Qadi Baydawi (also known as Naṣir ad-Din al-Bayḍawi, also spelled Baidawi, Bayzawi and Beyzavi; d. June 1319, Tabriz) was a Persian[6] jurist, theologian, and Quran commentator.

[8] Baydawi's only Persian work, the Kitab Nizam al-Tawarikh, is the first historical book to showcase the ethno-national history of Iran.

[9] Since 1148, the region had been controlled by the Salghurids, a family of Turkoman origin, who would rule as nominal vassals of the Seljuks, the Khwarazmshahs, and the Mongols until their downfall in 1282.

[10] Baydawi's date of birth is unknown, however, assessing his accomplishments throughout his career, it can be deduced that he was born sometime during the reign of the Salghurid atabeg (ruler) Abu Bakr ibn Sa'd (r. 1226–1260).

During this period, culture flourished in Fars; Abu Bakr ordered the construction of many hospitals and high-level religious establishments which attracted many scholars.

According to the historian al-Yafi'i, Baydawi was tutored by his father Umar, who had been a student of Mujir-ad-Din Mahmud ibn Abi-al-Mubarak al-Baghdadi ash-Shafi'i, a former student of Mui'in-ad-Din Abi-Sa'id Mansur ibn Umar al-Baghdadi, who had studied under the prominent Persian philosopher al-Ghazali (died 1111).

One day when Arghun Khan visited him, the Shaikh told him that "a Persian scholar had begged a piece of hell from him equal to a prayer rug".

[21] Muhammad Ma'sum Shirazi reports his burial on the east of the shrine of Shaikh Zia ud-Din Yahya in the same graveyard.

His major work is the commentary on the Qur'an entitled The Lights of Revelation and the Secrets of Interpretation (Anwar al-Tanzil wa-Asrar al-Ta'wil)'.