The biographies of the most notable Muslims who professed the Shī‘ī doctrine from the earliest time of Islam to 905 A.H., 1499 C.E., when the Shī‘ī faith was recognised as the state religion in Persia by the Safavid dynasty. This work was compiled between 993 A.H. and 1010 A.H. (1585-1602 C.E.), by Qāz̤ī Sayyid Nūr-Allāh b. Sharīf al-Mar‘ashī al-Ḥusaynī al-Shustarī, who was a nobleman at the court of Mughal emperor Akbar the Great (d. 1014 A.H., 1605 C.E.) and the author of several Shī‘ī works. He was a zealous Shī‘ī, and in 1019 A.H., 1610 C.E. (Muhgal emperor Jahāngīr's time) was killed for his religious opinions.