Ibn al-Samʿānī (Arabic: إبن السمعاني, 1113–1166), full name Abū Saʿd ʿAbd al-Karīm ibn Abī Bakr Muḥammad ibn Abi ʾl-Muẓaffar Manṣūr al-Tamīmī al-Marwazī al-Shafiʿī al-Samʿānī, nicknamed Tāj al-Islām (Crown of Islam) and Qiwām al-Dīn (Support of the Faith), was an Arab Muslim scholar of biography, history, hadith, Shafi'i jurisprudence and scriptural exegesis. According to Ibn al-Subki, Ibn al-Sam'ani was considered the second greatest hadith scholar of his time after his companion and master, Ibn Asakir A native of Merv in central Asia, al-Samʿānī's formal education began at the age of two under the tutelage first of his father and then of his uncles. He travelled widely throughout his life in search of learning. He composed over 50 works, but many are lost. His magnum opus is the Kitāb al-Ansāb, a vast biographical dictionary of scholars with over 10,000 entries. Source: Wikipedia (en)