History of the Prophets and Kings
Until the rise of the Abbasid Caliphate, few books were written and most of the reports had been oral. The most notable work prior to this period is "The Book of Sulaym ibn Qays", written by Sulaym ibn Qays, a companion of Ali who lived before the Abbasids. When paper was introduced to Muslim society, numerous monographs were written between 750 and 950. According to Robinson, at least twenty-one separate monographs have been composed on the Battle of Siffin. Abi Mikhnaf is one of the most renowned writers of this period who tried to gather all of the reports. Ninth- and tenth-century historians collected, selected and arranged the available narrations. However, most of these monographs do not exist any more except for a few which have been used in later works such as History of the Prophets and Kings by Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari (d.923).