Hisham ibn al-Kalbi

His genealogies are well-cited among Arabs, but Sunni scholars considered his hadith to be unreliable since he was Shia. Much of his work was preserved by al-Tabari. Ibn al-Kalbi's most famous work is the Book of Idols (Kitab al-Asnam), which aims to document the veneration of idols and pagan sanctuaries in different regions and among different tribes in pre-Islamic Arabia. In this work, Hisham posited a genealogical link between Ishmael and the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his progeny, and put forth the idea that all Arabs were descended from Ishmael. He relied heavily on the ancient oral traditions of the Arabs, but also quoted writers who had access to Biblical and Palmyrene sources. Hisham is also famous for preserving Abu Mikhnaf's work Maqtal al-Husayn (Alaihissalaam) ("The Murder place of Imam al-Husayn") which detailed the events of the Battle of Karbala in 680 based on eyewitness accounts, and was in turn preserved by al-Tabari. According to the Fihrist of Ibn al-Nadim, he wrote 140 works. His account of the genealogies of the Arabs is continually quoted in the Kitab al-Aghani. He also wrote the Strain of Horses (Ansab al-Khayl), which tries to document the history of the Arabian horse from 3000 BC to his own time.

• Religion — Islam • Name — Hishām ibn al-Kalbī هشام ابن الكلبي • Born — 737 CE • Birthplace — Kufa, Iraq Umayyad Empire • Died — 819 CE • Place of death — Kufa, Abbasid Empire • Denomination — Shia • Main Interests — History • Notable Ideas — Theory of all Arabs being descended from Ishmael, the son of Abraham • Notable Works — Jamharat al-Ansab, Kitab al-Asnam • Influences — Muhammad ibn as-Sā'ib al-Kalbī • Influenced — Yaqut al-Hamawi, Tabari, Al-Masudi, Ibn Sa'd • Father — Muhammad ibn as-Sā'ib al-Kalbī

• The Book of Idols (Kitab Al-Asnam) • The Abundance of Genealogy/Kinship (Jamharat Al-Ansab) • The Strain of Horses (Ansab al-Khayl) • Three lost writings about the city of Al-Hira, the former Lakhmid capital