Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi1 (Arabic: معمر القذافي‎ audio (help·info) Mu‘ammar al-Qaḏāfī; also known simply as Colonel Gaddafi; born 1942) has been the de facto leader of Libya since a coup in 1969.

From 1972, when Gaddafi relinquished the title of prime minister, he has been accorded the honorifics "Guide of the First of September Great Revolution of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya" or "Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution" in government statements and the official press. With the death of Omar Bongo of Gabon on 8 June 2009, he became the third longest serving of all current national leaders. He is also the longest-serving ruler of Libya since Ali Pasha Al Karamanli, who ruled between 1754 and 1795.

Gaddafi was the youngest born into a peasant family. Officially his father was Mohammed Abdul Salam bin Hamed bin Mohammed Al-Gaddafi, known as Abu Meniar (died 1985). His mother is Aisha Bin Niran. Little is known about Gaddafi's childhood. He has said that when he was five years old he had a brother that was killed by an Israeli soldier. However, the claim has been disputed as the IDF was not created until May 26, 1948, when Gaddafi was six. At a young age he was known to his friends as 'al-jamil' or 'the handsome'. He grew up in the desert region of Sirte. He was given a traditional religious primary education and attended the Sebha preparatory school in Fezzan from 1956 to 1961. Gaddafi and a small group of friends that he met in this school went on to form the core leadership of a militant revolutionary group that would eventually seize control of the country. Gaddafi's inspiration was Gamal Abdel Nasser, president of neighboring Egypt, who rose to the presidency by appealing to Arab unity. In 1961, Gaddafi was expelled from Sebha for his political activism.