A manuscript copy of the epistle is preserved in the Institute of Manuscripts at the Arab League in Cairo. Ḥājjī Khalīfah lists it in Kashf al-Ẓunūn, noting: “An epistle by ʿImād al-Dīn ʿIsmāʿīl b. ʿUmar, known as Ibn Kathīr, written for Emir Manjak when the Franks laid siege to the fortress of Ayas.” (1)
The Franks had earlier assaulted the coastal city of Alexandria, and from there their detachments moved on to Tripoli, terrorizing its peaceful residents with killing, captivity, and displacement. The treatise thus stands as both a historical and scholarly document on the virtue and obligation of jihad, its vital role in safeguarding the Ummah’s glory and honor, and in defending its frontiers whenever a sinful aggressor or base opportunist violates its sanctities. The author himself states that it is an abridgment of a more comprehensive work: “I had compiled on the subject a sizeable volume, from which I produced this medium-length epitome.” (2)
- Jāmiʿ al-Masānīd wa-l-Sunan al-Hādī li-Aqwā Sunan
This is the largest of Ibn Kathīr’s compositions on Prophetic ḥadīth, the most beneficial, and the last he authored in his lifetime. Let us hear what major scholars, past and present, have said about this monumental book.
Ibn Ḥajar writes in Inbāʾ al-Ghumr bi-Anbāʾ al-ʿUmr (1/47):
“When the ḥāfiẓ Shams al-Dīn Ibn al-Muḥibb—known as al-Ṣāmit, d. 789 AH—re-arranged the Musnad of Imām Aḥmad alphabetically, even with the Successors who transmitted abundantly from the Companions, Ibn Kathīr admired and approved the effort. I saw the copy in Damascus penned by his son ʿUmar; Ibn Kathīr then added in the margins whatever he deemed useful—material not found in the Musnad—from the Six Books, the Musnads of Abū Yaʿlā and al-Bazzār, and two of al-Ṭabarānī’s Maʿājim. He entitled the result Jāmiʿ al-Masānīd wa-l-Sunan, and several copies were produced and attributed to him. It is now kept among the endowments of the Maḥmūdiyyah Madrasa: the main text follows Ibn al-Muḥibb’s arrangement, while the marginalia and loose slips are in Ibn Kathīr’s own hand. (3) I have examined a fair copy prepared by ʿUmar b. al-ʿImād b. Kathīr that incorporates both the main text and the additions and bears the aforementioned title.”
Ibn al-ʿImād records in Shadharāt al-Dhahab (8/398): “Among his works is a compilation that gathers the ten Musnads.”