Book excerpt: This book is the translation of Volume 7 of the Kitab at-Tabaqat al-Kabir of Ibn Sa?d which deals with the Companions, Tabi?un and the subsequent generations of the people of knowledge in Basra, Baghdad, Khurasan, Syria and Egypt. This book is of particular interest because its pages demonstrate the attitude and action of the Companions and the Tabi?un when confronted by the most dangerous of trials ? fitna, or civil war. This is extremely important in the modern age, in which fitna is commonplace, for we can learn a great deal from how the early Muslims dealt with it.