Ibn Kathir

The Imam, hafiz and historian ‘Imad ad-Din Abu’l-Fida’ Isma'il ibn ‘Umar ibn Kathir was born in 701/1301 near Busra in Syria, and grew up in Damascus where he studied the traditional sciences of Islam with a wide variety of teachers, among the most famous of them being Shaykh ‘Alam ad-Din al-Qasim ibn Muhammad al-Barzali and Hafiz Jamal ad-Din Abu’l-Hajjaj Yusuf ibn ‘Abd ar-Rahman al-Mizzi. However, it is as a student of Shaykh al-Islam Taqi ad-Din Ahmad ibn ‘Abd al-Halim ibn Taymiyah that he is best remembered. He is well known for his historyal-Bidayah wa’n-nihayah, his work on the biography of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) as-Sirat an-nabawiyyah and his work on Qur’anic commentary Tafsir al-Qur’an al-‘Azim. He died in Damascus on Thursday 26th Sha’ban 774/1373 and is buried there by the side of his shaykh Ibn Taymiyah, may Allah have mercy on them both, in the Sufi Graveyard.

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