Biographies — Tafsīr Library

☀Prophets & Messengers(2)

Prophets and Messengers of Allāh mentioned in the Qurʾān. Their narratives are the moral and theological backbone of Quranic exegesis — every tafsīr in this library draws directly on their stories.

Legacy: Theology · Quranic Narrative · Moral Exemplars for Law and Ethics

Prophet & Messenger of Allāh

Mūsā (Moses) ﷺ

مُوسَى

b. Unknown · d. Unknown

Mūsā ﷺ is one of the five greatest Prophets (ulu al-ʿazm) and is mentioned more times in the Qurʾān than any other prophet. He was born in Egypt during the tyranny of Pharaoh, raised in the royal…

Righteous Servant of Allāh

Al-Khaḍir

الخَضِر

b. Unknown · d. Unknown (scholars differ on whether he is still living)

Scholars differ on whether al-Khaḍir was a Prophet or a righteous saint (walī). The majority hold he was a prophet. His name means 'the green one' — wherever he sat, the ground turned green with…

✦Companions of the Prophet (Ṣaḥābah)(12)

Those who saw the Prophet ﷺ, believed in him, and died as Muslims. Their transmission is the primary source of hadith; their understanding of the Qurʾān is the gold standard of tafsīr bi-l-maʾthūr. Among them: the compilers of the first and second Quranic codex, the transmitters of the five daily prayers, and the narrators cited on virtually every page of these tafsīrs.

Legacy: Hadith · Sunnah · Tafsīr · Qurʾān Preservation (Abū Bakr, ʿUthmān) · Foundational Fiqh

Companion (Ṣaḥābī) · First Caliph

Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq

أَبُو

b. 51 BH / 573 CE, Mecca · d. 13 AH / 634 CE, Medina

Abū Bakr ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUthmān was the Prophet's ﷺ closest friend, the first adult male to accept Islam, and the only Companion to accompany him during the Hijrah. The Prophet ﷺ gave him the title…

SunnahCaliphateQurʾān Compilation

Companion — First Muʾadhdhin of Islam

Bilāl ibn Rabāḥ

بِلَالٌ

b. Unknown (before 580 CE), Mecca · d. 20 AH (640/641 CE), Damascus

Bilāl ibn Rabāḥ was an enslaved Abyssinian owned by Umayyah ibn Khalaf. When he embraced Islam among the very first to do so, his master subjected him to severe torture: laid on burning sand with a…

Companion (Ṣaḥābī)

ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb

عُمَرُ بْنُ الخَطَّاب

b. c. 584 CE, Mecca · d. 23 AH (644 CE), Medina

ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb was among the fiercest opponents of early Islam before his dramatic conversion in approximately the sixth year of prophethood. The Prophet ﷾ had prayed: “O Allāh, strengthen…

Companion (Ṣaḥābī)

Ibn Masʿud

عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ مَسْعُود

b. c. 594 CE, Mecca · d. 32–33 AH, Medina

ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿud was one of the earliest converts to Islam, embracing the faith as a young shepherd working for ʿUqbah ibn Abī Muʿayṭ in Mecca. He became the seventh or ninth person to accept…

Companion (Ṣaḥābī)

Ḥudhayfah ibn al-Yamān

حُذَيْفَة بْنُ اليَمَان

b. Unknown · d. 36 AH (656 CE), al-Madāʾin

Ḥudhayfah ibn al-Yamān was an Anṣārī Companion whose father al-Yamān was killed at Uḥud by the Muslims themselves in the confusion of battle. Ḥudhayfah forgave them and donated the blood-money to the…

Companion (Ṣaḥābī) · Third Caliph

ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān

عُثْمَانُ

b. 47 BH / 577 CE, Mecca · d. 35 AH / 656 CE, Medina

ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān was born in Mecca into the Umayyah clan of Quraysh. He was among the earliest converts to Islam and earned the epithet Dhū al-Nūrayn (Possessor of Two Lights) for marrying two…

Qurʾān CodificationCaliphateSunnah

Companion (Ṣaḥābī) · Fourth Caliph · First Imām (Shīʿa tradition)

ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib

عَلِيُّ بْنُ أَبِي طَالِب

b. c. 23 BH (600 CE), Mecca · d. 40 AH (661 CE), Kufa

ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib was born in Mecca, the son of Abū Ṭālib ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib — the Prophet’s paternal uncle and chief protector. He was raised in the Prophet’s household from early childhood,…

Companion (Ṣaḥābī)

Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī

أَبُو مُوسى الأَشْعَرِي

b. c. 21 BH (602 CE), Yemen · d. 44 AH (664 CE), Kufa or Mecca

Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī was born in Yemen into the Ashʿar tribe — a Yemeni Arab tribe whose members embraced Islam collectively and migrated to Medina around the time of the conquest of Khaybar (7 AH).…

Companion (Ṣaḥābī)

Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ

سَعْدُ بْنُ أَبيِ وَقَّاصْ

b. c. 595 CE, Mecca · d. 55 AH (674–75 CE), Medina

Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ converted to Islam at approximately seventeen years of age — among the youngest of the early believers. He was the maternal uncle of the Prophet ﷾ and the first person to shoot an…

Companion (Ṣaḥābī)

Zayd ibn Arqam

زَيْدُ بْنُ أَرْقَم

b. Unknown · d. c. 66 AH (685 CE), Kufa

Zayd ibn Arqam was a young Anṣārī Companion from the Khazraj tribe of Medina. He participated in numerous military expeditions and is a narrator of ḥadīth preserved across the major collections.…

Companion (Ṣaḥābī)

Ibn ʿAbbās

عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ عَبَّاس

b. 3 BH (619 CE), Mecca · d. 68 AH (687/688 CE), Ṫāʿif

ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbbās was born approximately three years before the Hijrah in Mecca, the son of ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib — the Prophet’s paternal uncle — and Umm al-Faḍl Lubābah bint al-Ḥārith…

Companion (Ṣaḥābī)

Anas ibn Mālik

أَنَسُ بْنُ مَالِك

b. c. 10 BH (612 CE), Medina · d. 93 AH (711 CE), Basra

Anas ibn Mālik was born approximately ten years before the Hijrah in Medina, the son of Mālik ibn al-Naḍr and Umm Sulaym bint Milḥān. When the Prophet ﷺ migrated to Medina in 1 AH, Anas was…

❧Successors (Tābiʿūn)(9)

The generation that followed the Companions — pillars of early Islamic scholarship.

Legacy: Hadith Transmission · Four Legal Schools (Ḥanafī, Mālikī, Shāfiʿī, Ḥanbalī) · Arabic Linguistics · Quranic Commentary

Tābiʿī (Successor generation)

Saʿīd ibn Jubayr

سَعِيدُ بْنُ جُبَيْر

b. 45 AH (665 CE), Kufa · d. 95 AH (714 CE), executed by al-Ḥajjāj

Saʿīd ibn Jubayr was among the most distinguished of the Tābiʿūn — the generation that followed the Companions. He was the primary student of Ibn ʿAbbās, the foremost Quranic exegete among the…

Tābiʿī (Successor generation)

Mujāhid ibn Jabr

مُجَاهِدُ بْنُ جَبْر

b. c. 21 AH (642 CE), Mecca · d. 104 AH (722 CE), Mecca

Mujāhid ibn Jabr was born in Mecca around 21 AH, a freed slave (mawlā) of the Makhzūm clan. His scholarly formation was shaped by his intimate relationship with ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbbās. He described his…

Tābiʿī (Successor generation)

ʿIkrimah

عِكْرِمَة

b. c. 25 AH (646 CE) · d. 107 AH (725 CE), Medina or Khurāsān

ʿIkrimah was a Berber slave who became the property of ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbbās and was subsequently freed, carrying the status of mawlā (freed slave and client) of the most important exegete in Islamic…

Tābiʿī (Successor generation)

al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī

الحَسَنُ البَصْري

b. 21 AH (642 CE), Medina · d. 110 AH (728 CE), Basra

Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī was born in Medina in 21 AH, the son of Khayrah — a freed slave of Umm Salama (one of the Prophet’s wives). He grew up in the presence of senior Companions, met ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib,…

Tābiʿī (Successor generation)

Qatādah ibn Diʿāmah

قَتَادَةُ بْنُ دِعَامَة

b. 60 AH (679 CE), Basra · d. 117 AH (735 CE), Wāsiṭ (plague)

Qatādah ibn Diʿāmah al-Sadūsī was born in Basra around 60 AH. He was born blind in one eye — a physical characteristic his biographers consistently note as a foil to his extraordinary memory. He is…

Tābiʿī

Abū Ḥanīfah

أَبُو

b. 80 AH / 699 CE, Kufa, Iraq · d. 150 AH / 767 CE, Baghdad

Abū Ḥanīfah al-Nuʿmān ibn Thābit was born in Kufa in 80 AH into a family of Persian merchants. In his youth he was drawn to theology before turning to jurisprudence under Ḥammād ibn Abī Sulaymān —…

