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Respected Dr. Sahab, AA

I came across following site. I would like to know if you know anything about this manuscript of the Maqtal mentioned below. What about those names of eyewitnesses, any information wether alive at the time of this historian? Hisham al-Kalbi? I have provided link to pdf file of the translation of Kitab al-Maqtal.

The first historian to systematically collect the reports of eyewithnesses of this event was Abi Mikhnaf(died in 157 AH , 774 CE) in a work titled "Ketab Maqtal Al-Husayn".
http://www.sicm.org.uk/knowledge/Kitab%20Maqtal%20al-Husayn.pdf

Abi Mikhnaf's original seems to have been lost and that which has reached today has been transmitted through his student Hisham Al-Kalbi (died in 204 AH.) There are four manuscripts of the Maqtal, located at Gotha (No. 1836), Berlin (Sprenger, Nos. 159-160), Leiden (No. 792), and St. Petersburg (Am No. 78 ) libraries.

Those eyewitness mentioned above are Muhammad ibn Qays , Harith ibn Abd Allah ibn Sharik al-Amiri , Abd Allah ibn Asim and Dahhak ibn Abd Allah Abu , Abu Janab al-Kalbi and Adi b. Hurmula , Muhammad ibn Qays. (SYED HUSAYN M. JAFRI, "The Origins and Early Development of Shi’a Islam" , Oxford University Press, USA (April 4, 2002), ISBN-13: 978-0195793871)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abi_Mikhnaf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Karbala#_note-45

Thank you,

shahu

Dear brother,

Many Shiite books rightly call Abi Makhnaf a fictitious character.

The best way is to reflect on what one says. If it is all irrational (as it is in the name of Abi Makhnaf), I would disregard it as conjecture.

Another thing to remember: Those who can invent a story, can also invent the chains of narration.