Abu Ja’far Muhammad ibn Jarir ibn Yazid ibn Kathir ibn Ghalib, known as Imam al-Tabari (224 AH – 310 AH – 839 – 923 AD), was an interpreter, historian, and jurist, and was nicknamed the Imam of Interpreters. He was born in Amol, the capital of the Tabaristan region. He traveled to Rayy, Baghdad, Kufa, and Basra, and went to Egypt. He then went to Fustat in 253 AH and studied the sciences of Malik, al-Shafi’i, and Ibn Wahb with its scholars. He returned and settled in Baghdad. Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi said: “He was a memorizer of the Book of God, knowledgeable in the readings, perceptive in their meanings, a jurist in the rulings of the Qur’an, knowledgeable in the Sunnah and its methods, its authentic and weak versions, its abrogating and abrogated versions, and knowledgeable in the sayings of…” The Companions and the Followers, and those who came after them from those who differed in rulings, and issues of what is permissible and what is forbidden, knowledgeable about people’s days and their news.” He was offered the position of judge, but he refused, and the position of grievances, but he refused. He has many compositions. Yaqut al-Hamawi says: “We found in his inheritance more than eighty parts of his books in his precise handwriting,” including: “The Differences of the Scholars of the Regions,” which is the first book written by al-Tabari. He used to say about it: “I have two books that no jurist can do without: al-Ikhtilaf and al-Latif.” He also wrote Jami’ al-Bayan fi Ta’wil al-Qur’an, known as Tafsir al-Tabari, Tarikh al-Umam wa al-Muluk, known as Tarikh al-Tabari and Tahdhib al-Athar, Dhayl al-Mudhil, Latif al-Qawl fi Ahkam Shara’i’ al-Islam, Basit al-Qawl fi Ahkam Shara’i’ al-Islam, Kitab al-Qira’at, Sareeh al-Sunnah, and al-Tabsir fi Ma’alim al-Din. He died in the month of Shawwal in the year 310 AH, and was buried in Baghdad.