Al-Bidāya wal-Nihāya
'The Beginning and the End' — Ibn Kathīr's monumental world history, written in 14th-century Damascus. From the creation of the Throne to the early years of the Sīrah, narrated with the rigor of a master hadith critic and the narrative skill of one of Islam's great historians.
Volume 1 — From Creation to Mūsā
Volume One of Ibn Kathīr's Al-Bidāya wal-Nihāya opens at the absolute beginning: the creation of the Throne, the Pen, the Tablet, the heavens, the earth, and the angels. From cosmology Ibn Kathīr moves through the creation of the jinn, Iblīs, and Ādam, then the long chain of early prophets — Idrīs, Nūḥ and the flood, Hūd, Ṣāliḥ, Ibrāhīm and Nimrod, Lūṭ, Ayyūb, Shuʿayb, Yūsuf — culminating in the life of Mūsā and the children of Israel after Pharaoh.
Open volume 1 →The full Al-Bidāya wal-Nihāya series
3 volumes in the library today.
