The perception of Ali in Shiite and Sunnite thought -The case of Ibn 'A'sem and Ibn Kathīr-

In this study, which consists of an introduction and two chapters, the period of the Ali is examined through two historians representing different tendencies and it is aimed to reveal how sectarian prejudice affects historiography. In this context, the study focuses on Ibn 'A'sem al-Kūfī's (d. after 320/932) Kitāb al-Futūh to reflect the Shī'a's understanding of history and Ibn Kathīr's (d. 774/1373) al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah to understand the Sunnī tendency's view of history. This is because these two works strongly reflect the divergence between the Shi'i and Sunni view of events and the Companions. Ibn 'A'sem, with a few exceptions, did not mention a chain of narrators or a narrator while narrating the events that took place during the reign of the Ali. He constructed a text from the pool of narrations available to him and included it in his work. When the Kitāb al-Futūh is analyzed, it is seen that the idea of the guardianship of the Ali is discussed between the lines of the narrations in the work. In addition, the slanderous and baseless narrations about Mu'awiya's family, the Umayyahids, who opposed Ali, are noteworthy in terms of revealing the biased style in the writing of the work. Ibn 'A'sem, who was accused of being a Shi'ite, was not unfairly accused, considering his style in Kitāb al-Futūh and the narrations he narrated in the work. Ibn Kathīr, besides being a powerful historian, was also a great muhaddith. Unlike Ibn 'A'sem, Ibn Kathīr did not abandon the chain of the senad and included the isnad of the narrations in his work in an age when hadīth and methodological works were already being edited and narrations with isnad were being neglected. Ibn Kathīr was faithful to the Ahl al-Sunnah's reflex of protecting the Companions in his narration of the events. In addition, in order to minimize the influence of the Companions on the events, he sometimes considered their actions within the scope of ijtihad and sometimes blamed external factors for the events that occurred. The author, who made his anti-Shi'i stance clearly felt in his work, did not content himself with merely narrating the narrations like some historians, but also criticized their chains and content. Key Words: Shia, Ahl al-Sunnah, Ali, Ibn A'sem, Ibn Kathīr.