Ali Muhammad al-Sallabi

Dr Ali Muhammad al-Sallabi is a contemporary writer on the Prophet's biography and Islamic history, author of al-Sira al-Nabawiyya: Ard Waqa'i' wa-Tahlil Ahdath ¹. He signed the preface of that book on 18 Rajab 1421, i.e. 16 October 2000 ².

The museum's records also hold his al-Dawla al-Uthmaniyya: Awamil al-Nuhud wa-Asbab al-Suqut in its first edition of 1421/2001 ³, and his two-part al-Dawla al-Umawiyya: Awamil al-Izdihar wa-Tada'iyat al-Inhiyar, the second part published by Dar Ibn Kathir in 1426/2005 ⁴.

In the preface to his Sira, al-Sallabi says he spent years of his life researching the Qur'an and the Sira, that they were among the best days of his life, and that in them he forgot his exile and emigration ⁵. He disclaims having achieved what the earlier scholars could not, or that his work is infallible or complete ⁶. He holds that the community should learn the factors of rise and the causes of fall through the Prophet's method, and names among the leaders who followed it Nur al-Din Mahmud, Saladin, Yusuf ibn Tashfin, Mahmud of Ghazna and Mehmed the Conqueror — his own view as stated in the preface ⁷.

A short biography at the front of Asma al-Matalib states that al-Sallabi was born in Benghazi, Libya, in 1383/1963. ⁸ He obtained the licence from the Faculty of Da'wa and Usul al-Din of the Islamic University of Medina with distinction, first in his class, in 1413–1414 (1992–1993); then a master's degree from Omdurman Islamic University, Faculty of Usul al-Din, Department of Tafsir and Qur'anic Sciences, in 1417/1996; then a doctorate in Islamic studies from the same university with his thesis Fiqh al-Tamkin fi al-Qur'an al-Karim. ⁸

With Dar al-Tawzi' wa-l-Nashr al-Islamiyya in Cairo al-Sallabi published the four-volume series History of the Rightly Guided Caliphs: al-Inshirah wa-Raf' al-Diq fi Sirat Abi Bakr al-Siddiq (finished 5 Muharram 1422) ⁹, Fasl al-Khitab fi Sirat Umar ibn al-Khattab (13 Ramadan 1422) ¹⁰, Taysir al-Karim al-Mannan fi Sirat Uthman ibn Affan (8 Rabi' II 1423) ¹¹ and Asma al-Matalib fi Sirat Ali ibn Abi Talib (17 Rabi' al-Akhir 1424) ¹². In the fourth volume he says he devoted a separate study to al-Hasan ibn Ali (may God be pleased with him). ¹³

The biography lists his earlier books: Min 'Aqidat al-Muslimin fi Sifat Rabb al-'Alamin, al-Wasatiyya fi al-Qur'an al-Karim, the series Pages from the Islamic History of North Africa with books on the history of Libya, the Umayyad and Abbasid states, the Ubaydid state, the Almoravids, the Almohads, the Ottoman state and the Sanusi movement in Libya and its men such as Umar al-Mukhtar, then Fiqh al-Tamkin fi al-Qur'an al-Karim and al-Sira al-Nabawiyya. ⁸