The famous biographer Ibn Khallikan

Compiled by: Syed Ali Shahbaz
On 26th of the Islamic month of Rajab in 681 AH, the famous biographer of Kurdish origin, Shams od-Din Abu'l-Abbas Ahmad Ibn Mohammad Ibn Khallikan passed away in Damascus at the age of 73 years. He was born in Arbil in northeastern Iraq and studied in Aleppo, Damascus, and Mosul before settling in Cairo, where he served as assistant to the chief judge of Egypt.
Later he became the chief judge of Damascus. His most renowned work is the biographical dictionary entitled "Wafayaat al-Ayaan wa-Anba Abna az-Zamaan" (Deaths of Eminent Men and Accounts of the Sons of the Epoch), which took eighteen years to complete. It was translated into English by William McGuckin de Slane.