs. It was in this period that some of the brightest luminaries appeared on the horizon of Arab learning, whose light guided later writers in different branches of knowledge. One of the earliest historians of the third century was Allama Abi Jaffar Muhammad Ibn Habib Baghdadi who died in 245 A.H. He wrote nearly fort five books but in this article his manuscript Kitab al Muhabbar is being studied. This book gives valuable information about pre-Islamic and Islamic society of Arabs. Kitab al Muhabbar is one of the earliest examples of Muslim social historiography.