Az-zahabi and his book Siyar A'lam al-Nubala

In the tradition of Islamic scholarship, Dhahabi, who introduced a new method by presenting a new approach in both his written works and extensive research, wrote notable works in the field of Islamic history especially on the fields of tabaqat and tarajim. From a young age, Dhahabi received various lessons from scholars in the region of Damascus and also had the opportunity to teach in some hadith centers. While there are many factors that lead him to knowledge, it can be said that one of the most important factors is that he was born in a family that was engaged in knowledge and valued knowledge. Indeed, his father provided all the opportunities for his son to engage in knowledge and always made him feel his support. Furthermore, Dhahabi, who started to write works from young age, gained knowledge in different fields by reading and working on many works written in various fields until his time. However, when looking at his life, it is seen that his competence in the fields of hadith and history is more prominent. In fact, the intensity of his work has been specific to these two fields. Dhahabi, who wrote works covering both hadith and history under the roof of Rijal's science, provided a different methodology in this field and became a source for the generations that came after him. Siyar a`lam al-nubala is one of the most important works of Dhahabi that made him known in the scientific world. In Siyar a'lam, Dhahabi introduced important figures in Islamic history, especially hadith scholars, in layers order. This work includes forty generations and the lives of approximately 7,000 personalities from the time of the Prophet until the year 700/1301. In his work, Dhahabi, give place to each person according to their reputation and scientific level, meticulously determined their name, lineage, nickname, title, and other characteristics. He indicated the date of birth, upbringing style, teachers, students, works, belief status, and date of death of each individual. Among those whose biographies they took on, he defended some and criticized others. He evaluated the narrators whose biographies he provided in terms of criticism (jarh) and praise (ta'dil), while doing this, he often listed the opinions of reliable scholars who lived in the same century as those individuals.