Thursday 26 January 2012

Ibn Kathir


Ismail ibn Kathir (Arabicابن كثير‎) (1301–1373) was a Muslim muhaddithFaqih, historian, and commentator.

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[edit]Biography

His full name was Abu Al-Fida, 'Imad Ad-Din, Isma'il bin 'Umar bin Kathir, Al-Qurashi, Al-Busrawi. He was born in 1301 in BusraSyria (hence Al-Busrawi) and was taught by Ibn TaymiyyaAl-Mizzi, Ibn Al Firkah,‘Isa bin Al-Mutim, Ahmed bin Abi-Talib, Ibn Al-Hajjar, Baha Ad-Din Al-Qasim bin Muzaffar bin ‘Asakir, Ibn Ash-Shirazi, Ishaq bin Yahya Al-Ammuddi, Zahriyyah Shaykh, and Muhammad bin Zarrad.

[edit]Official positions

Upon completion of his studies he obtained his first official appointment in 1341, when he joined an inquisitorial commission formed to determine certain questions of heresy. Thereafter he received various semi-official appointments, culminating in June/July 1366 with a professorial position at the Great Mosque of Damascus.[1]

[edit]Scholastic achievements

Ibn Kathir wrote a famous commentary on the Qur'an named Tafsir al-Qur'an al-'Adhim which linked certain Hadith, or sayings of Muhammad, and sayings of thesahaba to verses of the Qur'an, in explanation. Tafsir ibn Kathir is famous all over the Muslim world, and among Muslims in the Western world is one of the most widely used explanations of the Qu'ran today.
Ibn Kathir was renowned for his great memory regarding the sayings of Muhammad and the entire Qur'an. Ibn Kathir is known as a qadi, a master scholar of history, also a muhaddith and a mufassir (Qur'an commentator). Ibn Kathir saw himself as a Shafi'i scholar. This is indicated by two of his books, one of which wasTabaqaat ah-Shafa'iah, or The Categories of the Followers of Imam Shafi.

[edit]Later life and death

In later life, he became blind.[1] He attributes his blindness to working late at night on the Musnad of Ahmad Ibn Hanbal in an attempt to rearrange it topically rather than by narrator.
Ibn Kathir died in 774 AH / February 1373 in Damascus.

[edit]Works

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