He entitled his recension of “al-Mīzān” al-Takmīl (1). Ibn Kathir added further material concerning narrator criticism and accreditation, and he arranged the work alphabetically.
The book survives only in manuscript form. Shaykh Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Razzāq Ḥamzah saw its final volume in one of the libraries of Madinah, written in an old script and copied from the author’s own exemplar during his lifetime (2).
The Egyptian National Library holds a photographic reproduction of an incomplete manuscript, shelf-mark 2427/B, in two volumes (3).
In Rabat there is another manuscript, number 219/K, consisting of ninety-nine folios, the end of which is missing (4). Al-Takmīl is regarded as an introduction to Jāmiʿ al-Masānīd, as Ibn Kathir (may Allah have mercy on him) states in the introduction to al-Takmīl (5).
10 – The Musnad of al-Fārūq, Commander of the Believers, Abū Ḥafṣ ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (may Allah be pleased with him) and his statements arranged under the various chapters of learning
Ibn Kathir (may Allah have mercy on him) mentions this work in Ikhtiṣār ʿUlūm al-Ḥadīth, saying: “as we have elaborated in the Musnad of ʿUmar” (6). He likewise says in al-Bidāya wa-l-Nihāya: “as we have set this out in detail in the biography of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb and his life, which we compiled in a separate volume, and in his Musnad and the reports transmitted from him, arranged by subject, in another volume—and to Allah belong all praise and favor” (7).
The ḥadith master opens the Musnad with the rulings on purification, then prayer, and proceeds through the rest of the devotional acts. It also contains chapters on military expeditions and eschatological battles, miracles, virtues, and other topics. The work is preserved in Ibn Kathir’s own handwriting at the Egyptian National Library, catalogue 152 (Ḥadīth Taymūr), comprising 220 folios (8).
Dr. Maṭar al-Zāhranī produced an edited version of the Musnad and obtained his PhD for it from Umm al-Qurā University in Mecca (9). We have not yet seen it in print.
11 – Ṭabaqāt al-Shāfiʿiyyah
The ḥāfiẓ Ibn Kathir composed this work before al-Bidāya wa-l-Nihāya, for he refers to it frequently therein whenever he mentions