(frequently Ibn ʿAbbās, without the article), Abu l-ʿAbbās, called al-Ḥibr ‘the doctor’ or al-Baḥr ‘the sea’, because of his doctrine, is considered one of the greatest scholars, if not the greatest, of the first generation of Muslims. He was the father of Ḳurʾanic exegesis; at a time when it was necessary to bring the Ḳurʾān into accord with the new demands of a society which had undergone a profound transformation, he appears to have been extremely skilful in accomplishing this task.

He was born three years before the hid̲j̲ra, when the Hās̲h̲imite family was living shut u…