Ibn Abbas

Abdullah ibn Abbas (RA), known as Hibr al-Ummah (the Scholar of the Ummah) and Turjuman al-Quran (the Interpreter of the Quran), was the cousin of the Prophet ﷺ, born three years before the Hijra. He grew up in the Prophet's household and was deeply shaped by his proximity to revelation. The Prophet ﷺ made a famous supplication for him: 'O Allah, give him deep understanding of the religion and teach him the interpretation of the Quran.' This prayer was conspicuously answered: Ibn Abbas became the undisputed foremost authority on Quranic exegesis among all the companions and subsequent generations. After the Prophet's death, though still a young man, he devoted himself to learning from the senior companions, reportedly waiting at the doors of companions like Zayd ibn Thabit to acquire single hadiths. He narrated over 1,660 hadiths and gathered thousands of students who sat in his circles at Mecca and Ta'if. He served as governor of Basra for a period during Ali's caliphate. His tafsir narrations — transmitted especially through his student Mujahid, Sa'id ibn Jubayr, and Ikrima — are the foundation of the classical tafsir tradition. He lost his eyesight in his later years and passed away in Ta'if around 68 AH.