Kitab at-Tabaqat al-Kabir: The Scholars of Kufa Volume (VI)

Kitab at-Tabaqat al-Kabir: The Scholars of Kufa Volume (VI)

The Kitab at-Tabaqat al-Kabir by Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Sa’d is one of the most important and earliest surviving collections of biographical details of the early Muslims, spanning just over the first two centuries of Islam. It is a rich storehouse of information compiled from all the sources available to Ibn Sa’d, as a result of which, the reader is given a vivid insight into the lives of the early Muslims and how extraordinary they were.

The scope of Ibn Sa’d covers the time of the Rashidun khalifs, the Umayyads and the ‘Abbasids. This sixth volume of the Tabaqat (Volume VI) deals firstly with the scholars of Makkah, Ta’if, Yemen, Yamama and Bahrain and then the bulk of the book is devoted to the scholars of Kufa.

About The Author

Ibn Sa’d (148 AH/764 CE to 230 AH/844 CE) was born in Basra, but moved to Baghdad where he studied under various people, including al-Waqidi. He also visited Kufa and Madina in his quest for knowledge and many authorities have testified to his reliability.

About The Translator

Aisha Abdarrahman At-Tarjumana Bewley is one of today’s most reliable and prolific translators of classical works from Arabic into English and has worked for over twenty years to make the contents of many classical Arabic works accessible to English-speaking readers. As a Muslim translator, she not only understands Arabic but also the teachings and history of Islam, so is able to represent the work in the correct context.