Who is Al-Tabari?

When the name Al-Tabari is mentioned, it often refers to Imam Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Jarir ibn Yazid al-Tabari, who was born in Tabaristan in 224 AH and passed away in Baghdad in 310 AH. Al-Dhahabi described him as one of the unique individuals of his time in knowledge, intelligence, and the abundance of his writings. He quoted Al-Khatib as saying that Al-Tabari combined so many sciences that no one else from his era shared his breadth; he was a memorizer of the Book of Allah with its various recitations, insightful in its meanings, a jurist in the rulings of the Qur'an, knowledgeable in the Sunnah (definition) and its chains of transmission, and well-acquainted with the sayings of the Companions and the Tabi'in, as well as the history and news of people. He has famous books such as "Tarikh al-Umam wa al-Muluk" (History of the Prophets and Kings) and "Jami' al-Bayan fi Ta'wil Ay al-Qur'an" (Compendium of Elucidations on the Interpretation of the Verses of the Qur'an).