This is biographical material that al-T'abari appended to his History , bringing together biographies of Companions and successors of the Prophet.
Many chapters are devoted to women who played a role in the transmission of knowledge.
In the introduction to his History , al-T'abari declared his intention to append to it a biographical work for the reader's convenience. Only a collection of excerpts has survived, however. It was first published as part of the Leiden edition of the History and is now presented as a volume in the T'abari Translation Project. The biographies vary in length and style, ranging from a mere identification of a person to long accounts and anecdotes. This volume represents a long tradition characteristic of Muslim culture.