Knud Holmboe, born in 1902 in Horsens, Denmark, was interested in religion and philosophy in his youth, and he converted from Protestantism to Catholicism in 1921. In 1924, he traveled to Morocco seeking deeper religious knowledge.

During his time in Morocco, he converted to Islam in 1925 and changed his name to Ali Ahmed. When he traveled to Egypt in 1930, he was shocked by the violence of colonialism and wrote a famous book about Italian colonists committing ethnic cleansing against Muslims.

In 1931, as he journeyed to Makkah, he stopped in Amman to buy a camel to travel to Aqaba. While he was waiting for the permit to go to Makkah, he was killed under mysterious circumstances in October 1931 before his 30th birthday. Some people accused Italy of the crime.