First-period Islamic historions' approach to the battle of Siffîn

The Battle of Sffîn is undoubtedly one of the most important events in the history of Islam. It happened between the current Caliph Hz. Ali and the governor of Sham, Muâviye. In this battle has killed many Muslims. At the same time, it has paved the way for the emergence of many religious, political and social problems in the long term. The aim of our study is to determine how battle of Sffîn, which we can consider as a turning point in islamic history, was handled by early Islamic historians and the reasons for the different narratives of these historians about this battle. Islamic historians and related works whose approaches to Sffîn are as follows: Ibn Sa'd (ö.230/845)/Kitâbu't-tabakâti'l-kebîr, Halîfe b. Hayyât (d.240/854-55)/et-Târîh, Ibn Kuteybe (d.279/889)/al-Imame ve's-siyâse, Dîneverî (d.282/895)/al-Ahbâru't-tıvâl, Ya'kûbî (d.292/905'ten sonra)/Târîhu'l-Ya'kûbî, Taberî (d.310/923)/Târîhu'l-ümem ve'l-mülûk, Mes'ûdî (d.345/956)/Murûcu'z-zeheb and Ibnü'l-Esîr (d.630/1233)/al-Kâmil fî't-târîh. We explained the reasons why we prefer these historians in the introduction to our thesis. We found that the narratives of the historians we examined had differences. In the formation of this difference, factors such as the understanding of history, official mission situations, Imperial perceptions, Ali bias and the types of his works were influential.