Allama Shibli Nomani

Allama Shibli Nomani (1857–1914) was a scholar, historian, poet and critic from Azamgarh in British India. He founded what became Shibli National College in Azamgarh and the Darul Musannifin (House of Writers) there, and wrote in Urdu, Persian and Arabic.

His histories and biographies — Al-Farooq on Caliph Umar, Seerat-un-Numan on Imam Abu Hanifa and Al-Mamun on the Abbasid caliph — helped shape modern Urdu prose on Islamic history. He gathered material for a full life of the Prophet (peace be upon him) but completed only the first two volumes of Seerat-un-Nabi before his death; the work was continued by his student Syed Sulaiman Nadvi.