Al-Mada'ini

Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn Abi Sayf al-Qurashi (Arabic: أَبُو الْحَسَن عَلِيّ بْن مُحَمَّد بْن عَبْد اللَّه بْن أَبِي سَيْف الْقُرَشِيّ, romanized: Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Sayf al-Qurashī; 752/753–843), commonly known by his nisba al-Mada'ini (Arabic: المَدَائِنيّ, romanized: al-Madāʾinī), was a scholar of Iranian descent who wrote in Arabic and was active under the early Abbasids in Iraq in the first half of the 9th century. A scholar of many interests, he wrote over 200 works, but is best known as a historian.