His Upbringing:
As for his earliest years, they were spent in the village of “Majdal,” also pronounced “Mijdal” or “Mujaydal al-Qaryah” (1), situated to the east of Busra. It was his mother’s hometown. Toward the end of his life Ibn Kathīr’s father moved there, serving as imam for the daily prayers and as preacher for the Friday and ʿĪd services. After his death the family remained in the village for about four years, then relocated to Damascus in 707 AH. Ibn Kathīr left Majdal with his heart and mind filled with childhood memories: he retained what people repeated of his father’s moving sermons, memorised the sayings and poetry they preserved, and heard his brothers relate that their father had named him Ismāʿīl in the hope that he would emulate their eldest brother—a student of sacred knowledge whom death had snatched away after he had progressed far along that path. From that early age, therefore, he yearned to tread the same road and drink from its sweet spring, bringing comfort to his father in the grave and, in time, becoming—like his father—someone remembered among the people.
His second and more formative upbringing was in Damascus. He travelled there with his full brother ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, a loving, compassionate sibling who stood in the place of both father and first teacher. Ibn Kathīr remained by his side, benefiting from him for many years. Let us listen to Ibn Kathīr’s own words:
“Afterwards—that is, after my father’s death—in the year 707 AH we moved to Damascus in the company of Kamāl al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb. He was our full brother, a kind and caring companion. He lived on until the year 750. Under his tutelage I pursued knowledge; through him Allah, exalted be He, made easy what was made easy and smoothed what had been difficult.” (2)
Ibn Kathīr even specifies where they lived in Damascus, though the place-names have since changed or disappeared:
“In that same year, 707 AH, we arrived from Busra to Damascus after my father’s death, and the first place we lived was Darb Sufwān, known as Darb Ibn Abī al-Hayjāʾ, in the Old Goldsmiths’ Quarter near the fowl-sellers.” (3)
While writing the biography of Shaykh Muḥyī al-Dīn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣafī al-Dīn Ibrāhīm ibn Marzūq (d. 662 AH), he adds:
“His house, which was turned into a Shāfiʿī school, was endowed by the amir Jamāl al-Dīn Āqūsh al-Najībī; it is known as ‘al-Najībiyyah’—may Allah accept it. That was our residence. May Allah make it a house followed by the abode of eternal repose and supreme triumph.” (4)