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Al-Tabaqat al-Kubra (Ibn Sa'd)

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By Muhammad ibn Sa'd, secretary of al-Waqidi

الطبقات الكبرى (ابن سعد)

The work of Muhammad ibn Sa'd, al-Waqidi's secretary (168–230 AH), on the life of the Prophet ﷺ and the generations of Companions, Successors and their followers down to his own time, arranged by generation. A notice gives a man's lineage through father and mother, his children and their mothers, his kunya and title, his appearance, dye, dress and ring, the offices he held, where he lived and his travels, and sometimes a judgement of his reliability. Hajji Khalifa called it 'the greatest work written on the generations of transmitters' 1 2.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Early Abbasid Caliphate
Region
Levant & Iraq · Arabia

History-writing and social thoughtScripture and its sciences

Summary

Al-Tabaqat al-Kubra ("The Great Generations", also called al-Tabaqat al-Kabir) is the work of Muhammad ibn Sa'd, secretary of al-Waqidi. The sources agree in ascribing it to him, and the original ran to fifteen volumes. 3 It opens with the reports about the Prophet, which Ibn al-Nadim lists as a separate book, Akhbar al-Nabi, and which Ibn Sa'd closes with the words "the end of the report of the Prophet". There follow the generations of Companions, Successors and those after them down to his own time. 4 Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi said he wrote a great book on the generations of the Companions, the Successors and their followers to his day "and did it excellently", and Hajji Khalifa called it "the greatest work written on the generations of transmitters". 5

How a notice is built

The editor of the completing section notes that Ibn Sa'd gives a man's lineage through father and mother and lists his children and their mothers, tracing lineages back before Islam, so that the book is rich in genealogy. 2 He usually gives the kunya and title, sometimes the trade, and details that show a man's character, learning or creed and the main events of his life. He describes the person's appearance: the dye on hair and beard, the kind and colour of clothes, the turban, the ring and its inscription. He records offices held, governorship or judgeship, and where a man lived in Medina or its outskirts, giving scattered information on the city's quarters, then follows his travels. 2 On transmitters he often says only "of few reports" or "of many reports", though he also grades men as reliable or weak. The editor places him among the moderate critics, and quotes al-Sakhawi that his judgements of transmitters are "good and accepted". 6 7

Transmission and printings

  • It was transmitted from him by al-Harith ibn Abi Usama (d. 282 AH) and al-Husayn ibn Muhammad ibn Fahm (d. 289 AH). 8
  • It was printed at Leiden in eight volumes with a ninth of indexes, then in Beirut on the basis of the Leiden edition, and by Dar al-Tahrir in Egypt. None of these three printings contains the section published by Ziyad Muhammad Mansur. 3 The foreword by the vice-president of the Islamic University says the orientalists' edition was incomplete in many places because of gaps in their manuscripts, gaps they themselves pointed out. 9

The completing section on the Successors of Medina

  • In 1408 AH/1987 CE (second edition) Ziyad Muhammad Mansur published the part missing from volume 5, from a unique manuscript photographed at the Institute of Manuscripts in Cairo. It begins with the end of the notice of 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz and covers three-quarters of the third generation of Medinan Successors, the whole of the fourth and fifth, and about half the sixth. 10 11
  • It holds 407 notices. The earliest to die is 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Miswar (90 AH) and the last Shu'ayb ibn Talha (174 or 175 AH). Among them are Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri, whose notice is the longest, Ibn Abi Dhi'b and Rabi'at al-Ra'y. Also included are the three brothers of the Munkadir family, among them Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir, and 'Abd Allah ibn Hasan with his sons Muhammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya and Ibrahim. 12
  • A rarity is the notice of Qurin ibn al-Muttalib ibn Abi Wada'a, son of the man to whom Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab married his daughter, for whom the editor found no other mention. 13
  • The fourth generation opens with al-Zuhri (notice 70). From al-Waqidi, Ibn Sa'd relates how al-Zuhri sought learning: he left 'Abd Allah ibn Tha'laba ibn Su'ayr for Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab, 'Urwa, 'Ubayd Allah ibn 'Abd Allah ibn 'Utba and Abu Bakr ibn 'Abd al-Rahman, then travelled to Damascus and was brought before 'Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan. 14

Connections

Explore the connections

Authored by
Muhammad ibn Sa'd, secretary of al-Waqidi
Mentions
Muhammad ibn Shihab al-Zuhri· Rabi'a al-Ra'y· Ibn Abi Dhi'b· Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir· محمد النفس الزكية· Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz· Medina
Relied on by
Tajrid Asma' al-Sahaba

People and things also explored

Ibrahim ibn 'Uqba· Al-Ash'ath ibn Qays comes with the delegation of Kinda· Muwatta 1· Muwatta 362· Muwatta 606· Muwatta 763· Muwatta 764· Muwatta 823

