Al-Tabari

Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr ibn Yazīd al-Ṭabarī (Arabic: أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), also known as al-Tabari or in Persian as Tabari, 839–923 CE, was an influential Sunni scholar, historian and commentator on the Qur'an from Amol, Tabaristan (modern Mazandaran Province of Iran). Today, he is best known for his expertise in Qur'anic exegesis (tafsir) and Historiography, but he has been described as "an impressively prolific polymath. He wrote on such subjects as world history, poetry, lexicography, grammar, ethics, mathematics, and medicine." His most influential and best known works are his Qur'anic commentary, known in Arabic as Tafsir al-Tabari, and his historical chronicle History of the Prophets and Kings (Tarikh al-Rusul wa al-Muluk), often referred to Tarikh al-Tabari.

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Amina Inloes, Amina Inloes is originally from the US and has a PhD in Islamic Studies from the University of Exeter on Shi'a hadith. She is the program leader for the MA Islamic Studies program at the... Answer updated 1 year ago

The historian Muhammad Jarir al-Tabari was Sunni. 

Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri: While Shi'ism originated early (a Shi'i being someone who supported the leadership of Imam 'Ali (A) and his descendants), it took some time for Sunnism as we know it today to develop. Al-Zuhri lived somewhat before that time. So it is not always wholly accurate to identify people in his time period as "Sunnis". This is not an issue with Tabari since Tabari lived later. 

In any case, Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri's work on hadith was the beginning of what became the tradition of major hadith collections in Sunnism, and led to the formative Sunni books of hadith. Furthermore, he was associated with the Umayyads. Therefore, he is a key figure in the development of Sunnism.