Seventh: His Scholarly and Social Standing

Introduction

The ḥāfiẓ, exegete, historian, and jurist Ismāʿīl ibn Kathīr attained a position of pre-eminence and esteem through his formidable learning and astonishing literary output. His precise fatwas and courageous stances likewise earned him special regard and attention.

Although he rose to the rank of the great scholars, he did not come to shape public affairs—particularly social and political life—with the same force exerted by his teacher Ibn Taymiyyah. Instead, he left behind a quiet transformation whose cultural and civilizational influence endures to this very day and will remain until Allah inherits the earth and all who dwell upon it.

He combined a commanding presence, a keen intellect, an ever-flowing pen, and a dignified, distinctive character. He would never flatter anyone at the expense of truth, nor slacken in denouncing innovations, nor engage in sophistry to uphold superstition. Neither deceitful nor easily deceived, he would not bow his head nor break his pen in hypocrisy or self-abasement.

Endowed with composure and strength, sobriety and determination, he avoided extremism and harshness. In both private and public scholarly gatherings he appeared as a committed Shāfiʿī and a reform-minded thinker who enjoined what is right and forbade what is wrong. With pen and tongue he established what he believed to be correct, acting with insight and sincerity, fearing no reproach for the sake of Allah. People therefore viewed him with respect, affection, and admiration. We shall now examine closely his scholarly and social standing.

A. His Scholarly Stature

Fatwas

In Damascus Ibn Kathīr became one of the foremost muftis. Shaykh Jamāl al-Dīn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad, known as Ibn al-Qalānsī (d. 731 AH), authorized him to issue legal opinions. His peers described him as “the jurist-mufti,” “the outstanding mufti-imām,” and said that his fatwas “spread to every land.”

From his life we select a few rulings that reveal both his deep expertise in fiqh and his fairness and sound judgment:

Al-Ḥāfiẓ writes in al-Bidāyah wa-l-Nihāyah (16/251):
“On Tuesday, 28 Dhū al-Qaʿdah 733 AH, an iron door sent by the Sultan was installed on the Kaʿbah. It was inlaid with red sandalwood, resembling ebony, and plated with silver whose weight was thirty-five thousand three hundred-odd (dirhams). The old door, made of teak and likewise plated, was removed; Banū Shaybah received its plates, which weighed sixty ratls. They sold them at the rate of one dirham for two, seeking blessing thereby. This is wrong and constitutes ribā; they should have sold them for gold so that no usury would arise.”