Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi
Thalath Tarajim Nafisa lil-Aimma al-Alam
- Author died
- 748 AH
- Editions
- Dār Ibn al-Athīr
Thalath Tarajim Nafisa lil-Aimma al-Alam (Three Precious Biographies of the Eminent Imams) is a biographical compilation by the Damascene historian and hadith master Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi (d. 748 AH / 1348 CE), edited by Muhammad ibn Nasir al-Ajmi .
Background and Scope
The work brings together three detailed biographies authored by al-Dhahabi from his historical supplement Dhayl Tarikh al-Islam (Supplement to the History of Islam) . It documents the lives, scholarly contributions, and virtues of three leading Damascene scholars of his era who were his close contemporaries and teachers :
- Ibn Taymiyya (Taqi al-Din Ahmad ibn Abd al-Halim, 661–728 AH)
- Alam al-Din al-Birzali (al-Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Yusuf, 665–739 AH)
- Jamal al-Din al-Mizzi (Yusuf ibn al-Zaki Abd al-Rahman, 654–742 AH)
Content and Method
In these biographies, al-Dhahabi provides firsthand accounts and detailed records of his subjects' lineages, early life, travels, teachers, and intellectual careers .
In the entry on Ibn Taymiyya, al-Dhahabi chronicles his birth in Harran on the tenth of Rabi' al-Awwal in 661 AH and his family's flight to Damascus in 667 AH to escape the Mongol invasion, noting that their books and belongings were carried on carts drawn by cattle . He documents Ibn Taymiyya's early hadith study under teachers such as Ibn Abd al-Da'im, Ibn Abi al-Yusr, Ibn Abi al-Khayr, and al-Qasim al-Irbili, his rapid extraction of Quranic and prophetic proofs during legal debate, and his comprehensive grasp of transmitted texts .
The entries dedicated to al-Birzali and al-Mizzi similarly outline their mastery of hadith sciences, biographical evaluation (rijal), and historical chronicles, highlighting their centrality to fourteenth-century Syrian scholarly circles .
Publication
The collection was verified and edited by Muhammad ibn Nasir al-Ajmi and published by Dar Ibn al-Athir in Kuwait in 1415 AH / 1995 CE .
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