1.1 PREFACE TO THE REVISION
All praise and thanks be to Allah, Who revived knowledge of His religion and caused it to blossom forth after it had all but disappeared, and Who demolished the false conjectures of the apostates. I praise Him and I seek refuge with Him from the sins which weigh upon the backs of mankind. I worship Him and seek His help and guidance in removing hindrances and difficulties in the practice of my religion. I bear witness that none has the right to be worshipped except Allah, Alone, without partners and I bear witness that Muhammad – who, by Allah’s leave, brought about the dawn of faith to the darkness and misguidance which existed in the hearts of mankind – is the slave and Messenger of Allah.
May the Blessings and Peace of Allah be upon him in perpetuity. O Allah! We seek Your favor and through You we seek to ward off affliction. We ask You to protect us and to grant us mercy. Our Lord! Make not our hearts deviate after You have already guided us. Make it easy for us to perform our deeds in the way that You have taught us. Make us grateful for what You have given us and make plain a path for us which leads to You. Open up the doors between us and You by which we may arrive before You. To You belong the keys to the heavens and the Earth and You are Most Able to do all things.
Among the blessings which Allah has bestowed upon us, the community of Muslims, is that He has made it easy for us to follow the path of guidance and He has opened the doors of knowledge by making available to us these new publications, which present to us the writings of the early scholars and reveal to us what they said regarding legal verdicts, history, events, information and lessons. These scholars opened a clear beacon of light for all those Muslims seeking guidance, and they set up for us a signpost in which there is neither deviation nor crookedness. Whoever follows it will arrive safely at his desired destination and whoever diverts from it will be lost forever. They have written these books and treatises and made clear to us therein events, information and virtues. Among such books is this unique work, Al-Bidayah Wan- Nihayah, by the Imam, the Hafiz, the master scholar of ahadeeth, ‘Imaduddeen Isma‘eel Ibn Katheer Al-Qurashi – may Allah have Mercy on him.
This book was greeted with approval by the vast majority of Muslims. No Islamic library would be complete without it. In it, the author has recorded what Allah, Most High, has made easy for him about the history of mankind, from the beginning of creation, starting with the creation of the Throne and the Kursi (chair), the heavens and the Earth and all that they contain and all that lies between them, such as the angels, the jinn and the devils. He also described how Adam was created, and told the stories of the prophets up to the days of the Children of Isra’eel and the Days of Ignorance (Jahiliyyah), until the advent of Prophet Muhammad (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him), which heralded the end of Prophethood. He then recorded his Seera) Then he recorded the events which took place up to his own time.
He also spoke of the trials and battles, the signs of the approach of the Hour, then the sending forth of mankind and the terrors of the Resurrection, which he described in detail. He then described the Hellfire, with all its horrors, and Paradise and all the good things contained therein. He called this particular volume of his book: An-Nihayah Fil- Fitan Wal-Malahim (The Ending in Trials and Battles). As for the book which is in our hands today, it is Al-Bidayah.
By Allah’s Grace, I came to know Brother Abdul Malik Mujahid, the general manager of Darussalam Publishing in Riyadh. He visited me in my humble office in Damascus and suggested to me the idea of creating a summarised version of this wonderful book. I prayed for Allah’s Guidance in the matter and sought help from Him in completing the project. Allah enabled me to make the acquaintance of a number of people of knowledge and experience in this field and a plan of action for the work was written. It consisted of ten principal points and we then started the task, seeking help from the Lord of the heavens and the Earth. All of us exerted our utmost efforts in this task, making repeated revisions and corrections, until we reached the point where, by Allah’s Permission, we completed it and it was published in the form which is in your hands today.
By: Ibn Katheer
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