Nur al-Din al-Salimi

Nur al-Dīn al-Sālimī (; AH, 1869–1914 CE; full name Nur al-Dīn Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥumayd ibn Sullūm al-Sālimī) was an Omani historian and scholar noted for his expertise in Ibāḍī Islam. Al-Sālimī is a very important figure in Oman with reference to his publications. Among his publications are Tuḥfat al-Aʿyān bi-sīrat ahl ʿUmān and Talqīn al-ṣibyān. Both references are taught in public schools.

Biography

Al-Sālimī was born near Rustaq, in al-Ḥawqayn, and was at first educated mainly by his father, followed by tuition by various Omani scholars, gaining particular expertise in Ibāḍī Islam. Around the age of twelve he became blind. Al-Sālimī composed at least twenty-two works, including Talqīn al-ṣibyān, a book of instruction for children in Ibāḍī religion. and especially for his history of Oman, Tuḥfat al-Aʿyān bi-sīrat ahl ʿUmān, completed around 1913, shortly before his death. The work only appeared in print in 1928, edited by Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm Aṭfayyish, son of al-Sālimī's collaborator Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf Aṭfayyish (1236-1332/1820-1914), a noted Mzābi scholar and activist.

The Tuḥfat al-Aʿyān is noted for bringing together the manuscript sources composed up to al-Sālimī's time, for providing thorough citations and accurate quotations, and for being comprehensive in presenting available information about Oman; at the same time, the work is in the style of traditional Omani history-writing rather than modern history-writing. The work was influential on later scholars. On the other hand, the history has been seen as promoting al-Sālimī's ibādī politics.

Biography Al-Sālimī's son Muḥammad continued his father's Tuḥfat al-Aʿyān down to the death of Imām Muḥammad bin ʿAbd Allāh al-Khalīlī in 1954 in a work entitled Nahḍat al-aʿyān bi-ḥurriyyat ʿUmān (published in Cairo), and in this including a long biography of al-Sālimī.