Ismail ibn Kathir

Ismail ibn Umar ibn Kathir was born in 701 AH, corresponding to 1302 AD in a village called Majdal Al-Qaryah near Busra, a town of historical fame to the south of Damascus in Syria. His ancestry takes him back to the Arabian tribe of Quraysh. He was given the name Ismaeel, after his eldest half brother, who died after he fell from the roof of a building. The deceased brother was apparently a young man of great intelligence who had given much of his time and effort to scholarship. Their father felt the loss very keenly, and called his youngest son, who was born shortly afterward, after his eldest.

Ibn Kathir’s father was a scholar in his own right who followed the Hanafi school of law in his early years, then changed over to the Shafi' school after he had studied under Imam Al-Nawawi, one of the great figures of the Shafie school of law. He had excelled in his studies of Arabic language and literature, and was a fine poet. He was appointed to deliver the Friday sermon in the local mosque in his village, and he was very popular because of his fine style and good knowledge.

Ibn Kathir’s father died in 703, when his youngest son was less than three years of age. In fact, Ibn Kathir says that he remembers his father only like one remembers an image in a dream. He left behind a large family: Two sons by his first wife, and four sons and a few daughters by his second wife. The eldest of these latter children, AbdalWahhab, felt that he had to shoulder the responsibility for the upbringing of his brothers and sisters. He realized that he needed to move to a city where he could have a better chance of work. Therefore, he moved with all his full brothers and sisters to Damascus in 707. He was a loving brother who spared no effort in taking care of his family. He directed them to study and brought them up as only a caring father would do. Ibn Katheer had only full praise to say of his brother.

To appreciate the family atmosphere in which Ibn Kathir was brought up, we refer to the fact that of his brother AbdalWahhab’s children, his daughter Umm Isa attained wide fame as a scholar in her own right. She was nicknamed as Sitt Al-Qudhah, or Judges’ Grandmother.

She studied under some of the most famous scholars of her time, including Ibn Asakir, Al-Hajjar and Al-Muzzi, one of Ibn Katheer’s own teachers. She used to certify scholars who read under her. Among these was Imam ibn Hajar, the renowned Hadith scholar who wrote Fatth Al-Bari, the best known commentary on the Al-Bukhari’s Sahih.

Apparently she was distinguished in her family by her fine upbringing of children. When she was over 60 years of age, two of Ibn Kathir’s grandchildren were handed over to her to bring them up. One of them, Ibrahim ibn Abdal-Wahhab ibn Ismail was only 3 at the time, and Asma, the daughter of Ahmad ibn Ismail, was only 5. She looked after them and brought them up to become scholars of high caliber. Some of the well known scholars of the next generation studied under both of them. We know that the well-known scholar Shams Al-Deen Al-Sakhawi (831-902) studied under both of them, praising them both. All this suggests that the whole family to which Ibn Kathir belonged had a distinguished scholarly tradition.

We do not know when exactly did Ibn Kathir get married, but we know that he married Zaynab, the daughter of his teacher Jamal Al-Deen Al-Muzzi. Both his wife and mother-in-law, Aishah bint Ibrahim memorized the Qur'an under Fatimah bint Abbas who devoted her time to help women memorise God’s book.

Ibn Kathir had several children, some of whom were scholars in their own right, although none of them attained the standard and fame of their father. Among his sons were Umar, Abd Al-Rahman, AbdalWahhab, Muhammad and Ahmad.

Ibn Kathir’s first teacher was his brother AbdalWahhab, but we do not know what and how much did he learn under him. Ibn Kathir himself mentions this fact. But he completed memorization of the Qur'an under Sheikh Muhammad Al-Balabakki in 711, when he was only 10 years of age. He also received instruction in the different methods of reciting the Qur'an.

He then turned his attention to the study of Hadith and learned Al-Muwatta’ by Imam Malik, as well as other books, under Sheikh Ali ibn Muhammad, and learned Al-Bukhari’s Sahih under Sheikh Ahmad ibn Abu Talib Al-Hajjar, and also under Yussuf ibn Al-Zaki Al-Muzzi. In fact, Al-Muzzi was his main teacher with whom he stayed long. Furthermore, Al-Muzzi was Ibn Kathir’s father-in-law.



We have mentioned these details of Ibn Kathir’s learning in order to indicate that we have a full record of his education, since he mentions his teachers and what he learned from them. However, we need only to mention that he studied under the main scholarly figures of his time. Among his teachers were Al-Nawawi, Ibn Juma'ah, Ibn Al-Qalanisi and Ibn Asakir. But his most famous teacher was ibn Taimiyah with whom he stayed long. Indeed he studied much under Ibn Taimiyah and benefited a great deal from him. In his books, Ibn Kathir speaks very highly of Ibn Taimiyah. Indeed when Ibn Taimiyah was imprisoned in Damascus, Ibn Kathir would go to visit him and read under him in prison. He shared with him some of his rulings that stirred much controversy at the time, particularly on questions of divorce, in which Ibn Taimiyah rules independently from the main schools of law. It was such rulings that led to his last imprisonment, but there is no doubt that Ibn Taimiyah’s rulings were the right ones. They have been upheld by scholars since his time, and incorporated in the family laws of several Muslim countries.

