Chronological Timeline of Major Sunni Scholars (1st–15th Century AH)

Compiled for Teach-Muslim Scholars Series
(From the Age of Canonization to the Age of Reform)

I. Age of Canonization (2nd–3rd Century AH / 8th–9th Century CE)

Preservers of Ḥadīth and Sunnah – حُفّاظ السنة

Scholar	Full Arabic Name	Era (AH / CE)	Field	Major Work
Imām Mālik ibn Anas	الإمام مالك بن أنس	93–179 / 711–795	Ḥadīth & Fiqh	al-Muwaṭṭaʾ – الموطأ
Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal	أحمد بن محمد بن حنبل	164–241 / 780–855	Ḥadīth, Fiqh	Musnad Aḥmad – مسند أحمد
Imām al-Bukhārī	محمد بن إسماعيل البخاري	194–256 / 810–870	Ḥadīth	Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī – صحيح البخاري
Imām Muslim	مسلم بن الحجاج النيسابوري	206–261 / 821–875	Ḥadīth	Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim – صحيح مسلم
Imām Abū Dāwūd	سليمان بن الأشعث السجستاني	202–275 / 817–889	Ḥadīth	Sunan Abī Dāwūd – سنن أبي داود
Imām al-Tirmidhī	محمد بن عيسى الترمذي	209–279 / 824–892	Ḥadīth & Classification	Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī – جامع الترمذي
Imām al-Nasāʾī	أحمد بن شعيب النسائي	214–303 / 829–915	Ḥadīth	Sunan al-Nasāʾī – سنن النسائي
Imām Ibn Mājah	محمد بن يزيد ابن ماجه	209–273 / 824–887	Ḥadīth	Sunan Ibn Mājah – سنن ابن ماجه
Imām Aḥmad ibn Shuʿayb al-Nasāʾī (re-highlight)	أحمد بن شعيب النسائي	—	—	Khaṣāʾiṣ ʿAlī – خصائص علي, ʿAmal al-Yawm wa al-Laylah – عمل اليوم والليلة
Imām Abū Bakr ibn al-Sunnī	أبو بكر أحمد بن محمد بن إسḥāq ابن السني	280–364 / 893–974	Ḥadīth & Adab	ʿAmal al-Yawm wa al-Laylah – عمل اليوم والليلة

II. Age of Systematization (4th–7th Century AH / 10th–13th CE)

Consolidation of Law, Creed, and Linguistic Sciences

Scholar	Arabic Name	Era	Field	Contribution
Imām al-Juwaynī	عبد الملك بن عبد الله الجويني	419–478 / 1028–1085	Uṣūl al-Fiqh, Kalām	Systemized Shāfiʿī legal theory
Imām al-Ghazālī	أبو حامد محمد الغزالي	450–505 / 1058–1111	Ethics, Philosophy	Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn – إحياء علوم الدين
Ibn Qudāmah al-Maqdisī	عبد الله بن أحمد ابن قدامة	541–620 / 1146–1223	Fiqh (Ḥanbalī)	al-Mughnī – المغني
Ibn al-Jawzī	عبد الرحمن بن علي ابن الجوزي	510–597 / 1116–1201	Ḥadīth, Preaching	Talbīs Iblīs – تلبيس إبليس

III. Age of Renewal and Defense (7th–8th Century AH / 13th–14th CE)

The Damascus School of Reform – المدرسة الدمشقية للإصلاح

Scholar	Arabic Name	Era	Specialty	Relationship
Ibn Taymiyyah	أحمد بن عبد الحليم ابن تيمية	661–728 / 1263–1328	Theology, Law	Founder of rational-textual reform
Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah	محمد بن أبي بكر ابن القيم	691–751 / 1292–1350	Spiritual Psychology, Fiqh	Ibn Taymiyyah’s disciple
al-Dhahabī	محمد بن أحمد الذهبي	673–748 / 1274–1348	Hadith Criticism, History	Biographer of the ʿUlamāʾ
Ibn Kathīr	إسماعيل بن عمر ابن كثير	701–774 / 1301–1373	Tafsīr, History	Student of Ibn Taymiyyah and al-Mizzī

IV. Age of Consolidation (8th–10th Century AH / 14th–16th CE)

Systematization and Literary Brilliance

Scholar	Arabic Name	Era	Focus	Major Work
Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī	أحمد بن علي ابن حجر العسقلاني	773–852 / 1372–1449	Ḥadīth Criticism, Biography	Fatḥ al-Bārī – فتح الباري; Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb – تهذيب التهذيب
al-Sakhāwī	شمس الدين السخاوي	831–902 / 1428–1497	History & Adab	al-Iʿlān bi al-Tawbīkh – الإعلان بالتوبيخ
al-Suyūṭī	جلال الدين السيوطي	849–911 / 1445–1505	Tafsīr, Ḥadīth, Linguistics	al-Itqān fī ʿUlūm al-Qurʾān – الإتقان في علوم القرآن; al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr – الجامع الصغير
al-Zabīdī	مرتضى الزبيدي	1145–1205 / 1732–1791	Lexicography, Ḥadīth	Tāj al-ʿArūs – تاج العروس

V. Age of Modern Reform (13th–15th Century AH / 19th–21st CE)

Renewal of Thought and Society – تجديد الفكر والمجتمع

Scholar	Arabic Name	Era	Region	Focus
Muḥammad ʿAbduh	محمد عبده	1266–1323 / 1849–1905	Egypt	Rational-modernist reform
Rashīd Riḍā	رشيد رضا	1282–1354 / 1865–1935	Syria / Egypt	al-Manār school; revival of Salafī ijtihād
Ḥasan al-Bannā	حسن البنا	1324–1368 / 1906–1949	Egypt	Social reform and daʿwah (دعوة)
Muḥammad Asad (Leopold Weiss)	محمد أسد	1318–1412 / 1900–1992	Europe / Arabia	Intellectual Islam in modern context
Sayyid Quṭb	سيد قطب	1324–1386 / 1906–1966	Egypt	Qurʾānic activism and social ethics
ʿAlī Sharīʿatī	علي شريعتي	1352–1397 / 1933–1977	Iran	Sociology of liberation
Tariq Ramadan	طارق رمضان	1382 AH–present / 1962 CE–	Switzerland	Ethics, citizenship, global ijtihād

Optional Extensions (for completeness if you wish to cover them):

If you ever want to expand Teach-Muslim into a “scholars encyclopedia,” you can naturally add:

Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr (ابن عبد البر) — Andalusian traditionist linking Mālikī and ḥadīth heritage.
al-Nawawī (النووي) — cornerstone of hadith ethics (Riyāḍ al-Ṣāliḥīn).
al-Shawkānī (الشوكاني) — transitional scholar between classical and reformist ijtihād.
Shah Walī Allāh al-Dihlawī (شاه ولي الله الدهلوي) — Indo-Islamic synthesis.