Abū Maʿbad (or Abū Bakr) ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kathīr al-Dārānī al-Makkī, better known as Ibn Kathir al-Makki (665–737 CE [45–120 AH]), was one of the transmitters of the seven canonical Qira'at, or methods of reciting the Qur'an. His recitations were generally popular among the people of Mecca.
Biography
Al-Makki was born in Mecca and was one of the Tabi‘un. His family was of Iranian origin and were immigrants to Yemen. Al-Makki was a mawla ("freedman") of Amr ibn Alkama al-Kinani.
Al-Makki met the prophetic companions Anas ibn Malik and Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, and he learned his recitation method from a student of the prophetic companion Abd Allah ibn Abbas who in turn learned from Ubay ibn Ka'b and Zayd ibn Thabit who both learned directly from the prophet Muhammad. Al-Shafi‘i, the namesake of one of the four primary schools of thought in Sunni Islam, preferred to recite the Qur'an according to al-Makki's method.
He died in the year 737CE. The two primary transmitters of his method of recitation, Al-Bazzi and Qunbul, were Persian and Meccan respectively.