Ibn Kathir had a very large number of students, particularly because he worked in teaching. In his time, travel in pursuit of learning had become less important than in earlier generations, because of the establishment of famous schools in different centers. Indeed, Ibn Kathir worked in a number of these schools. His first teaching was in the Najeebiyah school, then in Al-Fadhiliyah. He also was the head teacher of Hadith in a number of schools, such as Al-Salihiyah, Dar Al-Qur'an and Al-Hadith built by Prince Tinkiz and Dar Al-Hadith Al-Ashrafiyah, of which he was the director for sometime. He Also taught the Qur'an and explained its meaning in his circle in the Umawi Mosque, which is the main mosque in Damascus. His circle was very popular indeed.



Ibn Kathir lived all his life under the Al-Mamaleek Al-Bahriyah dynasty (648-784 AH), which ruled over Egypt and Syria. Damascus, where he grew up and lived practically all his life, enjoyed good times, particularly under Prince Tinkiz, the Sultan’s deputy who continued in this post for 28 years (712-740). He was a very pious and God-fearing ruler, who was keen to maintain justice. It is documented that he used to walk the streets of the city at night to gain first-hand information about the people’s living conditions. He built one of the main mosques in the city, which is known by his name, and attached to it a religious school which continues to function today.

Although Ibn Kathir did not play a political role like his teacher, Ibn Taimiyah, he was often called in for consultation on public matters. He was a courageous scholar who spoke out against anything that he felt to be wrong. When a decree by the sultan ordered the confiscation of some property belonging to Christian citizens, he spoke out against that, explaining that the order was un-Islamic. His attitude led to returning to them everything that had been confiscated. He then counseled the sultan’s deputy to direct his attention to hostile quarters, such as the Crusaders in Cyprus who were posing a threat.

From a scholarly point of view, the fall of Baghdad to the Tartars in 656 AH (i.e. 45 years before Ibn Kathir’s birth) was accompanied by destruction on a massive scale of books and libraries. Hence scholars were engaged in the following period in serious efforts to redress the dearth of books in various fields. Thus, we see numerous books written in this period by famous scholars. This led to a special types of books being produced, including summaries of old encyclopaedic works, annotations of such summaries and further summaries in poetry form.

Ibn Kathir wrote many books, the best known of which is his commentary on the Qur’an, known as Tafseer Al-Qur'an Al-Adheem. It has been published many times, in 9 volumes at times and in 4 very large volumes at others. It is considered one of the best commentaries ever written, because his methodology is to depend first on the Qur'an itself for its explanation.

He points out that we often find that something is referred to in brief in one surah, while we find it given in more detail in another. Secondly, he relies on authentic Hadiths. When he quotes a Hadith, he points out its degree of authenticity. His third main source is the Prophet’s companions and what they said about particular verses and surahs. What distinguishes Ibn Kathir’s book is his reliance, to a great degree, on authentic Hadiths. Hence, the book was praised time after time by top scholars, such as Ibn Taimiyah, Al-Suyuti, Al-Shawkani, and in our contemporary times by Sheikh Ahmad Muhammad Shakir and Sayyid Qutb. Several scholars summarized it, the last of whom was Muhammad Ali Al-Sabuni, whose summary is published in three volumes.

Another highly important work by Ibn Kathir is known as Al-Bidayah wal-Nihayah, which is a history encyclopedia in 16 volumes. It is a very rich in its material and highly useful. The history written by Ibn Kathir starts with man’s creation and ends in his own time, but the Islamic period is very detailed, documenting the contribution of Muslim scholars in different disciplines, adding biographical notes on main figures, in the political, social and scholarly fields. The book has gained much acclaim and continues to be a main source of reference in its subject matter.

Ibn Kathir is often said to have written two books on the life of the Prophet, a short and a long one. Parts of the shorter version were published about 60 years ago in Egypt. The longer version constitutes a major portion of his history book, Al-Bidayah Wal-Nihayah. In fact, this book on the life of the Prophet has no longer a separate entity, although it was published in four volumes in Cairo in 1964. It should be mentioned also that Ibn Kathir devotes a large portion of his history to the discussion of the Prophet’s character and his manners. Again, this was published in 1967 as a separate book in one volume. However, the publication of such portions in separate books may be valuable to some readers, but it is done mainly for commercial purposes.

Another book written by Ibn Kathir was a summary of Hadith disciplines. This is concerned with the specialized disciplines that constitute the study of Hadith, its verification, grading and authentication. This book is in fact a summary of a famous book written by Ibn Al-Salah, which is known as his Introduction. Ibn Kathir annotates his summary with additions and useful tips that are extremely helpful in the study of Hadith. Scholars say that these notes and tips testify to Ibn Kathir’s broad knowledge of Hadith and its study.

Ibn Kathir wrote several other important books that have not been published yet. One of these, highly praised by scholars, is known as Jami' Al-Masaneed wal-Sunan, which is an encyclopaedic collection of Hadiths arranged according to the names of the Prophet’s companions who reported them. It is in 8 volumes. Another book of similar size is devoted to Hadith reporters and their grades of reliability. A third book is devoted to the biographies of Shafie scholars. All these books are still in manuscript form, available in some libraries and need to be edited and published. They are bound to be highly useful, considering the reliability of their author.

Biographies of Ibn Kathir mention that he wrote many other books, but these have been lost. It should be said that Ibn Kathir continued to write despite problems with his eyesight in his old age, until finally he lost his eyesight. He died in 774 AH after a life devoted to scholarship.

May God shower His mercy on him.
Ameen.