The College of Education Ibn Rushd for Humanities at the University of Baghdad held a discussion of a master’s thesis entitled “The Biography of Ahl al-Bayt (Peace Be Upon Them) through Ibn Tulun’s The Twelve Imams (d. 953 AH / 1546 AD)”, submitted by Maha Jamal Shimal, a researcher in the Department of History, specializing in Islamic History.
The discussion committee was chaired by Prof. Dr. Wasan Samin Mohammed, with Prof. Dr. Ghaniya Yasser Kabashi serving as a member and supervisor, and Prof. Dr. Wasan Ibrahim Hussein as a member. Prof. Dr. Asmaa Awad Atiya from the College of Basic Education at Al-Mustansiriyah University also joined the committee as an external member.
The study aimed to provide an extensive examination of Ibn Tulun’s book The Twelve Imams and to explore his methodology in presenting the biographies of Ahl al-Bayt (Peace Be Upon Them).
The research reached several conclusions, most notably that Ibn Tulun al-Dimashqi al-Salihi was a prolific Hanafi scholar who lived in Damascus during the tenth century AH and authored more than seven hundred works. His methodology in The Twelve Imams was characterized by compilation, documentation, and moderation, away from sectarian bias. His objective was not to engage in polemics, but rather to present the biographies of Ahl al-Bayt as part of the shared Islamic heritage, drawing on both Sunni and Shi’a sources while maintaining scholarly accuracy.
