Sayyid Ahmad Zayni Dahlan أحمد بن زيني دحلان

Sayyid Ahmad ibn Zayni Dahlan rahimahullah (1232-1304 AH / 1816-1886 CE) was the foremost Shafi'i mufti and scholar of Makka during his era and a recognized authority within the traditional Sunni discipline of sira. He authored and personally published numerous works across the Islamic sciences and Islamic history. Among his most celebrated contributions is his four-volume al-Sira al-Nabawiyya, a foundational Prophetic biography written in the late-Ottoman Hijazi scholarly tradition, which has been widely studied and cited by later scholars. His works reflect the classical Sunni scholarly heritage of the Hijaz, and he remains a key reference in traditional circles for both legal and historical knowledge.