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]),[1] was one of the transmitters of the seven canonical Qira'at, or methods of reciting the Qur'an.
[5] Al-Makki was a mawla ("freedman") of Amr ibn Alkama al-Kinani.
[5] Al-Makki met the companions of Prophet Muhammad Anas ibn Malik and Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr,[4] and he learned his recitation method from a student of Prophet Muhammad's companion Abd Allah ibn Abbas who in turn learned from Ubay ibn Ka'b and Zayd ibn Thabit who both learned directly from Prophet Muhammad.
[4] 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.
[3][6] The two primary transmitters of his method of recitation, Al-Bazzi and Qunbul,[2][7] were Persian and Meccan respectively.