Tābiʿ al-Tābiʿīn (Third generation)

Sufyān al-Thawrī

سُفْيَانُ الثَوْري

b. 97 AH (716 CE), Kufa · d. 161 AH (778 CE), Basra

Sufyān ibn Saʿīd al-Thawrī was born in Kufa in 97 AH, the son of Saʿīd ibn Masrūq — himself a ḥadīth transmitter. He achieved a mastery in ḥadīth that earned him the extraordinary title Amīr…

Tābiʿ al-Tābiʿīn

Ibn al-Mubārak

عَبْدُ

b. 118 AH / 736 CE, Marw (Merv), Khurasan · d. 181 AH / 797 CE, Hit, Iraq

ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Mubārak was born in Marw in 118 AH and became among the most remarkable polymaths of classical Islam: simultaneously a master of hadith, a jurist, a Sufi, a merchant, a poet, and a…

Tābiʿ al-Tābiʿīn (Third generation)

Ibn Zayd

ابْنُ زَيْد

b. c. 112 AH (730 CE), Medina · d. 182 AH (798 CE), Medina

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Zayd ibn Aslam is known in the tafsīr literature as “Ibn Zayd” — the son of the distinguished Tābiʿī scholar Zayd ibn Aslam (d. 136 AH), who was a freed slave (mawlā) of ʿUmar ibn…

◈Classical Scholars(24)

Imams of tafsīr, ḥadīth, and fiqh whose works remain foundational references.

Legacy: Hadith Authentication (Bukhārī, Muslim, Nasāʾī…) · Narrator Criticism (Ibn Maʿīn, Ibn al-Madīnī) · Tafsīr (Ibn Kathīr, al-Jalālayn, Ibn Abī Ḥātim) · Uṣūl al-Fiqh (al-Shāfiʿī) · Hadith Methodology (Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ, Ibn Ḥajar) · Jarḥ wa Taʿdīl (al-Dāraquṭnī)

Tābiʿ al-Tābiʿīn (Third generation)

Muqātil ibn Sulaymān

مُقَاتِلُ بْنُ سُلَيْمَان

b. c. 80 AH (699 CE), Balkh (Khorasan) · d. 150 AH (767 CE), Basra

Muqātil ibn Sulaymān was born in Balkh (present-day Afghanistan) around 80 AH and became one of the most prolific and controversial exegetes of his generation. He settled eventually in Basra, where…

Classical

Mālik ibn Anas

مَالِكُ

b. 93 AH / 711 CE, Medina · d. 179 AH / 795 CE, Medina

Mālik ibn Anas was born in Medina in 93 AH and never left except for the Ḥajj. He studied under the leading scholars of Medina — including Nāfiʿ (the reliable transmitter of Ibn ʿUmar's hadith), Zayd…

Classical

Imam al-Shāfiʿī

الإمَامُ

b. 150 AH / 767 CE, Gaza (raised in Mecca) · d. 204 AH / 820 CE, Cairo, Egypt

Muḥammad ibn Idrīs al-Shāfiʿī was born in Gaza in 150 AH — the year Abū Ḥanīfah died. Of Qurashī descent, he was orphaned and poor; he memorised the Qurʾān at seven and the Muwaṭṭāʾ at ten. He…

Classical

Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn

يَحْيَى

b. 158 AH / 775 CE, Baghdad · d. 233 AH / 848 CE, Medina

Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn was born in Baghdad in 158 AH and became the undisputed supreme authority in evaluating hadith narrators. He spent an inheritance of 1,000,000 dirhams entirely in pursuit of hadith.…

Jarḥ wa TaʿdīlNarrator CriticismHadith

Classical

ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī

عَلِيُّ

b. 161 AH / 778 CE, Basra · d. 234 AH / 849 CE, Basra

ʿAlī ibn ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Madīnī was born in Basra in 161 AH. He became the pre-eminent authority on ʿilal al-ḥadīth — the subtle hidden defects in hadith chains that appear sound on the surface.…

Hidden Defects (ʿIlal)Narrator CriticismHadith

Classical

Imam Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal

الإمَامُ

b. 164 AH / 780 CE, Baghdad · d. 241 AH / 855 CE, Baghdad

Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal was born in Baghdad in 164 AH. He studied under Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah, Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-Qaṭṭān, Wakīʿ ibn al-Jarrāḥ, and al-Shāfiʿī. He travelled extensively throughout the Muslim…

