A Review of Abu Talib's entry in the Encyclopedia of Islam published by Leiden

Abu Talib is one of the most pivotal figures in the history of Islam, who was influential in many events of the Prophet's (PBUH) era, especially during the period of the Prophet's mission. It seems that knowing his role in the developments of the time of Bi’that is a measure to know the position of the family of the Prophet (PBUH) in the fruition of the mission. The main focus of the research is that what image do the authors of the Leiden edition of the Encyclopaedia of Islam, which is the most famous and complete encyclopedia about Islam  depict about Abu Talib? In this article, by examining the contents of the three articles of Abu Talib written by Buhl, Watt and Rubin, it was shown that none of these three articles are encyclopedic type as they should be. These articles not only did not use the proper sources and researches of Muslims, especially Shiites, but they do not even reflect the works and researches of Westerners about Abu Talib. These articles are clearly inclined to the thoughts and opinions of Sunnis; While the main purpose of encyclopedia articles is to avoid sectarian biases and organize and reflect the latest and most important information available from that entry in the researches.