"I want to translate The Epistle of Forgiveness by Al-Ma'arri..."

The H.B. Jassin Center for Literary Documentation in Jakarta has records of at least 22 books translated by Ali Audah, the Indonesian writer and translator. Many of those were authored by Egyptian writer Husain Haikal. Besides The History of the Life of Muhammad, books by Haikal that Ali translated include works on Umar bin Khattab, Abu Bakr as-Siddiq and Usman bin Affan. Ali completed this series himself by writing about Ali bin Abi Thalib, as Haikal had already passed away.

Ali has also translated short stories by Middle Eastern authors. These books include Kisah-kisah Mesir (a collection of stories by Egyptian writers, 1977) and Di Bawah Jembatan Gantung (a collection of short stories from Algeria, 1983). So too has Ali taken on French writer Andr Gide's work, including his books Theseus (1979) and Oedipus (1979). "I assumed Ali translated the works of Andr Gide directly from the French," wrote Rahayu S. Hidayat, a professor of French literature, in the book 90 Years of Ali Audah. Rahayu had that impression because Ali's translations were so good.