BIOGRAPHY. A Dictionary of Biography is called اسماء الرجالasma’ u ‘r-rijal, (lit. “The Names of Men”). The most celebrated of these is, amongst Muslims, that by Ibn Khallikan, which has always been considered a work of the highest importance for the civil and literary history of the Muhammadan people. Ibn Khallikan died A.H. 681 (A.D. 1282), but his dictionary received numerous additions from subsequent writers. It has been translated into English by Mac-Guckin De Slane (Paris, 1843).
Based on Hughes, Dictionary of Islam