Ibn Sa'd


Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Sa‘d ibn Manī‘ al-Baṣrī al-Hāshimī or simply Ibn Sa'd and nicknamed Scribe of Waqidi, was a scholar and Arabian biographer. Ibn Sa'd was born in 784/785 CE and died on 16 February 845 CE. Ibn Sa'd was from Basra, but lived mostly in Baghdad, hence the nisba al-Basri and al-Baghdadi respectively. He is said to have died at the age of 62 in Baghdad and was buried in the cemetery of the Syrian gate.

''Kitāb al-Ṭabaqāt al-Kabīr''

The Kitāb al-Ṭabaqāt al-Kabīr is a compendium of biographical information about famous Islamic personalities. This eight-volume work contains the lives of Muhammad, his Companions and his Helpers, including those who fought at the Battle of Badr as a special class, and of the following generation, the Followers, who received their traditions from the Companions.
Ibn Sa'd's authorship of this work is attested in a postscript to the book added by a later writer. In this notice he is described as a "client of al-Husayn ibn ‘Abdullah of the ‘Abbasid family". The work was subject to a major study by a European scholar already in 1869.

Contents

  • Books 1 and 2 contain a prophetic biography.
  • Books 3 and 4 contain biographies of companions of Muhammad.
  • Books 5, 6 and 7 contain biographies of later Islamic scholars.
  • Book 8 contains biographies of Islamic women.

    Published editions

Arabic