Al-Kamil fi al-Tarikh by Ibn al-Athir

By Mufti Husain Kadodia

Title: الكامل في التاري -ابن كثير

Vols: 19

Author: ابن الأثير

Publisher: ابن كثير-دمشق

Cover & Pages: Hard-10352pg

The 3 major works in tarikh are Tarikh at-Tabari, al-Kamil and al-Bidayah wa an-Nihayah.

Tabari’s is the foundation, covering from the start of creation to around 300 ah.

Ibn Athir in al-Kamil and Ibn Kathir in al-Bidayah wa an-Nihayah relied nearly exclusively on him for this portion, with careful selection and presentation.

From 300 ah onwards, they relied on an array of sources, each selecting from them as per his manhaj.

Al-Kamil ends at 628 ah, while al-Bidayah wa an-Nihayah ends at 774 ah.

The questions in the mind of most of you would be: “What is the difference between these two and when one already has al-Bidayah wa an-Nihayah, does he still require al-Kamil?

While both cover similar periods of time, Ibn Kathir passed away nearly 150 years later, thus only his work covers this era. The other major benefit of al-Bidayah wa an-Nihayah is Ibn Kathir’s muhaddithana mindset, that results in more naqd of narrations and more focus on the tarajim of ulama and a’lam.

Al-Kamil on the other hand stands out for:

– Containing much more detail with regard to major events, wars, kingdoms, rulers and the political situation in each era.

– Presenting history in a structured manner, showing which events led to others, allowing one to grasp history holistically.

– Adopting language and a method of presentation that converts boring facts into an interesting scene that seems to be alive in front of the reader.

This is why Allamah Sakhawi says that the book is really kamil (perfect) as its name suggests and then quotes his teacher, Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani as saying:

“إِنَّهُ ‌أَحْسَنُ ‌التَّوَارِيخِ بِالنِّسْبَةِ إِلَى إِيرَادِهِ الْوَقَائِعَ مُوَضَّحَةً مُبَيَّنَةً، حَتَّى كَأَنَّ السَّامِعَ فِي الْغَالِبِ حَاضَرَهَا، مَعَ حُسْنِ التَّصَرُّفِ، وَجَوْدَةِ الْإِيرَادِ” قَالَ: “بِحَيْثُ خَطَرَ لِي أَنْ أُذَيِّلَ عَلَيْهِ مِنْ سَنَةِ وَقَفَ”

Unfortunately, Ibn Hajar was never able to author the dhayl that he had wanted to.

Dar Ibn Kathir gathered a group of experts in various fields and tasked them with editing this masterpiece. They gathered the best manuscripts from all over the world and carefully edited this book over a number of years, until it was finally printed in January this year.

Hot off the press, it was released from the binding company just in time to make it for our shipment leaving Beirut.

📘 It is a beautiful multi-coloured, high-quality edition in 19 thick volumes.