Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Sa‘d ibn Manī‘ al-Baṣrī al-Hāshimī or simply Ibn Sa'd () and nicknamed ''Scribe of Waqidi'' (''Katib al-Waqidi''), was a scholar and

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

n biographer. Ibn Sa'd was born in 784/785 CE (168 AH) and died on 16 February 845 CE (230 AH). Ibn Sa'd was from

Basra Basra () is a port city in Iraq, southern Iraq. It is the capital of the eponymous Basra Governorate, as well as the List of largest cities of Iraq, third largest city in Iraq overall, behind Baghdad and Mosul. Located near the Iran–Iraq bor ...

, but lived mostly in

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

, 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 ('' tabaqāt'') about famous

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

ic personalities. This eight-volume work contains the lives of

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

, 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.

* Books 1 and 2 contain a

prophetic biography In religion, mythology, and fiction, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person (typically called a ''prophet'') by a supernatural entity. Prophecies are a feature of many cultures and belief systems and usually contain divin ...

. * 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

* (includes brief German synopses with page references for each book, reprinted in 2022 a
online link
* In 1968, Iḥsān Abbās edited it (Beirut: Dār Sādir). * Contains 11 volumes.

English

* S. Moinul Haq (transl.), ''Ibn Sa'd's Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir: Volume I, Parts I & II''; Karachi: Pakistan Historical Society, 1967 [= ''Pakistan Historical Society Publication'', no. 4
online link
* S. Moinul Haq (transl.), ''Ibn Sa'd's Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir: Volume II, Parts I & II''; Karachi: Pakistan Historical Society, 1972 [= ''Pakistan Historical Society Publication'', no. 5
online link
* S. Moinul Haq (transl.), Ibn Sa'd's Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir: Volume I ( Kitab Bhavan, New Delhi, 198

* S. Moinul Haq (transl.), Ibn Sa'd's Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir: Volume ll ( Kitab Bhavan, New Delhi, 198

* Abridged translations of Volumes 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8 have been translated by Aisha Bewley and published under the titles of ''The Companions of Badr'', ''The Men of Madina-II'', ''The Scholars of Kufa'', ''The Men of Madina-I'', and ''The Women of Madina'
online link

References

External links

Biodata at MuslimScholars.info
784 births 845 deaths 9th-century historians from the Abbasid Caliphate Hadith scholars 9th-century Arab people Biographical evaluation scholars {{islam-book-stub