Book: Siyar A'lam An-Nubala by Ad-Dhahabi - سير أعلام النبلاء ـ الإمام الذهبي

The Nineteenth Generation

The nineteenth generation spans from the year 334 AH, which marks the demise of the just minister Ali ibn Isa ibn Dawud ibn al-Jarrah, until the year 343 AH, the year of the death of Abu al-Abbas Muhammad ibn Ishaq al-Dubai'i. This generation encompasses nine years in total.

These thirty-five generations cover all eras from the time of the Companions to the author's period.

Number of Biographies

The total number of biographies translated is 5,964, with some repeated. It includes all notable figures from the East and West, such as kings, caliphs, princes, ministers, physicians, hadith scholars, jurists, grammarians, poets, ascetics, philosophers, and theologians. However, the author placed the greatest emphasis on hadith scholars, whom he held in high esteem, as they are the defenders of the noble tradition. Understanding these scholars' biographies, their teachers and students, and scholars' evaluations of them in terms of reliability and disqualification aids in assessing the chains of narration and judging their authenticity or weakness.

Classification of Companions and Successors

The compiler, may Allah have mercy on him, considered the Companions as a single generation, but divided them into two categories: senior and junior Companions. He placed the biographies of the ten who were promised Paradise at the forefront of the Companions’ biographies. The rest of the Companions were not organized according to chronological events. For example, he arranged the biographies of the Mothers of the Believers and the daughters of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ consecutively—so readers could be informed of their lives—placing the biography of Sawda bint Zam'a, whom the Prophet married after Khadijah, after that of Juwayriyyah. He positioned Aisha's biography following that of Khadijah, not adhering to chronological events and without following a specific order in arranging the Companions' biographies.

The compiler, may Allah have mercy on him, divided the Successors into six generations. The foremost generation of the Successors starts with Marwan ibn al-Hakam ibn Abi al-As ibn Umayya, who died in the year 65 AH, and ends in the year 93 AH, the year in which Safwan ibn Muhriz passed away.

The second generation of Successors begins with Abu Salama ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf, who died in the year 94 AH, extending until the year 107 AH, the year in which the distinguished poet Kuthayyir Azzah died.