Sources

  1. Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-Kubra, the completing section on the Successors of Medina and after them (from the last quarter of the third generation to the middle of the sixth) — study and edition by Ziyad Muhammad Mansur, Maktabat al-'Ulum wa-al-Hikam, Medina, 2nd edition 1408 AH/1987 CE , p. 55-57
  2. Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-Kubra, the completing section on the Successors of Medina and after them (from the last quarter of the third generation to the middle of the sixth) — study and edition by Ziyad Muhammad Mansur, Maktabat al-'Ulum wa-al-Hikam, Medina, 2nd edition 1408 AH/1987 CE , p. 65
  3. Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-Kubra, the completing section on the Successors of Medina and after them (from the last quarter of the third generation to the middle of the sixth) — study and edition by Ziyad Muhammad Mansur, Maktabat al-'Ulum wa-al-Hikam, Medina, 2nd edition 1408 AH/1987 CE , p. 55
  4. Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-Kubra, the completing section on the Successors of Medina and after them (from the last quarter of the third generation to the middle of the sixth) — study and edition by Ziyad Muhammad Mansur, Maktabat al-'Ulum wa-al-Hikam, Medina, 2nd edition 1408 AH/1987 CE , p. 55-56
  5. Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-Kubra, the completing section on the Successors of Medina and after them (from the last quarter of the third generation to the middle of the sixth) — study and edition by Ziyad Muhammad Mansur, Maktabat al-'Ulum wa-al-Hikam, Medina, 2nd edition 1408 AH/1987 CE , p. 57
  6. Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-Kubra, the completing section on the Successors of Medina and after them (from the last quarter of the third generation to the middle of the sixth) — study and edition by Ziyad Muhammad Mansur, Maktabat al-'Ulum wa-al-Hikam, Medina, 2nd edition 1408 AH/1987 CE , p. 7-8
  7. Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-Kubra, the completing section on the Successors of Medina and after them (from the last quarter of the third generation to the middle of the sixth) — study and edition by Ziyad Muhammad Mansur, Maktabat al-'Ulum wa-al-Hikam, Medina, 2nd edition 1408 AH/1987 CE , p. 77
  8. Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-Kubra, the completing section on the Successors of Medina and after them (from the last quarter of the third generation to the middle of the sixth) — study and edition by Ziyad Muhammad Mansur, Maktabat al-'Ulum wa-al-Hikam, Medina, 2nd edition 1408 AH/1987 CE , p. 54
  9. Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-Kubra, the completing section on the Successors of Medina and after them (from the last quarter of the third generation to the middle of the sixth) — study and edition by Ziyad Muhammad Mansur, Maktabat al-'Ulum wa-al-Hikam, Medina, 2nd edition 1408 AH/1987 CE , p. 5
  10. Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-Kubra, the completing section on the Successors of Medina and after them (from the last quarter of the third generation to the middle of the sixth) — study and edition by Ziyad Muhammad Mansur, Maktabat al-'Ulum wa-al-Hikam, Medina, 2nd edition 1408 AH/1987 CE , p. 3
  11. Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-Kubra, the completing section on the Successors of Medina and after them (from the last quarter of the third generation to the middle of the sixth) — study and edition by Ziyad Muhammad Mansur, Maktabat al-'Ulum wa-al-Hikam, Medina, 2nd edition 1408 AH/1987 CE , p. 77-78
  12. Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-Kubra, the completing section on the Successors of Medina and after them (from the last quarter of the third generation to the middle of the sixth) — study and edition by Ziyad Muhammad Mansur, Maktabat al-'Ulum wa-al-Hikam, Medina, 2nd edition 1408 AH/1987 CE , p. 6-7
  13. Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-Kubra, the completing section on the Successors of Medina and after them (from the last quarter of the third generation to the middle of the sixth) — study and edition by Ziyad Muhammad Mansur, Maktabat al-'Ulum wa-al-Hikam, Medina, 2nd edition 1408 AH/1987 CE , p. 7
  14. Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-Kubra, the completing section on the Successors of Medina and after them (from the last quarter of the third generation to the middle of the sixth) — study and edition by Ziyad Muhammad Mansur, Maktabat al-'Ulum wa-al-Hikam, Medina, 2nd edition 1408 AH/1987 CE , p. 157-159
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Al-Tabaqat al-Kubra (Ibn Sa'd)”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/work/al-tabaqat-al-kubra-ibn-sad/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-11-04.

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Ibrahim ibn 'Uqba

Ibrahim b. 'Uqba b. Abi 'Ayyash of Medina, client of the family of al-Zubayr b. al-'Awwam, a Successor and one of Malik's teachers, brother of Musa and Muhammad b. 'Uqba; he heard Umm Khalid bint Khalid b. Sa'id, Sa'id b. al-Musayyab, 'Urwa and Kurayb, and Malik, al-Thawri, Ibn 'Uyayna and others transmitted from him; Ibn 'Abd al-Barr calls him trustworthy and an authority in what he transmitted.