in Shaʿbān 774 AH. When blindness overtook him in his final days, he dictated to his son ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. The evidence for this is explicit and unmistakable, foremost among which are:

1. The author’s own voice is plainly audible in many of the events and biographies after 738 AH, and he names himself outright.
2. Scholars who came after him and drew on his book quote it dozens of times—most notably al-Maqrīzī, Ibn Ḥajar, and al-Sakhāwī.
3. Trustworthy authorities state that Ibn Kathīr continued to dictate from his History until the month of his death, Shaʿbān 774 AH. Al-Sakhāwī, recording the events of 774 AH in his Wajīz al-Kalām fī ’l-Dhail ʿalā Duwal al-Islām, writes:
   “In the middle of that Shaʿbān the History of al-ʿImād Ibn Kathīr came to an end; from the time his sight failed and his strength waned he would dictate it to his son ʿAbd al-Raḥmān.”
   This decisive statement needs no further commentary. No reasonable person can doubt that al-Sakhāwī had a copy of al-Bidāyah reaching that date, for he cites it under the years 773 and 774 AH, in addition to other passages noted by historians such as al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar.

What has actually come down to us, however, stops at 668 AH. Copyists and pupils tampered with that portion, adding material of their own. We may yet discover more accurate and reliable manuscripts, but the editor and reviewer have exerted great effort to purge interpolations.

[4 – al-Nihāyah (Accounts of the Hereafter and its Conditions…)]

In this final section of al-Bidāyah wa’l-Nihāyah Ibn Kathīr finds himself anew. His stature as a consummate ḥadīth scholar enables him to conclude the work with al-Nihāyah: he sets out the most important reports on civil strife, epic battles, the portents of the Hour, and the end of the world. He then surveys the events of the Hereafter—two trumpet-blasts, one for the advent of the Hour and another for resurrection; the terrors that will unfold on the plain of Judgment; the Reckoning, the Balance, the Records, the Bridge, and, ultimately, either Paradise or Hellfire.

What a magnificent ending—completing the story of this world and rendering it its due! Ibn Kathīr embraced these truths with every fiber of his being, as does every sincere believer who feels the cool certainty when the true promise is fulfilled for the righteous and the equally true threat comes upon the wicked. The devout and pure will delight in God’s everlasting Garden, whereas the misguided sinners will be tossed into the Fire of Hell, abiding therein forever.

If the persona of Ibn Kathīr the exegete predominates in the opening chapters on creation, then the persona of Ibn Kathīr the ḥadīth scholar dominates the conclusion, where prophetic reports pour forth in rapid succession. Yet the eminent Ibn Kathīr never loses sight of Qur’anic texts; he keeps them present and weaves them seamlessly into the eschatological tableau he presents.