Abd al-Azīz ibn Muhammad said:

“Abū Jaʿfar was refined in his outward bearing and pure within. He was pleasant company to those who sat with him, attentive to his companions’ circumstances, refined in all his ways, and graciously mannered in his food, dress, and personal affairs. He was relaxed and genial with his brethren and would sometimes jest with them most delightfully. At times, fruit would be brought before him, and he would discourse playfully upon it without departing from learning, jurisprudence, and scholarly questions, so that even his jest was as earnest as the gravest discourse and as instructive as the finest scholarship. Whenever someone gave him a gift that he was able to reciprocate, he accepted it and gave the donor something in return. If he could not reciprocate it, he returned it and apologized to the donor (1).”

Were all the scholars’ statements in praise of him to be collected, the account would become exceedingly long. What has been mentioned, however, is sufficient for anyone wishing to learn of the qualities that adorned this imam: knowledge, scrupulous piety, asceticism, humility, and gracious companionship.

It is enough to his credit that there are three branches of knowledge with which al-Tabarī’s name is invariably associated: Quranic exegesis, history, and jurisprudence. In these, he surpassed both those who preceded him and those who came after him, becoming the undisputed imam of these disciplines. We therefore ask Allah to reward him with the finest reward for his service to Islam.

[His Most Prominent Teachers]

Ibn Jarīr studied under eminent teachers of hadith, jurisprudence, Quranic readings, and language, traveling throughout many regions for that purpose. He heard from a vast multitude of scholars in his homeland, the non-Arab lands, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and the Hijaz.

Among the most prominent were:

1 — Ibrāhīm ibn Saʿīd al-Baghdādī al-Jawharī (2), author of al-Musnad al-Akbar (The Greater Musnad). He was originally from Tabaristan and was born sometime after 170 AH. He heard hadith from Sufyān ibn Uyaynah and Muhammad ibn