al-Nuqalah by Zaki al-Din al-Mundhiri, d. 656 AH, together with its continuation by al-Husayni, d. 695 AH.
Among the works on genealogy we may note al-Ansab by Abu Saʿd al-Samʿani, d. 562 AH.
Among the books devoted to the Companions stands Usd al-Ghabah by Ibn al-Athir, d. 630 AH.
Among the studies of the transmitters of the Ṣaḥīḥ and Sunan are Abuʾl-Hajjaj al-Mizzi’s Tahdhib al-Kamal fi Maʿrifat al-Rijal, d. 742 AH, and Ibn ʿAsakir’s al-Muʿjam al-mushtamil ʿala Asmaʾ Shuyukh al-Aʾimmah al-Nubalāʾ, d. 571 AH, along with others (1).
These abridgements constituted the principal material that fashioned his scholarly character and his familiarity with earlier periods.
With respect to the biographies of his contemporaries, al-Dhahabi is counted among the very finest authors. Fully aware of the importance of this field, he produced al-Muʿjam al-mukhtaṣ bi-Muḥaddithi al-ʿAṣr as the best testimony to his concern.
Hence the criticism leveled at him for addressing contemporary history—such as that voiced by Ibn al-Wardi (2)—deserves no consideration, for this is the branch of history that is most momentous and fraught with consequence. It is what grants the historian his special stature among his peers and sets him apart from others, a fact that many students of history, Ibn al-Wardi included, failed to grasp.
This wide-ranging expertise in the transmitters produced a sizeable corpus of writings, foremost among them his monumental Tarikh al-Islam wa Wafayat al-Mashahir wa al-Aʿlam, a work that is nearer to the biographical genre than to history in its modern sense; his precious Siyar Aʿlam al-Nubalaʾ, which consists solely of biographies; and the large number of additional works that we have already identified.