Ali Muhammad al-Sallabi, or al-Salabi (Arabic: علي محمد الصلابي; born 1963 in Benghazi) is a Muslim historian, religious scholar and Islamist[1][2] politician from Libya.

He then studied in Qatar under Yusuf al-Qaradawi and returned to Libya during the 2011 overthrow of Gaddafi and distributed weapons, money, and aid to Islamist groups in the country.

Sallabi was placed under the Terrorist watch list and issued a travel ban by a number of Arab Nations following the 2017 Qatar diplomatic crisis.

[4] In 2004 Belhadj was arrested by Malaysian officials upon his arrival at the Kuala Lumpur airport, sent to Thailand upon extraordinary rendition on behalf of the U.S. and then sent back to Libya, where he was detained in harsh conditions for 6 years.

[12] However, The Washington Post columnist Marc Fisher reported that this privileged relationship with the Qatari rulers, that facilitated Qatar's role in ousting Gaddafi, also raised "suspicions among some Libyans about the gulf state's motives.

[2] In a 2011 interview with The Telegraph reporter Richard Spencer, Sallabi stressed that the National Gathering for Freedom, Justice and Development was a nationalist party with a political agenda centered on Libya's culture and the respect for Islamic principles.

The cleric strongly denied his alleged Islamist leanings; yet, Sallabi claimed that the National Gathering intended to base Libya's new constitution on Sharia law.

Qatar's arming of Islamists who were opposed to the secularists in the National Transitional Council was said to be one of the main reasons that the NTC was unable to establish a monopoly on security in the country following the overthrow of Gaddafi.

[3] Several experts and journalists have voiced concerns that Sallabi's relations with the Qatari ruling family was exploited by Qatar to export the country's Wahhabi brand of Sunni Islam.

[15] Just like Saudi Arabia, Qatar has devoted significant efforts to spread Wahhabism around the globe and to win spheres of influence by funding mosques, schools, cultural events, and by devolving billions of dollars in military contracts and real estate investments.