Reference.com

Ibn Sa'd al-Baghdadi

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Cite This Source

Muhammad ibn Sa'd ibn Mani' al-Baghdadi or Ibn Sa'd (ابن سعد), often called Katib ul-Waqidi (Secretary of Waqidi) (born in 168AH/784CE) and died in 230AH/845CE , was a Sunni Muslim scholar of Islam and an Arabian biographer, received his training in the tradition from Al-Waqidi and other celebrated teachers. He lived for the most part in Baghdad, and had the reputation of being both trustworthy and accurate in his writings, which, in consequence, were much used by later writers.

Biography

Muhammad ibn Saad (or Ibn Sa`d) was an Arabic scholar who is from Basra, Iraq, then lived in Baghdad in the 9th century. He is said to have died at the age of 62 in Baghdad. and was buried in the cemetery of the Syrian gate.

Works

Kitab at-Tabaqat is a compendium of biographical information about famous Islamic personalities. It is eight books long.

  • Books 1 and 2 contain a sirat of Muhammad.
  • Books 3 and 4 contain biographic notices of companions of the Muhammed.
  • Books 5, 6 and 7 contain biographic notices of later Islamic scholars.
  • Book 8 contains biographic notices of Islamic women.

Volumes 5, 7 and 8 have been lately translated by Aisha Bewley and published under the titles of "Men of Madina" and "Women of Madina" (even though Ibn Saad's interests extended far beyond Madina).

His work, the Kitab ul-Tabaqat ul-Kabir (15 vols.) contains the lives of Mohammed, 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 personal friends of the Prophet.

Ibn Saad'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".

This work has been edited under the superintendence of E. Sachau (Leiden, 1904 sqq.); cf. O. Loth, Das Classenbuch des Ibn Sad (Leipzig, 1869).

See also

References

External links



Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia © 2001-2006 Wikipedia contributors (Disclaimer)
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Wednesday February 06, 2008 at 14:08:10 PST (GMT -0800)
View this article at Wikipedia.org - Edit this article at Wikipedia.org - Donate to the Wikimedia Foundation