Ibn Aʿtham names as his sources al-Madāʾinī, al-Wāḳidī, al-Zuhrī, Abū Mikhnaf and Ibn al-Kalbī, with al-Madaʾinī being the most cited. His narrative is fullest for the period from the reign of ʿUthmān down to that of Hārūn, particularly for events in Iraq. He is a major source for the conquest of Khorasan, the conquest of Armenia, the conquest of Azerbaijan, the Arab–Khazar wars and the Arab–Byzantine wars. He provides less detail about the conquests themselves than does al-Balādhurī, but he is more detailed in his description of the internal situation in the conquered lands.