Ibn Khallikan

Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Khallikan (608-681H / 1211-1282 CE) was a Kurdish Shafi'i jurist who served as chief judge (qadi al-qudat) of Damascus and Egypt. His major work, Wafayat al-A'yan wa Anba' Abna' al-Zaman (Deaths of Notable Men), is one of the most important biographical dictionaries of Islamic civilization, containing entries on over 800 notable scholars, poets, rulers, and intellectuals from the first through seventh Islamic centuries. He provides biographical detail, death dates, and anecdotes not found elsewhere. It was translated into French by de Slane in the 19th century.