As one of the most prominent figures in the history of Islam, Aboutaleb has played an influential role in many events of the life of the Holy Prophet PBUH, especially during the prophetic mission )Besat period(. It seems that Understanding the role of the Prophet during the period of the prophetic mission provides a criterion for understanding the status of the family of the Prophet in fulfilling the mission. The main issue of the research is that the authors of the Leiden Encyclopedia of Islam, as the most famous and comprehensive collection on Islam, what features and characteristics do they enumerate for Aboutaleb.
A closer look at the three editions of Aboutaleb entry written by Boehl, Watt, and Rubin reveals that none of these three articles were written in an encyclopedic manner. Not only have they not used the suitable resources and research of Muslims, especially Shiites, they have not even been successful in expressing the views of Western scholars on the character of Aboutaleb. Although the prominent purpose of encyclopedia articles is to avoid sectarian bias and to express the latest and most important information, the research mentioned above is clearly based on Sunni ideas and opinions.