Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalā
Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalā — “The Lives of the Noble Ones” — is Imam al-Dhahabī's vast biographical history: a chronological account of Islam's most eminent figures across its first seven centuries, from the Companions and Followers to the great imams of hadith and fiqh, each life weighed with the precision of a master hadith critic.
Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ — Imam al-Dhahabī's "Lives of the Noble Ones" — is available as an English audiobook series on Joyful Muslims, translated from the Arabic with a word-synced bilingual transcript. Volume 1, about ten and a half hours, is the volume of the Companions: ninety-two lives, beginning with Abū ʿUbaydah ibn al-Jarrāḥ, Ṭalḥah, al-Zubayr, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf and Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ.
What is Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ?
Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ is the biographical history of Islam written by Imam al-Dhahabī (1274–1348 CE / 673–748 AH), the great historian and hadith critic of Damascus, who studied with over a thousand teachers across Syria, Egypt and the Hijaz. It traces the lives of the most significant scholars, narrators, statesmen and saints generation by generation, from the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ through al-Dhahabī's own century — each life weighed with the precision of a master of hadith.
Volume 1 is the volume of the Companions. Its ninety-two chapters move through the men of the first generation one by one: Abū ʿUbaydah, whom the Prophet sent with reinforcements and who took command of the army; Ṭalḥah ibn ʿUbayd Allāh; al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām; ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf; Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ; Muṣʿab ibn ʿUmayr; and on through the early Muslims of Mecca and Medina.
For seven centuries the Siyar has been the reference scholars open when they need to know who a person was and what he was worth as a witness. Here it is heard as it was written: a life at a time.
Verified September 2026: we could not find any other English audiobook of Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ — Audible returns no results for the title, and no podcast or audio platform we checked carries one. English selections exist in print; the audio edition is here.
Is there an English audiobook of Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ?
Yes. Joyful Muslims publishes Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ as an English audiobook series, translated from the Arabic, with a word-synced bilingual transcript. Volume 1 — the Companions, ninety-two lives — is live; further volumes follow as they are produced.
Who is in Volume 1?
The Companions, beginning with Abū ʿUbaydah ibn al-Jarrāḥ, Ṭalḥah ibn ʿUbayd Allāh, al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf, Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ, Saʿīd ibn Zayd and Muṣʿab ibn ʿUmayr — ninety-two lives in about ten and a half hours.
Is it free to listen?
The whole library is open to everyone. Every member gets five hours of listening free each month; Joyful+ removes the time limit.
Last updated 2026-09-11
Volume 1
The opening volume of Imam al-Dhahabi's Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalā — his monumental biographical history of the most eminent figures of Islam, recorded generation by generation.
Open volume 1 →