Fida, Isma'il Ibn Kathir ‘Imad Al-Din A SYRIAN historian and scholar (1273-1331), he was born in Basra. The most famous of his works is the Tafsir (explanation) of the Qur'an, known as Tafsir Ibn Kathir. Among his other great works are: Al-Bidaya wa Al-Nihaya (The Beginning and the End). It is a history collection, printed in 14 volumes, that contains the stories of prophets (from Adam), Seerah of Muhammad (peace be upon him), and Islamic history until his time. Taqwim Al-Buldan (A sketch of the countries), Tarikh Abu Al-Fida, his chief historical work, also called Mukhtasar Tarikh Al-Bashar (Concise history of humanity), in the form of annals extending from the creation of the world to the 1300s. Abu Al-Fida was also well learned in many fields such as botany and materia medica. He wrote a work in many volumes on medicine titled Kunash, and a book on the balance.
