At the close of the third volume of the base manuscript on which we have relied we read the following colophon:

“The third part of Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ by the shaykh, imām, peerless critic, master of the hadith scholars, Shams al-Dīn Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿUthmān al-Dhahabī—may Allah prolong his life and grant the Muslims benefit through his blessing—has now been completed.

The fourth part will open with the biography of Abū Bakrah al-Thaqafī, the Prophet’s freedman, ﷺ.

The copying of this volume was finished on the night of Friday, the first of the blessed month of Shaʿbān in the year 739 AH.

All praise belongs to Allah alone, and may His blessings and peace be upon our master Muhammad, his family, and his Companions in abundance.

The lines of my pen shall remain upon the pages of this book,
while my hand itself will perish in the dust;
so would that whoever reads my book
pray that I be delivered from the Reckoning.

I transcribed this blessed copy from a manuscript penned in the author’s own hand—the shaykh, the incomparable imām, the authoritative proof, the imām of the hadith scholars, the historian of Islam, Shams al-Dīn Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿUthmān al-Dhahabī—may Allah extend his lifespan and benefit the Muslims through his blessing, by the grace of Muhammad, his family, and his noble household.”