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

The Thirty-First Layer

In the year "570 AH", he relates between Chief Justice Kamal al-Din Abu al-Fadl Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn al-Qasim ibn Muzhaffar ibn al-Shahrazuri al-Mawsili, who passed away in "572 AH", and his son Chief Justice Abu Hamid Muhammad, who died in "586 AH", despite their years of death being far apart.

In the thirtieth layer as well, he grouped together Abu al-Mahamid Hammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Ismail ibn al-Saffari, who died in "576 AH", and his father, the notable Rukn al-Din Abu Ishaq Ibrahim, without mentioning the year of his death. He placed their biographies consecutively.

In the same layer, he also combined Sultan Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Najm al-Din Ayyub ibn Shadhi ibn Marwan, who died in "589 AH", with his sons in consecutive biographies. They were Abu al-Fath Imad al-Din Uthman ibn Sultan Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, who died in "595 AH"; his distinguished son Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Yusuf, who died in "622 AH"; and his son al-Zahir, Sultan of Aleppo, Ghiyath al-Din Abu Mansur Ghazi ibn Sultan Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, who died in "613 AH". The preserver grouped them despite the time disparity in their deaths and the death of their father, Sultan Salah al-Din.

Then, in the same layer, the preserver mentions the brother of Sultan Salah al-Din, the ruler of Yemen, Sayf al-Islam Tughtakin ibn Ayyub ibn Shadhi, who passed away in Shawwal "593 AH".

The Legacy of Al-Dhahabi

Al-Dhahabi was a knowledgeable figure in writing biographies. It is no surprise, for he authored "The History of Islam," which contained many biographies, "Tadhkirat al-Huffaz," "Al-Ibar," "Mizan al-I'tidal," and other works on biographies. He was a comprehensive encyclopedia in this science, and later scholars and students of knowledge relied on these books, which enriched the Islamic library and benefited scholars in the field of hadith studies and history. Often, one searches for the biography of a scholar or hadith narrator and cannot find it in circulated books but looks for it diligently in "The Siyar." Undoubtedly, it is an extensive book that encompassed many biographies of notable figures; kings, caliphs, princes, rulers, ministers, doctors, hadith narrators, jurists, linguists, poets, ascetics, philosophers, and theologians across the East and West. However, it significantly emphasized the biographies of hadith scholars whom he greatly respected, for they protect the core of Islam and defend the noble Sunnah, the second source of legislation. A study of their biographies, their teachers, their students, and what scholars said about them, whether critique or approval, is crucial for anyone studying the chains of transmission to assess their authenticity or weakness and other such considerations.