Classical

Imam al-Bukhārī

الإمَامُ

b. 194 AH / 810 CE, Bukhara (modern Uzbekistan) · d. 256 AH / 870 CE, Khartank, near Samarkand

Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Bukhārī was born in Bukhara in 194 AH. He reportedly memorised 70,000 narrations with full chains before the age of sixteen, and eventually collected around 600,000. He…

Classical

Imam Muslim

الإمَامُ

b. 204 AH / 820 CE, Nishapur (modern Iran) · d. 261 AH / 875 CE, Nishapur

Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj was born in Nishapur in 204 AH. He studied under the greatest hadith scholars of his era, including Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal and al-Bukhārī himself. He travelled to Iraq, the Ḥijāz,…

Classical

Ibn Mājah

ابنُ

b. 209 AH / 824 CE, Qazvin (modern Iran) · d. 273 AH / 887 CE, Qazvin

Muḥammad ibn Yazīd ibn Mājah was born in Qazvin in 209 AH. He travelled to Basra, Kufa, Baghdad, Mecca, Medina, Syria, and Egypt in pursuit of hadith. His acceptance into the canonical six was not…

Classical

Abū Dāwūd al-Sijistānī

أَبُو

b. 202 AH / 817 CE, Sijistan · d. 275 AH / 889 CE, Basra

Abū Dāwūd Sulaymān ibn al-Ashʿath was born in Sijistan around 202 AH. He studied under Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal — who reportedly considered his Sunan sufficient for jurisprudence — and collected narrations…

Classical

Al-Tirmidhī

الإمَامُ

b. 209 AH / 824 CE, Tirmidh (modern Uzbekistan) · d. 279 AH / 892 CE, Tirmidh

Muḥammad ibn ʿĪsā al-Tirmidhī was born near Tirmidh on the Oxus River in 209 AH. He studied under al-Bukhārī, who reportedly held him in high regard, and Abū Dāwūd. Though reported to have lost his…

Classical

Al-Nasāʾī

الإمَامُ

b. 215 AH / 830 CE, Nasā, Khurasan · d. 303 AH / 915 CE, Mecca (or Ramla, Palestine)

Aḥmad ibn Shuʿayb al-Nasāʾī was born in Nasā, Khurasan around 215 AH. He is considered the strictest compiler among the four Sunan authors, applying conditions closer to those of the two Ṣaḥīḥs.…

HadithNarrator CriticismSunan

Classical

Ibn Khuzaymah

ابنُ

b. 223 AH / 838 CE, Nishapur · d. 311 AH / 924 CE, Nishapur

Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn Khuzaymah was born in Nishapur in 223 AH. His title Imām al-Aʾimmah reflects the esteem of later scholars. He studied under Imam Muslim, among many others, and trained scholars…

Classical

Ibn Abī Ḥātim al-Rāzī

ابنُ

b. 240 AH / 854 CE, Ray (near Tehran) · d. 327 AH / 938 CE, Ray

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Ḥātim al-Rāzī was born in Ray around 240 AH, the son of the famous Abū Ḥātim Muḥammad ibn Idrīs al-Rāzī — one of the strictest hadith critics of his era. Raised surrounded by…

Classical

Ibn Ḥibbān

ابنُ

b. 270 AH / 884 CE, Bust (modern Afghanistan) · d. 354 AH / 965 CE, Samarkand

Muḥammad ibn Ḥibbān was born in Bust around 270 AH and sat with Ibn Khuzaymah as his principal teacher, absorbing his methodology of rigorous chain verification. He also studied with al-Nasāʾī and…

Classical

Al-Dāraquṭnī

الدَّارَقُطْنِي

b. 306 AH / 919 CE, Baghdad · d. 385 AH / 995 CE, Baghdad

ʿAlī ibn ʿUmar al-Dāraquṭnī was born in Baghdad in 306 AH and became the supreme hadith authority of his age, earning the same title Amīr al-Muʾminīn fī al-Ḥadīth given to al-Bukhārī a century…

HadithJarḥ wa TaʿdīlʿIlalQurʾān Readings

Medieval

Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ

ابنُ

b. 577 AH / 1181 CE, Shahrazur, Kurdistan · d. 643 AH / 1245 CE, Damascus

ʿUthmān ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, known as Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ, was born in the Kurdish region of Shahrazur in 577 AH. He studied in Mosul, Khurasan, and Damascus. In Damascus he was appointed head of Dār…

