'at-Tabaqat al-Kubra

Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Sa‘d ibn Manī‘ al-Baṣrī al-Hāshimī^[4] or simply Ibn Sa'd (Arabic: ابن سعد) and nicknamed Scribe of Waqidi (Katib al-Waqidi), was a scholar and Arabian biographer. Ibn Sa'd was born in 784/785 CE (168 AH)^[5] and died on 16 February 845 CE (230 AH).^[5] Ibn Sa'd was from Basra,^[2] 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.^[6]

Kitāb aṭ-Tabaqāt al-Kabīr[]

The Kitāb aṭ-Tabaqāt al-Kabīr in Arabic (transl. The Book of the Major Classes), is a compendium of biographical information about famous Islamic personalities. This eight-volume work contains the lives of Muhammad, his Companions and 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".^[7]

Contents[]

• Books 1 and 2 contain a biography (sirah) of Muhammad.
• 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 ions[]

Arabic[]

• This work was ed between 1904 and 1921 by Eduard Sachau (Leiden, 1904 sqq.), including brief German synopses with page references for each book; cf. O. Loth, Das Classenbuch des Ibn Sad (Leipzig, 1869).
• In 1968, Iḥsān Abbās ed it (Beirut: Dār Sādir).
• ‘Alī Muḥammad ‘Umar, ed. (2001). Kitāb al-ṭabaqāt al-kabīr. Cairo: Maktabat al-Khānjī. Contains 11 volumes.^[8]

English[]

• Volumes 1 and 2 (of the Sachau ion) were translated in 1967 and 1972, respectively, by S. Moninul Haq, Pakistan Historical Society. Ibn Sa'd's Kitab Al-Tabaqat Al-Kabir Vols. 1&2. ISBN 81-7151-127-9^[9]
• Abridged translations of Volumes 3, 6, 7 and 8 have been translated by Aisha Bewley and published under the titles of The Companions of Badr, The Men of Madina, The Scholars of Kufa and The Women of Madina.

See also[]

• List of Islamic scholars

References[]

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ibn Ṣa'd". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 14 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

External links[]

Arabic Wikisource has original text related to this article: Ibn Sa'd al-Baghdadi

• Biodata at MuslimScholars.info

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