This paper will examine Ibn ‘Asakir in order to determine what motivated him as a scholar: the duty of passing down the “authentic” words of the prophet Muhammad, his curiosity for history and fables, or his eagerness to rectify the Muslims of his day. Invariably, scholars examine Ibn ‘Asakir in order to learn about sources and information that are otherwise lost. Hence we treat his works as a depository. Few studies have examined his biases in reporting about early Islam (e.g. the studies in James Lindsay’s Ibn ‘Asakir and Early Islamic History). What I propose is to move beyond the fact that his works are valuable depositories of resources, and that he exhibits significant though often subtle biases in the way he reports the events and figures of the past. My paper will contextualize Ibn ‘Asakir and his works in the very peculiar twelfth century (the early period of the Crusades), thus showing the project he was serving as well as the goals he was aspiring to achieve as a great Hadith authority, historian, and religious reformer, and which of the three preoccupations defined his career the most.