Imam Muḥammad b. Jarīr b. Yazīd b. Kathīr b. Ghālib Abū Jaʿfar al-Ṭabarī. He was born in the year 224 of the Hijra. He was a man of dark complexion, large eyes, tall stature, and eloquent speech. He narrated hadith from a great multitude.
He traveled to various cities for the purpose of learning and collecting hadith. He compiled his “History,” which is filled with important information. The unparalleled and perfect work known as the “Ṭabarī Tafsir” (Qur’anic exegesis) also belongs to him. He has many other beneficial works related to both the principles (uṣūl) and branches (furūʿ) of Islamic sciences. The finest of these is “Tahdhīb al-Āthār”; had it been completed, there would have been no need for any other book. This book contains much useful information, but it was not completed.
It is narrated that he himself stated that for forty years he wrote forty folios every day.
Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī said: “Ibn Jarīr settled in Baghdad and remained there until his death. He was one of the foremost great scholars. Legal judgments were issued based on his word; his maʿrifa (gnosis, experiential knowledge of God), knowledge, and virtue were sought. He had amassed more knowledge than any of his contemporaries could share. He had memorized the Book of Allah and knew all the recitations. He perceived the profound meanings of the Qur’an. He was a jurist in legal rulings and a scholar in the sunnah. He knew the transmission routes of the sunnah, which were authentic, which were defective, which were abrogating, and which were abrogated. He had knowledge of the statements of the Companions (ṣaḥāba), the Successors (tābiʿūn), and the generations after them, as well as of history, the wars of people, and their reports.
His famous historical work, “Tārīkh al-Umam wa’l-Mulūk,” his tafsir, which no one else has been able to compile its like, and the work on which I have not seen any other book as satisfying as his “Tahdhīb al-Āthār,” all belong to him. However, he was unable to complete “Tahdhīb al-Āthār.” He has many books on the principles of jurisprudence and its details, and many opinions to be adopted. There are some issues I memorized from him, on which no one else has given a ruling.”
Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī narrated that the jurist shaykh from Isfarāyin, Abū Ḥāmid Aḥmad b. Abī Ṭāhir, said:
“Even if a man were to travel to China to see Ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī’s tafsir, it would be worth it.”
Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī also narrated that the imam of imams, Abū Bakr b. Khuzayma, after reviewing Ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī’s tafsir from beginning to end over several years, said: “I do not know of anyone on earth more learned than Ibn Jarīr. The Hanbalīs have wronged him.”
A man who went to Baghdad to listen to hadith from the hadith scholars and write them in his notebook—since the Hanbalīs did not want anyone to meet with him, this man was unable to meet Ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī—said: “If you listen to and write hadith from Ibn Jarīr, it will be better for you than listening to and writing hadith from all the other scholars.”
I say: In worship, asceticism, taqwa (God-consciousness), and fulfilling the truth, he paid no heed to the blame of any critic. He had a beautiful voice and recited the Noble Qur’an according to its proper rules. Moreover, he had perfect
knowledge in the science of recitation. He was among the great and righteous people. Among the famous hadith scholars who gathered in Egypt during the time of Ibn Ṭūlūn were Muḥammad b. Isḥāq b. Khuzayma, Muḥammad b. Naṣr al-Marwazī, Muḥammad b. Hārūn al-Ruyānī, and Ibn Jarīr was among them. We have mentioned their biographies when discussing Muḥammad b. Naṣr al-Marwazī. They stood up for prayer. Allah had sent them their provision.
One day, the caliph al-Muqtadir wanted to have a waqf deed written under conditions upon which all the scholars could agree. When it was said to him that only Muḥammad b. Jarīr al-Ṭabarī could write such a deed, he summoned Ṭabarī and asked him to write it, and he did so. Thereupon, the caliph seated him close and honored him, saying: “Tell me a need of yours, so that I may fulfill it.”
“I have no need.”
“You must tell me a need or ask for something.”
“My only request from the Commander of the Believers is that he order the commander of the security forces to prevent beggars from entering the maqsūra of the mosque on Fridays.”
The caliph gave the necessary order to the security forces in accordance with his request.
Ibn Jarīr lived on the income from a village in Ṭabaristān that he inherited from his father. One of his beautiful poems is as follows:
“When I fall into financial difficulty, even my friend does not notice it.
I present myself as wealthy, so my friend also presents himself as wealthy.
I am not ashamed; shame prevents me from losing face.
In the matter of claiming what is owed to me, I act gently toward my friend.
If I were not reluctant to lose face, I could reach wealth by an easier path.”
This poem also belongs to him:
There are two traits I never approve of: One is the arrogance of the rich, the other is the abasement of the poor. Do not become arrogant when you are rich, nor be astonished at fate when you become poor.”
Ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī died two days before the end of the month of Shawwāl in the year 310 of the Hijra, on a Sunday evening, at the age of eighty-five or eighty-six. He had a great amount of black hair on his head and beard. He was buried in his own house, because some of the Hanbalī commoners and rabble prevented his burial during the day and accused him of Rāfiḍism. Some ignorant people even accused him of irreligion. God forbid, he is far removed from all such attributions and accusations. On the contrary, he is one of the great imams of Islam in knowing and acting upon the Book of Allah and the sunnah of the Messenger of God (peace be upon him). However, some of the Hanbalī rabble acted in accordance with the accusation of the Ẓāhirī jurist Abū Bakr Muḥammad b. Dāwūd, who accused him of major sins and Rāfiḍism. At the time of his death, people from various lands and cities came to Baghdad and buried him in his own house. For months after his death, people came to visit his grave and performed the funeral prayer over him.
He had compiled and collected in two large volumes the words spoken by the Messenger of God (peace be upon him) at Ghadīr Khumm. The collection of Ḥadīth al-Ṭayr also belongs to him. The opinion that it is permissible in ablution to wipe over the feet instead of washing them is attributed to him. According to this view, washing the feet is not obligatory. Such an opinion has been famously transmitted from him. Some scholars, however, have claimed that there were two Ibn Jarīrs, one of whom was a Shīʿī, and that the aforementioned opinion about wiping the feet belongs to him, while the Ibn Jarīr whose biography we are discussing is free from such attributes. According to these scholars, the Ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī whose opinion is authoritative in tafsir and whose biography we are discussing, held that washing the feet during ablution and rubbing them while washing is obligatory. Only, he intended by the word ‘rubbing’ the act of wiping. Most people did not understand his intent. Those who did understand stated that he meant wiping, that is, rubbing, along with washing the feet. Allah knows best.
There were many scholars who composed elegies for Ibn Jarīr upon his death, one of whom was Ibn ʿArabī. This person composed the following elegy for Ibn Jarīr:
“A great event, a most significant occurrence that broke the patience of the most patient.
It was announced that knowledge had died. The news of the death of Muḥammad b. Jarīr arrived.
The stars fell. Such stars as were brilliant. Their forms perished and passed away.
Their radiant lights parted the cover of the dark night.
Their bright illuminations were crushed and vanished.
Then the plains became rugged and impassable places.
O Abū Jaʿfar (Ṭabarī), you departed this world in a state worthy of praise.
You never slackened in seriousness and diligence, nor showed any laxity.
You will receive abundant reward for your striving and effort.
You strove for taqwa (God-consciousness); may your striving be accepted.
By this striving, you have deserved to remain eternally in the Garden of Eden, in envy and joy.”
Abū Bakr b. Durayd also composed a long elegy for Ibn Jarīr, and Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī transmitted this elegy in full. Allah, exalted and free from all deficiencies, knows best the truth.