Ibn Ḥajar, in his biographical notice on Ibn Kathīr (1), records that the latter’s son ʿUmar copied for him the Musnad of Imām Aḥmad according to the alphabetical arrangement prepared by Ibn al-Muḥibb al-Ṣāmit (d. 789 AH). That transcript became the master copy from which his father compiled his monumental Jāmiʿ al-Masānīd wa-l-Sunan. ʿUmar later produced a clean fair copy of this comprehensive work, and Ibn Ḥajar states that he examined both manuscripts in ʿUmar’s own hand.

Second: Zayn al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān (d. 792 AH). Ibn Fahd refers to him in Laḥẓ al-Alḥāẓ (2), contenting himself with the remark that he died and was buried in Damascus.

Third: Badr al-Dīn Abū al-Baqāʾ Muḥammad, son of the ḥāfiẓ ʿImād al-Dīn Ismāʿīl ibn Kathīr, born in Damascus in 759 AH and deceased there in 803 AH. Al-Sakhāwī in al-Ḍawʾ al-Lāmiʿ and Ibn al-ʿImād in Shadharāt al-Dhahab (3) state that he was born and reared in Damascus, studied diligently, graduated under Ibn al-Muḥibb, and heard extensively from Ibn Umaylah, al-Ṣalāḥ ibn Abī ʿUmar, and other disciples of al-Fakhr. He afterwards travelled to Cairo, where he studied with several of its scholars, gained moderate distinction in ḥadīth, and took part in other sciences as well. He was noted for a fine, clear hand and meticulous accuracy (2). Even so, Ibn Ḥijjī remarks that his conduct was not commendable. After his father’s death he taught in the Madrasa-mausoleum of Umm Ṣāliḥ and compiled a chronicle of the events of his time in which he reported some curious matters. Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar adds: “I benefitted from his collected notes, and he listened to my recitation in Damascus. He died in the prime of life—aged forty-four—in Ramla, having fled Damascus” (2). He most probably left the city during the Tīmūrid upheaval, for Tīmūr entered Damascus in Rabīʿ al-Thānī 803 AH and withdrew in Shaʿbān of the same year.

Fourth: Tāj al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, born in 767 AH and deceased in 840 AH. Al-Sakhāwī writes of him: “He received ḥadīth from his father, from al-Muḥibb al-Ṣāmit, Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Ghālib al-Māksīnī, Ibn Umaylah, and others, and he himself transmitted, so that many eminent scholars heard from him” (4).

Fifth: Shihāb al-Dīn Aḥmad ibn Ismāʿīl ibn ʿUmar ibn Kathīr. Al-Sakhāwī mentions him (5) in the course of his entry on Aḥmad’s daughter, the ḥadīth scholar Asmāʾ, whose renown preserved her father’s name for later generations. She was reared and taught by Sitt al-Quḍāt Umm ʿĪsā bint ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, mentioned a short while earlier (6).