Al-Tabari, Persian scholar (b. 839)
Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr ibn Yazīd al-Ṭabarī (Arabic: أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), also known as al-Tabari or in Persian as Tabari, 839–923 CE, was an influential scholar, historian and commentator on the Qur'an from Amol, Tabaristan (modern Mazandaran Province of Iran). Today, he is best known for his expertise in Qur'anic exegesis (tafsir) and Historiography, but he has been described as "an impressively prolific polymath. He wrote on such subjects as world history, poetry, lexicography, grammar, ethics, mathematics, and medicine."His most influential and best known works are his Qur'anic commentary, known in Arabic as Tafsir al-Tabari, and his historical chronicle History of the Prophets and Kings (Tarikh al-Rusul wa al-Muluk), often referred to Tarikh al-Tabari.
Al-Tabari followed the Shafi'i madhhab for nearly a decade before he developed his own interpretation of Islamic jurisprudence. His understanding of fiqh was both sophisticated and remarkably fluid and, as such, he continued to develop his ideas and thoughts on juristic matters right to the end of his life.Al-Tabari's school of thought (madhhab) flourished among Sunni ulama for two centuries after his death, before it eventually became extinct. It was usually designated by the name Jariri.