Tabqaat Ibn-e-Saad (Tabqat ul Kubra)

The most popular of his works is the huge collection of biographies of noteworthy men and women from the time of the Prophet Muhammad (Sal Allahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) to his time known as Kitaab at Tabaqaat al Kabeer (The Great Book of Generations). It is one of the most important and earliest surviving biographical collections of narrations, and has been used by Islamic scholars as a reference to present day. The work contains over 4000 biographies noteworthy Muslims, of which 600 are women. The first 2 volumes are about the seerah of the Prophet Muhammad (Sal Allahu Alayhi Wa Sallam), which is considered by some the third most authoritative after the Seerat un Nabawi of Ibn Hisham (d. 213 AH or 218 AH) and Maghaazi Rasoolillah of al Waqidee (d. 21 AH). Volumes 3 and 4 contain biographic information on the companions of the Prophet (Sal Allahu Alayhi Wa Sallam), and that of later Islamic personalities.