Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz
Umayyad caliph remembered for his justice and piety
عمر بن عبد العزيزr. 717–720Profile coming soon
People of History
The travellers of the caravan
Rulers and scholars, scientists and travellers, and women who changed the course of their age. Each is marked with an emblem, never a portrait. Their profiles are being written.
Caliphs & rulers
Those who governed, built and defended, across many centuries and lands.
Harun al-Rashid
Abbasid caliph in Baghdad at the height of its golden age
هارون الرشيدr. 786–809Profile coming soon
Salahuddin al-Ayyubi
Founder of the Ayyubid dynasty; retook Jerusalem in 1187
صلاح الدين الأيوبيd. 1193Profile coming soon
Mansa Musa
Ruler of the Mali Empire, famed for his Hajj of 1324
r. c. 1312–1337Profile coming soon
Mehmed II
Ottoman sultan who conquered Constantinople in 1453
محمد الفاتح1432–1481Profile coming soon
Suleiman the Magnificent
Ottoman sultan, known as al-Qanuni, “the Lawgiver”
سليمان القانونيr. 1520–1566Profile coming soon
Scholars
The imams of law and hadith, and the thinkers whose books are still taught today.
Imam Abu Hanifah
Jurist of Kufah; the Hanafi school is named after him
أبو حنيفةd. 767 · 150 AHProfile coming soon
Imam Malik ibn Anas
Scholar of Madinah and author of al-Muwatta
مالك بن أنسd. 795 · 179 AHProfile coming soon
Imam ash-Shafi’i
Jurist who laid the foundations of usul al-fiqh
الشافعيd. 820 · 204 AHProfile coming soon
Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal
Scholar of hadith and compiler of the Musnad
أحمد بن حنبلd. 855 · 241 AHProfile coming soon
Imam al-Bukhari
Compiler of the Sahih al-Bukhari
البخاريd. 870 · 256 AHProfile coming soon
Imam al-Ghazali
Theologian and jurist; author of Ihya Ulum al-Din
الغزاليd. 1111 · 505 AHProfile coming soon
Scientists & thinkers
Mathematics, medicine, optics and the study of history itself.
al-Khwarizmi
Mathematician whose book on al-jabr gave algebra its name
الخوارزميc. 780–c. 850Profile coming soon
Ibn Sina
Physician and philosopher; author of the Canon of Medicine
ابن سيناc. 980–1037Profile coming soon
Ibn al-Haytham
Pioneer of optics and of testing ideas by experiment
ابن الهيثمc. 965–c. 1040Profile coming soon
al-Zahrawi
Surgeon of Córdoba; author of the medical encyclopaedia al-Tasrif
الزهراويc. 936–1013Profile coming soon
Ibn Khaldun
Historian and author of the Muqaddimah
ابن خلدون1332–1406Profile coming soon
Women who shaped history
Founders, benefactors and rulers whose work outlived them by centuries.
Fatimah al-Fihri
Founded the Qarawiyyin mosque in Fez in 859, later a famous seat of learning
فاطمة الفهريةfounded 859Profile coming soon
Zubaydah bint Ja’far
Abbasid princess who funded wells along the Hajj road from Iraq to Makkah
زبيدة بنت جعفرd. 831Profile coming soon
Shajar al-Durr
Ruled Egypt as sultan in 1250, at the start of the Mamluk age
شجر الدرd. 1257Profile coming soon
Travellers & explorers
They crossed deserts and oceans, and wrote down what they saw.
Ibn Battuta
Moroccan traveller who set out in 1325 and journeyed for nearly thirty years
ابن بطوطة1304–c. 1369Profile coming soon
Ibn Jubayr
Andalusian traveller who recorded his Hajj journey of 1183–1185
ابن جبير1145–1217Profile coming soon
Zheng He
Chinese Muslim admiral who led great voyages across the Indian Ocean, 1405–1433
c. 1371–1433Profile coming soon
Why emblems, not portraits
We do not draw people
Across Prophetic Footsteps, every person is marked with an eight-pointed star and an initial, coloured by their era. The story is told in their deeds and their words, not in an imagined face.