Usd al-Ghabah fi Ma'rifat al-Sahabah (Lions of the Forest in the Knowledge of the Companions) - 7 Volumes

Author: Ibn al-Athir al-Jazari

Usd al-Ghabah fi Ma'rifat al-Sahabah, commonly known as Usd al-Ghabah, is a book authored by Ibn al-Athir, in which he sought to comprehensively document all the Companions (those who accompanied Prophet Muhammad ﷺ) and their biographies. In the introduction, the author states his intention to incorporate four main pre-existing works on the "Companions": those by Abu Abdullah ibn Mandah and Abu Nu'aym Ahmad ibn Abdullah (whom he describes as Hufaz - memorizers of Hadith), Abu Umar ibn Abd al-Barr al-Qurtubi (whom he describes as an Imam), and Abu Musa Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr ibn Abi Isa al-Isfahani, who supplemented Ibn Mandah's work, in addition to others he mentions, such as Abu Ali al-Ghassani. He states concerning Abu Umar ibn Abd al-Barr that he "added what was missing from previous works and made corrections." He frequently cites his sources within the text of his book. It contains 7554 biographies. Ibn al-Athir also mentioned other sources he relied upon, saying: "I also added a group of Companions who settled in Homs, from: (Tarikh Dimashq - History of Damascus), and from (Musnad Ahmad), and from (Hawashi al-Isti'ab - Annotations on al-Isti'ab), and from (Tabaqat Sa'd - Generations of Sa'd), especially the women, and from (Shu'ara' al-Sahabah - Poets of the Companions), who were documented by Ibn Sayyid al-Nas. So I believe that those in my book number around eight thousand individuals, most of whom are unknown. This book has been abridged by the scholar, jurist, Badr al-Din Muhammad ibn Abi Zakariya Yahya al-Qudsi al-Hanafi, the preacher. It was also abridged by Sadid al-Din Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Rashid ibn Ali al-Kashghari al-Hanafi, who died in 705 AH/1305 CE. It was also abridged by Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi (673-748 AH/1274-1348 CE), and this abridged version is titled (Tajrid Asma' al-Sahabah - Abridgment of the Names of the Companions)."