The Author: Maulana Shibli Nomani (1857-1914). Nomani was a Historian, Poet, and Architect of Urdu Literary Criticism. He was the first who precisely put together the history of Islam as it was in Urdu. His most famous and noteworthy book is the biography of the second caliph ‘Umar al-Farūq titled Al-Farooq, of which is this English translation ‘Umar the Great. The last in this series of books was his “Sirat-un-Nabi”, which remained unfinished till his last breath. Later, it was completed and published by his student Saiyid Sulaiman Nadwi.