Ali ibn Abi Talib, Vol. 1
Ibn Kathīr opens the fourth caliphate with a withered hand: Ṭalḥa pledges first with the arm ruined at Uḥud shielding the Prophet, and a bystander reads it as an omen. Al-Zubayr says he pledged only with the rope at his neck. Within months both are dead at the Camel — a battle Ibn Kathīr shows was settled by negotiation and then started in the dark by men who said aloud that peace would destroy them. Four years follow in which the community's best fight one another: Ṣiffīn, where seventy men of Badr stood on the field and two brothers by one mother met in the line and turned away; ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir, past ninety, killed by the party the Prophet had named in advance; the Qurʾāns raised on spear points, and an army that forced its own caliph to halt at the moment of victory and was told afterwards that it had been tricked and had let itself be tricked. Then the arbitration, where the honest man spoke first and the able man spoke second. Then the men who had demanded that arbitration called it disbelief, walked out twelve thousand strong, and murdered a Companion's son and his pregnant wife after scrupling over a stolen date. At Nahrawān they were met under a banner of safety that thousands accepted; asked afterwards whether they were idolaters or hypocrites, ʿAlī answered: our brothers, who transgressed against us. Sixty-nine chapters, half of them the case itself — fourteen Companions' hadiths on the Khārijites, twelve routes from ʿAlī alone, with their chains and their differing wordings. And the verdict is given by ʿĀʾisha, who fought him at the Camel: she sends to Kūfa for sworn witnesses, reads their testimony, weeps, and says, God have mercy on ʿAlī; he was upon the truth. English and Arabic, with al-Ḥuṣarī reciting every verse.
Imam Ibn Kathīr
Monumental history Al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah, the world's most widely read Qurʾanic commentary, and the classical Stories of the Prophets.
al-Maktaba al-Shāmila
The Arabic text we work from matches al-Maktaba al-Shāmila verbatim — the most comprehensive digital library of classical Arabic-Islamic scholarship, used by academic researchers and traditional ʿulamāʾ alike. The original Arabic will be published in BookKit (launching in a future release).
The author is deceased well before 1924, placing the original work firmly in the public domain worldwide. The translation that follows is an original editorial work of Joyful Muslims.
Joyful Muslims editorial team
Translated in-house from the Arabic manuscript. Each chapter passes through at least two reviewers — one focused on accuracy against the Arabic, one on English readability. Where the two are in tension, accuracy wins.
The full, unabridged English translation will be published alongside the Arabic in BookKit, launching in a future release. The audiobook adaptation — same translation, adjusted for listening — is what plays in the app today.
Narrated with care
The narration observes Islamic textual traditions — the pronunciation of Arabic names, the correct honorifics (ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam, raḍiya Allāhu ʿanh), and the weight each passage should carry. Every word is aligned to the source text so readers in the app can follow along word by word.
Joyful Muslims
Every subscription funds the continued translation, narration, and free release of new canonical works into the library. Audio is the vessel; preservation is the purpose.
Listen to Ali ibn Abi Talib, Vol. 1
The first three minutes are free on the web. The full book opens in the app.