What are the best books on asceticism (zuhd) and spiritual edification (raqa’iq), stories of the righteous, and biographies of the great figures and reformers of the Ummah?

The best books on spiritual refinement (Raqā’iq) and asceticism (Zuhd) are the authenticated collections of Sunnah, such as: Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, and later comprehensive Sunnah collections, like Al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib by Al-Mundhiri, Jami’ al-Usul by Ibn al-Athir, Riyad al-Salihin by Al-Nawawi, Al-Zuhd by Imam Ahmad, Al-Zuhd by Ibn al-Mubarak, and by Abu Dawud, Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din and its abridgments, Madarij al-Salikin, and Tariq al-Hijratayn by Ibn al-Qayyim.

As for the best books on the biographies of the righteous and great figures, they are: Hilyat al-Awliya’ by Abu Nu’aym, Tarikh Dimashq by Ibn ‘Asakir, Tarikh Baghdad by Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, and Siyar A’lam al-Nubala’ by Al-Dhahabi.