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Biographies

Discover the prophets, companions and other key figures from Islamic history.

Seerah of the Prophet ﷺ

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'Adnanites
'AdnanitesRead biography →
'Amr ibn Luhayy al-Khuza'iRead biography →
Abraha al-AshramRead biography →
Al-ShaamRead biography →
Banu GhassanRead biography →
Banu GhatafanRead biography →
Banu HanifaBanu Hanifa, the settled tribe of al-Yamamah in Najd: its delegation to Medina, the false prophet Musaylimah and the Battle of al-Yamamah in the Riddah wars.Read biography →
Banu KalbRead biography →
Banu Khuza'aRead biography →
Banu KinanahRead biography →
Banu LakhmRead biography →
Banu SulaymRead biography →
Banu TamimRead biography →
Banu ThafiqRead biography →
BukhtanassarRead biography →
Dar Al-NadwaRead biography →
The AbyssiniansRead biography →
The ChristiansRead biography →
The JewsRead biography →
The JurhumRead biography →
The Ka'bahRead biography →
The Khuza'aRead biography →
The Mu'allaqat PoetsRead biography →
The Persians (Sasanians)Read biography →
The QahtanitesRead biography →
The QuraishRead biography →
The Romans (Byzantines)Read biography →
The Seasonal MarketsRead biography →
HijazRead biography →
Hijri CalendarRead biography →
Hilf al FudulRead biography →
HimyarRead biography →
Khadijah bint KhuwaylidRead biography →
MedinaRead biography →
Qusay ibn KilabQusay ibn Kilab, the Quraysh leader who united the clans around the Ka’bah, took the keys of the Ka’bah and the rule of Mecca, and introduced the Dar al-Nadwa.Read biography →
Zayd ibn Al-HarithaRead biography →

The Rightly Guided Caliphs

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أبو بكر الصديقAbu Bakr as-Siddiq ﵁First Rashidun caliph (11–13 AH / 632–634 CE). Before he became caliph, before he became as-Siddiq, before he became ʿAteeq, he was a boy in Makkah. A boy of the Banu Taym, a handful of years younger than the son of ʿAbdullah from the Banu Hashim who would later become the Messenger of Allah ﷻ. He grew up in the same dusty streets, drank from…Read biography →
علي بن أبي طالبʿAli ibn Abi Talib ﵁Fourth Rashidun caliph (35–40 AH / 656–661 CE). In Ramadan of the year 40, ʿAli ibn Abi Talib ﵁ stepped out of his house for the fajr prayer in the Masjid al-Aʿzam of Kufa. At the door of the mosque stood a man with a poisoned sword. The blow that struck him at the crown of his forehead brought him to Allah ﷻ two days later. With his death ended the era of the…Read biography →
عمر بن الخطابʿUmar ibn al-Khattab ﵁Second Rashidun caliph (13–23 AH / 634–644 CE). We have now followed him into his death, and we have followed him in his succession. We saw him die at the Fajr prayer, we saw his grave opened beside the Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr ﵁ in the chamber of ʿAʾishah ﵂, and we saw the Shura of Six appoint ʿUthman ibn ʿAffan ﵁ as the third caliph. But…Read biography →
عثمان بن عفانʿUthman ibn ʿAffan ﵁Third Rashidun caliph (23–35 AH / 644–656 CE). In the previous article we followed ʿUthman ibn ʿAffan ﵁ through his encirclement. We followed the three ways out that al-Mughirah ibn Shuʿbah ﵁ proposed to him, and his threefold refusal of them. We followed his appeal to the Badr veterans from the upper floor, his ten stored-up virtues with his Lord ﷻ, the…Read biography →

