Ibn Sa'd al-Baghdadi

Muhammad ibn Sa'd ibn Mani' al-Hashimi
Personal Details
Title	Katib al-Waqidi
Born	784 CE (168 AH)
Died	845 CE (230 AH)
Era	Islamic golden age
Religion	Islam
Jurisprudence	Sunni
Influenced by Al-Waqidi

Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Sa‘d ibn Manī‘ al-Baṣrī al-Hāshimī kātib al-Wāqidī or simply Ibn Sa'd (Arabic: ابن سعد‎‎) and nicknamed "Scribe of Waqidi" (Katib al-Waqidi), was a Sunni scholar and Arabian biographer. Ibn Sa'd was born in 784 CE (168 AH) and died in 845 CE (230 AH). He received his training from teachers including Al-Waqidi. He had a reputation of being both trustworthy and accurate in his writings, which, in consequence, were much used by later writers. 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.

The Major Classes

The Book of the Major Classes (Arabic: Kitab Tabaqat Al-Kubra) 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".

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 editions

Arabic

• This work was edited between 1904 and 1921 by Eduard Sachau (Leiden, 1904 sqq.); cf. O. Loth, Das Classenbuch des Ibn Sad (Leipzig, 1869).
• In 1968, Iḥsān Abbās edited it (Beirut: Dār Sādir).
• Contains 11 volumes.

English

• Volumes 1 and 2 (of the Sachau edition) 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
• Volumes 3, 5, 7 and 8 have been lately translated by Aisha Bewley and published under the titles of Companions of Badr, Men of Madina and Women of Madina.

See also

• List of Islamic scholars

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: