Ibn Sad

Muhammad ibn Sad al-Baghdadi (168-230 AH / 784-845 CE) was a pioneering Islamic historian and biographer, best known as the compiler of at-Tabaqat al-Kubra (The Major Classes), the first comprehensive biographical dictionary in Islamic literature. Born in Basra, he settled in Baghdad where he became the leading student and scribe (katib) of al-Waqidi, the famous early historian. This role gave him access to vast amounts of historical material about the Prophet, his companions, and the early Muslim community.

At-Tabaqat al-Kubra is organized in layers (tabaqat), beginning with the biography of the Prophet Muhammad, followed by the companions arranged by their precedence in Islam, then the successors (tabiin) and later generations, organized by the cities in which they lived. The work is invaluable for hadith scholarship because it provides detailed biographical information about narrators, including their reliability, the scholars they studied under, and when they died. It remains one of the primary sources for the science of narrator criticism (ilm ar-rijal).

Ibn Sad also documented the social, political, and religious life of the early Muslim community with remarkable detail. His work preserves accounts that are not found in other sources, making it indispensable for historians of early Islam. He died in Baghdad in 230 AH (845 CE). Scholars of hadith, history, and seerah continue to rely on his Tabaqat as a foundational reference.