al-Tabaqat al-Kubra - Mutammim al-Sahaba - al-Tabaqa al-Khamisa

al-Tabaqat al-Kubra – Mutammim al-Sahaba – al-Tabaqa al-Khamisa (The Great Classes: Supplement of the Companions – The Fifth Class) is a biographical section of the early Islamic biographical encyclopedia compiled by the Baghdadi historian Ibn Sa'd (168–230 AH / 784–845 CE), devoted to the fifth and final class of the male Companions of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ al-Tabaqat al-Kubra - Mut…+1.

Scope and Content

Ibn Sa'd established five generational tiers for the male Companions based on precedence in Islam, merit, and kinship to the Prophet ﷺ, designating the fifth class for those who were young in age at the time of the Prophet's death and had not taken part in military expeditions alongside him al-Tabaqat al-Kubra - Mut…+1. Most of them preserved and transmitted reports from him, while others only saw him or attained his lifetime without memorizing direct traditions al-Tabaqat al-Kubra - Mut…+1.

The work contains 46 biographical entries distributed by tribal lineage and status: ten from Banu Hashim, two from Banu Asad, three from Banu Zuhra, six from Banu Makhzum, nine from other clans of Quraysh and their confederates, seven from the Ansar, five from other Arab tribes, and four from the sons of Jewish converts to Islam al-Tabaqat al-Kubra - Mut…. It includes extensive entries for influential figures of early Islamic political and scholarly history, such as Abd Allah ibn al-Abbas, Ubayd Allah ibn al-Abbas, Qutham ibn al-Abbas, al-Hasan ibn Ali, al-Husayn ibn Ali, and Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr al-Tabaqat al-Kubra - Mut…+1. It also incorporates distinct thematic subheadings covering events such as the death of Ibn Abbas, the adhan in al-Hasan's ear, the newborn sacrifice (aqiqah), prayers taught to al-Hasan by the Prophet, the martyrdom of al-Husayn ibn Ali, and the death of Ibn al-Zubayr al-Tabaqat al-Kubra - Mut….

Method and Sources

The text compiles 715 documented chains of transmission (isnads) relating historical accounts, personal virtues, and sayings of the young Companions al-Tabaqat al-Kubra - Mut…+1. In compiling the biographies, Ibn Sa'd adhered to his standard biographical method by recording full paternal and maternal lineages, offspring, physical descriptions, and participation in public affairs and governance al-Tabaqat al-Kubra - Mut….

The transmission of Ibn Sa'd's al-Tabaqat al-Kubra reached later generations primarily through his students al-Harith ibn Abi Usama and al-Husayn ibn Fahm Ulum al-Hadith wa Mustala…+1.

Manuscript and Publication History

This portion of the Tabaqat was omitted from the early European printed edition overseen by Eduard Sachau at Leiden (1904–1918), as well as subsequent commercial reprints issued in Beirut and Cairo that relied on the Leiden text al-Tabaqat al-Kubra+1.

The missing text was recovered from a 7th-century AH manuscript preserved in the Ahmet III Library in Istanbul (MS 2835), where the fifth class occupies folios 246 of volume 7 through 145 of volume 8 al-Tabaqat al-Kubra - Mut…. It was critically edited as a supplementary volume (qism mutammim) by Muhammad ibn Samil al-Sulami and published by Maktabat al-Siddiq in Taif in 1414 AH / 1993 CE al-Tabaqat al-Kubra+1.