The other two being Ali ibn al-Athir and Diyā' ad-Dīn, who was also an historian.
‘Abd al-Karim was an official of the Zangid government.
Although he became paralysed he continued working and outlived his two brothers.
The Ibn al-Athīr family were Arab, or Kurdish, of the Shayban lineage[5] of the large and influential Arab tribe Banu Bakr,[6][7] who lived across upper Mesopotamia, and gave their name to the city of Diyar Bakr.
Kitāb al-Muraṣṣa, on family names, (ed., C Ferdinand Seybold, Weimar, 1896.)