Ali ibn al-Athir
Literary sources are very scarce on the Dabuyid dynasty. They are mainly known through the local histories of Ibn Isfandiyar () and Zahir al-Din Mar'ashi (d. after 1489), while they only get briefly mentioned by early Islamic-era historians such as Khalifah ibn Khayyat (d. 854), al-Tabari (d. 923), and Ali ibn al-Athir (d. 1233); or by geographers such as Ibn al-Faqih () and Ibn Khurdadbih (d. 912). According to both Ibn Isfandiyar and Mar'ashi, the Dabuyids were descendants of the royal Sasanian family, tracing their descent back to Jamasp.