Tabaqat al-Shafi'iyya al-Kubra

Tabaqat al-Shāfi'iyya al-Kubra (طبقات الشافعية الكبرى) is a voluminous encyclopedic biographical dictionary written by the Shafi'i-Ash'ari scholar Taj al-Din al-Subki (d. 771/1370), in which he presents biographies of scholars of the Shafi'i legal school in Sunni Islam, from the time of Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i (d. 204/820) all the way to his own contemporary time.

The work also chronicles the history of the Ash'ari school of thought, since its beginning with Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari (d. 324/936) all the way to Taj al-Din al-Subki's own era; because most of the Ash'ari scholars are following the Shafi'i school of Islamic jurisprudence.

Content
The work is divided into seven classes (tabaqat), as follows: In the last volume, al-Subki devotes about 150 pages to his own father, Shaykh al-Islam Taqi al-Din al-Subki (d. 756/1355).
 * 1) Those who were students (disciples) of Imam al-Shafi'i (d. 204/820), the founder of the Shafi'i school.
 * 2) Those who died between 200 AH and 300 AH.
 * 3) Those who died between 300 AH and 400 AH.
 * 4) Those who died between 400 AH and 500 AH.
 * 5) Those who died between 500 AH and 600 AH.
 * 6) Those who died between 600 AH and 700 AH.
 * 7) Those who died after 700 AH.