One theory is that the name comes from the plural of the Arabic word for obelisk masalla which is masallat, because the city is the home of 22 tall buildings called qasaba.

Others speculate that the name comes from the Arabic word salt (scrubbing), which also has the more specific meaning of 'scrubbing olive from its tree', with the M at the beginning being a variant of the Himyarite definite article am-.

Anti-Jewish riots erupted in Tripolitania, then part of British-administered Libya, in November 1945 against the backdrop of general economic difficulties, and in al-Kusbat, many Jews converted to Islam to protect themselves from being massacred.

Msallata is divided into the districts of Qasabath, Cendara, Wadnah, Banilathe, Zafran, Algaleel, Elwatah, Akasha, Al-Hadirat, Al-Shafeen, Zawiyat as-Samah, Banimeslem, Gereem, Ghrarat, Mrad, Al-Swadnyah and Al-Zarruq.

The city has a branch of Almergheb University of Arts, a medical technical school, a religious sciences college, and an engineering faculty.

Government troops controlled the roads leading into the town, had cut off electricity and communications and had begun arresting people in the suburbs.