OverviewA scholar who gathered explanations of the Qur’an and accounts of earlier history.CategoryScholarPeriodc. 839 – 923 CE
His workHis Qur’an commentary records different explanations of verses. Readers can see how earlier teachers understood the same passage.Source: TDV Encyclopaedia of Islam — Al-Tabari
A lasting changeHis history preserved many earlier accounts and named who passed them on. Later historians used it to study events before their own time.Source: TDV Encyclopaedia of Islam — Al-Tabari
Reading the reportsAl-Tabari sometimes preserved different accounts of the same event without choosing between them. Finding a story in his history does not by itself establish that the story is reliable.Source: TDV Encyclopaedia of Islam — Al-Tabari
SourcesOriginal summaries of the cited sources. Qur’anic accounts, later traditions and historical estimates are distinguished; brief profiles do not settle scholarly disagreements.TDV Encyclopaedia of Islam — Al-Tabari
