al-Tabaqat al-Kubra - Mutammim al-Tabiin
- Author died
- 230 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat al-'Ulūm wa-al-Ḥikam
al-Tabaqat al-Kubra – Mutammim al-Tabi'in (The Great Book of Generations – Supplement of the Successors) is the supplementary section of the biographical dictionary al-Tabaqat al-Kubra by Ibn Sa'd (168–230 AH / 784–845 CE), containing biographical notices of the Successors (al-Tabi'un) and later figures of Medina that were missing from early printed editions .
Background and Manuscript Discovery
When European orientalists led by Eduard Sachau first edited al-Tabaqat al-Kubra, their edition suffered from several textual lacunae present in their manuscript witnesses, gaps that persisted in subsequent reprints in Beirut and Cairo . Among these omissions was a major gap in the fifth volume covering the Successors of Medina .
This missing section was recovered from a microfilm photographed from the Institute of Arabic Manuscripts in Cairo and preserved at the Islamic University of Madinah . It was critically edited as an academic thesis by Ziyad Muhammad Mansur under the title al-Qism al-Mutammim li-Tabi'i Ahl al-Madinah wa-man Ba'dahum and published by the Scientific Council of the Islamic University of Madinah in 1403 AH / 1983 CE, with subsequent editions issued by Maktabat al-Ulum wa-l-Hikam .
Scope and Contents
The supplementary volume contains 407 biographical entries of Medinan figures, bridging a sequence that spans from the latter part of the third generation (tabaqa) through the complete fourth and fifth generations and into the middle of the sixth generation . The text opens with the completion of the entry for Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz from the third generation—containing 69 entries in this section out of 92—and runs through 174 entries in the fourth generation, 128 entries in the fifth, and 36 entries out of 76 in the sixth generation, concluding near the end of the entry for Muhammad ibn al-Fadl ibn Ubayd Allah ibn Rafi' ibn Khadij .
The earliest deceased figure in this section is Abd al-Rahman ibn Miswar (d. 90 AH) and the latest is Shu'ayb ibn Talha (d. 174 or 175 AH) . Among the prominent scholars profiled are Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri—whose entry is the longest in the volume—Ibn Abi Dhi'b, and Rabi'a al-Ra'y . It also covers ascetics such as the brothers Muhammad, Umar, and Abu Bakr from Al al-Munkadir; notables from the Alid family such as Abd Allah ibn Hasan and his sons Muhammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya and Ibrahim; and rare entries not found elsewhere, such as that of Qurayn ibn al-Muttalib .
Method
Ibn Sa'd structures each entry around detailed genealogical records, tracing paternal and maternal lineages, listing children and the lineages of their mothers, and recording agnomens (kunya), titles, and professions . He documents moral traits, theological inclinations, major life events, and administrative appointments such as governorships and judgeships . He also records physical descriptions, including attire, turbans, hair dyes, and signet rings along with their engravings, supporting his biographical data with chains of transmission (isnad) .
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