This article presents an analysis of Twelver Shīʿī ḥadīth-based historiography, examining the nature and composition of early historiographical compendia. As such, it aims to broaden the perspective of historical studies concerning the lives of the ahl al-bayt, which have generally been characterised by a decontextualising approach that prioritises analysis of individual reports over attention to the character of the compendia in which they are gathered. The present analysis takes the form of a case-study of three of the most important early Twelver compendia concerning the lives of the Imams—Kulaynī’s al-Kāfī, Ṣadūq’s ʿUyūn akhbār al-Riḍā and Mufīd’s al-Irshād—and consists of two stages: a typology and a comparative analysis. Our principal findings include the identification of considerable commonalities across various aspects of these compendia, details of each author’s theological attitude to the historiography of the lives of the ahl al-bayt, the objectives of their compendia and how each can be seen to be responding to the needs of the Twelver community at the time. Attention is further drawn to important differences between Twelver historiography concerning the Imams and the broader Muslim historiographical tradition, and also to the necessity and feasibility of developing a qualitative taxonomy for Twelver ḥadīth-based historiography.

KEYWORDS: ḥadīth, historiography, Imams, Mufīd, Ṣadūq, Kulaynī, typology, quantitative analysis.