Tabaqat

Tabaqat (Arabic: طبقات ṭabaqāt) is a genre of Islamic biographical literature that is organized according to the century in which the notable individuals (such as scholars, poets etc.) lived. Each century or generation is known as a ṭabaqah, the plural of which is ṭabaqāt. The ṭabaqāt writings depict the past of a particular tradition of religious affiliation or scholarship and follows a chronological parameter that stretch from an authoritative starting-point to the generation (ṭabaqah) immediately preceding the assumed author.