Abū Ismāʿīl Muḥammad b. ʿAbdallāh al-Azdī al-Baṣrī (d. c.210/825) was an early historian (akhbārī) who is credited with one of the oldest preserved historical works in Arabic, the Futūḥ al-Shām (“The conquests of Syria”). Al-Azdī is barely mentioned in the biographical literature (see Ibn Ḥibbān, al-Thiqāt, 9:84; Abū Nuʿaym al-Iṣfahānī, Ḥilyat al-awliyāʾ, 3:128; for two more entries most likely referring to al-Azdī’s father, see al-Bukhārī, al-Taʾrīkh al-kabīr, 3:134; Ibn Ḥibbān, al-Thiqāt, 8:343). His full name is derived from later sources (fourth/tenth century …