Ibn Kathir

Ibn Kathir (full name Imad al-Din Abu al-Fida Isma'il ibn Umar ibn Kathir al-Dimashqi) was a scholar of Mamluk-era Syria, active in Qur'anic exegesis (tafsir, the explanation of the Qur'an), the study of hadith (reports of the Prophet Muhammad's words and deeds), and history. Sources place his birth around 701 AH (c. 1300-1301 CE) in Mijdal, a village near Busra in the Damascus region. His father, a local preacher (khatib), died when Ibn Kathir was a young child, and he moved to Damascus with his elder brother around 706-707 AH, where he spent essentially his whole career.

In Damascus he studied with leading scholars of the day, among them the hadith master al-Mizzi (whose daughter he married), the historian al-Dhahabi, and the controversial reformer Ibn Taymiyya, whose ideas left a lasting mark on him. He followed the Shafi'i school of law (one of the four main Sunni legal traditions). He held teaching and preaching posts, including a professorial chair at the Great Mosque of Damascus.

He is best known for two works: his Tafsir al-Qur'an al-Azim, often cited as a model of tafsir bi'l-ma'thur (exegesis built on transmitted reports rather than personal opinion), and al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya ("The Beginning and the End"), a sweeping universal history. Tradition holds he lost his sight late in life. He died in Sha'ban 774 AH (February 1373) and, it is reported, was buried near Ibn Taymiyya.