Medieval

Al-Nawawī

الإمَامُ

b. 631 AH / 1234 CE, Nawā, Syria · d. 676 AH / 1277 CE, Nawā, Syria

Yaḥyā ibn Sharaf al-Nawawī was born in Nawā, Syria in 631 AH. He came to Damascus at sixteen and devoted his entire short life to scholarship — studying sixteen hours a day, never marrying. He died…

HadithFiqh (Shāfiʿī)EthicsTafsīr

Medieval Islamic scholar (7th–8th century AH)

Ibn Taymiyyah

ابْنُ تَيْمِيَّة

b. 661 AH (1263 CE), Ḥarrān (present-day Turkey) · d. 728 AH (1328 CE), Damascus Citadel (in prison)

Taqī al-Dīn Aḥmad ibn Taymiyyah was born in Ḥarrān (present-day southeastern Turkey) in 661 AH/1263 CE into a family with deep roots in Ḥanbalī scholarship. When he was six or seven, the Mongol…

Medieval Islamic scholar (7th–8th century AH)

Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah

ابْنُ القَيِّمِ الجَوزِيَّة

b. 691 AH (1292 CE), Damascus · d. 751 AH (1350 CE), Damascus

Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr, known as Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, was born in Damascus in 691 AH. The defining event of his scholarly life was his encounter with Ibn Taymiyyah, under whom he studied from…

Medieval Islamic scholar (8th century AH)

Ibn Kathīr

ابْنُ كَثِيْر

b. 701 AH (1301 CE), Bosra, Syria · d. 774 AH (1373 CE), Damascus

Ismāʿīl ibn Kathīr was born in 701 AH (approximately 1301 CE) near Bosra in the Ḥawrān region of Syria. His father died when he was approximately three years old; his older brother brought him to…

Medieval

Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī

ابنُ

b. 773 AH / 1372 CE, Cairo · d. 852 AH / 1449 CE, Cairo

Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī was born in Cairo in 773 AH. Orphaned at four, he memorised the Qurʾān at nine, studied under hundreds of scholars in Cairo, Alexandria, Yemen, the Ḥijāz, and…

Late Medieval (9th–10th century AH) · Cairo, Egypt

al-Jalālayn

الجَلَالَيْن

b. al-Maḥallī: 791 AH (1389 CE) · al-Suyuṭī: 849 AH (1445 CE) · d. al-Maḥallī: 864 AH (1459 CE) · al-Suyuṭī: 911 AH (1505 CE)

The Tafsīr al-Jalālayn is unique in classical Islamic literature: the product of two scholars sharing the name Jalāl al-Dīn, separated by a generation, who together produced the most widely memorised…

Medieval

Al-Suyūṭī

الإمَامُ

b. 849 AH / 1445 CE, Cairo · d. 911 AH / 1505 CE, Cairo

Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī was born in Cairo in 849 AH, orphaned at five, and memorised the Qurʾān at eight. By his own count he wrote over 600 works — earning the nickname Ibn al-Kutub (Son of Books).…

TafsīrHadithLinguisticsEncyclopedist

◉Contemporary Scholars(3)

Modern scholars who have made tafsīr accessible to English-speaking audiences.

Legacy: Education · Contemporary Tafsīr · Dawah · Modern Fiqh · English-Language Islamic Scholarship

Contemporary

Shaykh Muḥammad Nāṣir al-Dīn al-Albānī

مُحَمَّد

b. 1333 AH / 1914 CE, Shkodër, Albania · d. 1420 AH / 1999 CE, Amman, Jordan

Muḥammad Nāṣir al-Dīn al-Albānī was born in Shkodër, Albania in 1914. His family emigrated to Damascus around 1923 to escape secularising reforms, and it was there that his father, a Ḥanafī scholar,…

HadithJarḥ wa TaʿdīlHadith GradingSalafi Methodology

Contemporary (20th–21st century CE)

Jamāl al-Dīn Zarabozo

جَمَال الدِّين زَرَابُوزُو

b. 1957 CE, USA (of Spanish heritage) · d. Living

Jamāl al-Dīn Zarabozo is an American Muslim scholar of Spanish heritage who converted to Islam in his youth. His scholarly formation combined independent study of Islamic texts with formal engagement…

Contemporary (21st century CE)

Yāsir Qāḍī

يَاسِر قَاضِي

b. 1975 CE, Houston, Texas, USA · d. Living

Yāsir Qāḍī was born in 1975 in Houston, Texas, to Pakistani immigrant parents, and grew up between the United States and Saudi Arabia. He completed an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering at…