Imam Ibn al-Daybai al-Shaybani وجيه الدين عبد الرحمن بن علي بن الديبع الشيباني الزبيدي

Imam Wajih al-Din Abd al-Rahman ibn Ali Ibn al-Daybai al-Shaybani al-Zubaydi rahimahullah (866-944 AH / 1462-1537 CE) was a Yemeni Shafii scholar of hadith and history, born and trained in the scholarly city of Zabid in the Tihama region of Yemen. He rose to become the leading hadith authority of Zabid in his era and produced substantial works in both hadith criticism and Yemeni history. His Mawlid al-Daybai, composed in the late ninth century AH, ranks among the most widely recited prose mawlid texts in the Sunni world, second only to the Mawlid of al-Barzanji in breadth of circulation. The text weaves Quranic verses, authenticated hadiths, and episodes of the prophetic biography into a flowing rhythmic prose intended for communal recitation in mawlid gatherings. It has enjoyed particular prominence in Yemen and the Hijaz as well as among Hadrami diaspora communities and across the Indian Ocean region.