History of Islam in West Africa

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عبد الله بن فوديAbdullahi dan Fodio ﵀Jurist, poet, emir of Gwandu (1766 – 1828) — The younger brother who wrote the legal manuals and halted halfway through the advance on Alkalawa, because what he saw his young commanders doing in the name of *jihad* was no longer wha…Read biography →
أحمد بابا التنبكتيAhmad Baba al-Timbukti ﵀Sankoré scholar, polymath, author of the Mi'rāj al-Ṣu'ūd (1556 – 1627) — The scholar who, from a Moroccan cell, wrote a fatwa with which Afro-Caribbean Muslims still defend their dignity today.Read biography →
الحاج محمد أسكياAskia Muhammad IRuler of Songhai at its zenith, founder of the Askia dynasty (c. 1443 – 1538 (r. 1493 – 1528)) — He took an empire from a tyrant and gave it a constitution.Read biography →
أيوب سليمان ديالوAyuba Suleiman Diallo ﵀Fulani scholar from Bundu, enslaved in Maryland, ransomed and brought to London, returned to Senegal (c.Read biography →
بلالي محمدBilali Muhammad ﵀Fulani Muslim from Futa Jallon, plantation overseer on Sapelo Island, author of the Arabic "Bilali Document" (c. 1770 – c.Read biography →
عمر تال الفوتيEl Hadj Umar Tall ﵀Toucouleur-Fulani scholar, Tijani khalifa for West Africa, jihad leader (c. 1794 – 1864) — The Tijani khalifa who returned from Medina with a mandate to reform all of West Africa, and ended by destroying more Muslim states than pagan ones.Read biography →
ابن بطوطةIbn Battuta ﵀Maliki jurist and traveler, author of the Rihla (1304 – 1368/1369) — He traveled farther than anyone before him. He wrote more honestly than many after him.Read biography →
إدريس ألوماIdris Alooma ﵀Mai of Kanem-Bornu, military reformer, diplomatic partner of the Ottomans (r. c. 1564 – 1596) — The Mai who wrote a letter to Istanbul, had Tripoli supply musketeers, and built a capital on Lake Chad whose walls only…Read biography →
منسا موسىMansa MusaRuler of the Mali Empire at its zenith (c. 1280 – c. 1337) — The richest man the medieval world ever knew, and at the same time the most sparing with his own word.Read biography →
محمد بلوMuhammad Bello ﵀Second caliph of Sokoto, historian and administrator (1781 – 1837) — His father had lit the fire; to him fell the hardest task.Read biography →
محمد المغيليMuhammad al-Maghili ﵀Maliki jurist, adviser to the Askia and the Hausa rulers (c. 1440 – c. 1505) — The jurist from Tlemcen whose answers to a Songhai emperor dictated the law under which the Sahel was governed for centuries.Read biography →
نانا أسماء بنت عثمانNana Asma'u bint Usman ﵀Scholar, poet, founder of the 'Yan Taru women's-ulama network (1793 – 1864) — The daughter of the *shehu*, the sister of the caliph, and in her own right the most prolific female *alima* West Africa has ever produced.Read biography →
عمر بن سعيدOmar ibn Said ﵀Fulani scholar, enslaved in North Carolina, author of the only surviving Arabic slave narrative from the antebellum US South (c.Read biography →
أحمد لبوSeku Amadu ﵀Seku Amadu (Ahmad Lobbo), the Fulani cleric who won at Noukouma in 1818, founded Hamdullahi in 1820 and led the Massina Imamate until his death in 1845.Read biography →
سوندياتا كيتاSundiata KeitaFounder of the Mali Empire (c. 1217 – c. 1255) — A boy who could not walk became king of a world. His name is still sung today by the griots of the Niger.Read biography →
سني عليSunni Ali BerSunni Ali Ber (r. 1464–1492), founder of the Songhai Empire: the capture of Timbuktu in 1468, his feud with the ulama of Sankoré and the rise of Askia Muhammad.Read biography →
عثمان بن فوديUsman dan Fodio ﵀Founder of the Sokoto Caliphate (1754 – 1817) — A Fulani scholar who waited thirty years before drawing the sword and then, when forced, set in motion the largest Islamic state of precolonial Africa.Read biography →

Other

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عبد الله بن عباسAbdullah ibn Abbas ﵁When Abdullah ibn Abbas ﵁ was born, three years before the Hijra in the shadow of the boycott of Banu Hashim, Mecca was not yet the city of revelation it would later become. His mother Umm al-Fadl carried him to the Prophet ﷺ, who took the newborn in his arms, in his…Read biography →
أبو هريرة الدوسيAbu Hurayra ad-Dawsi ﵁In the southwestern hills of Yemen, among the tribe of Daws, a boy tended his family's sheep. In his sleeve he carried a kitten. His birth name has come down differently through the biographical sources; ad-Dhahabi ﵀ mentions some thirty variants, with the most…Read biography →
همام بن منبهHammam ibn Munabbih ﵀The fifth article of the Hadith map describes a thin parchment manuscript that was recovered in 1953 by Muhammad Hamidullah, through painstaking work, from two libraries. Damascus, Berlin. Two fragments that together formed a single document: the Sahifa as-Sahiha, the true…Read biography →
مالك بن أنسImam Malik ibn Anas ﵀In the seventeenth article of the Hadith map stands a book that is older than the six canonical collections. A book that Imam ash-Shafi'i ﵀ himself, centuries before the modern canonization, called "the most authentic book after the Book of Allah ﷻ". A book that Imam…Read biography →
محمد مصطفى الأعظميMohammad Mustafa Azami ﵀In a village in Uttar Pradesh, in northern India, a boy was born in 1932 with the name Muhammad Mustafa al-Azami. His family belonged to the A'zamgarh branch, an Indian Muslim community with deep ties to the Deobandi and the Nadwatul Ulama tradition. His early…Read biography →
محمد بن إسماعيل البخاريMuhammad ibn Isma'il al-Bukhari ﵀In a house in Bukhara, east of the Oxus, a boy named Muhammad ibn Isma'il was born in 194 AH / 810 CE. His father Isma'il, a pious merchant and student of hadith, died when Muhammad was still an infant. His mother, a woman of deep…Read biography →
محمد بن شهاب الزهريMuhammad ibn Shihab al-Zuhri ﵀In the eighth article of the Hadith map stands a name that appears in every classical isnad of early fiqh and sira: Muhammad ibn Muslim ibn Shihab az-Zuhri ﵀. With Imam Malik ﵀ in the Muwatta', with Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal ﵀ in the Musnad, with al-Bukhari ﵀ and Muslim ﵀ in their Sahih collections: everywhere his name returns as a link in the chain of transmission.Read biography →
مسلم بن الحجاجMuslim ibn al-Hajjaj ﵀In the city of Nishapur, east of the Iranian plateau on the old Silk Road, a boy was born in 204 AH / 819 CE into a prosperous family of wool merchants. His name was Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj al-Qushayri an-Naysaburi ﵀. The Qushayri branch of his…Read biography →
عمر بن عبد العزيزUmar ibn Abd al-Aziz ﵀In the history of the Umayyad empire, one name stands apart. Not because he conquered more territory, not because he died richer, and certainly not because his dynasty placed him on the throne unchallenged. His name stands apart because, alone among the Umayyads, he was…Read biography →