Maqtal al-Husayn (a) (by Abu Mikhnaf): Difference between revisions

{{about|the book of '''"Maqtal al-Husayn (a)"''' written by '''Abu Mikhnaf'''|other usages|Maqtal al-Husayn (disambiguation)}}

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'''Maqtal al-Ḥusayn (a)''' (Arabic: {{ia|(مقتل الحسین (ع)}} was the first [[Maqtal]] written on the [[incident of 'Ashura]] and martyrdom of [[Imam al-Husayn (a)]]. Lut b. Yahya known as [[Abu Mikhnaf]] was the author of this maqtal; the book is well-known as ''Maqtal of Abu Mikhnaf''. It is inscribed two generations after the [[Battle of 'Ashura]]. It was available until the 4th/10th century but later it perished just like other works of Abu Mikhnaf.

There is a book named ''Maqtal of Abu Mikhnaf'' which is not accepted by researchers. Muhammad Hadi Yusufi Gharawi in his book ''Waq'at al-taff li Abi Mikhnaf'' tried to collect and organize available quotations in ''Tarikh al-Tabari'' and restore the actual Maqtal of Abu Mikhnaf.

Lut b. Yahya b. Sa'id b. Mikhnaf al-Azdi known as Abu Mikhnaf, was born in the second half of the 1st/7th century in [[Kufa]]; he passed away in 157/774 or 158/775. He has written many books. According to al-Najashi, Abu Mikhnaf has written twenty eight books; also [[Ibn al-Nadim]] mentioned thirty books, including: the books on the death of [['Uthman b. 'Affan]], the [[Battle of Siffin]], Maqtal of [[Muhammad b. Abi Bakr]], Maqtal of [[Amir al-Mu'minin (a)]].

Maqtal of Abu Mikhnaf was the first maqtal on the Battle of 'Ashura. When he started writing of ''Maqtal al-Husayn (a)'' still a number of reliable people who witnessed the battle of Karbala were alive. According to the author of Waq'at al-Taf, there is no evidence proving that Abu Mikhnaf was a [[Shi'ite]] Muslim, but there are reasons that show he respected [[Ahl al-Bayt (a)]] and loved them.

''Maqtal al-Husayn (a)'' by Abu Mikhnaf was available until the 4th/10th century but it was later perished like other works of Abu Mikhnaf. The famous present Maqtal of Abu Mikhnaf is a false unknown book which was probably written in the 6th/12th century. Here are the reasons proving that it is a fake book:

The content of this book is very different from the content of [[al-Tabari]]; as al-Tabari has quoted reports on the [[incident of Karbala]] through only one narrator or even without any narrator from this book.

The first sentence of the book is: "Qala Abu Mikhnaf: Haddathna Abu al-Mundhar Hisham 'inda Muhammad b. Sa'ib al-Kalbi" (Abu Mikhnaf said: Abu al-Mundhar Hisham narrated a hadith from Muhammad b. Sa'ib al-Kalbi), (p. 5); while Hisham was a student of Abu Mikhnaf.

In page twelve of the book it is said: "Rawa Al-Kulayni fi hadith …" ([[al-Kulayni]] narrated the [[hadith]]). While Al-Kulayni was born about hundred years after the death of Abu Mikhnaf.

Mirza Husayn Nuri ([[al-Muhaddith al-Nuri]]) in his book ''[[Lu'lu' wa marjan]]'', stated on Maqtal of Abu Mikhnaf: "Abu Mikhnaf Lut b. Yahya was a grand hadith scholar and a reliable knowledgeable historian; his book Maqtal was a truly a reliable book, but unfortunately the original [[maqtal]] is not available and the current version which is attributed to him includes some irreligious content which has issues against principles of Islam. However ignorant men with wicked purposes intentionally inserted new contents that damaged the reliability of the book and its narrators are not trustworthy either."

==Restoration==

In recent years, a number of researchers have tried to collect and rearrange quotations from the history book of al-Tabari on Abu Mikhnaf in order to restore Maqtal of Abu Mikhnaf including: