Issues in the Biographies of Muhammad

1. Sources written long after Muhammad’sdeath

2. Biographies as contextualisation anddefence of Qur’an and Islam

3. Muhammad as ideal figure and exemplar

Ibn Ishaq (b. Medina c. 704, d. Baghdad 767)

Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Yasar ibn Khiyar

Scholar from family of story-transmitters

Studied in Alexandria and Medina. Got intoquarrel with Malik ibn Anas (d. 795) andhad to leave. Eventually settled in Baghdad.

Scholars during life and after divided on hisreliability.

Ibn Ishaq (b. Medina c. 704, d. Baghdad 767)

Works: Al-Sira al-Nabawiyya (biography ofthe Prophet)Kitab al-Khulafa’ (book on the caliphs)Sunan (book of hadith [stories] ofProphet and companions, guide for life)

Sunan lost. Others survive through other writers’works. Sira preserved in version edited byIbn Hisham (d. 828 or 833) and in otherworks, including history of al-Tabari

isnad = chain of transmitters

qara’a = to read/to recite

Al-Tabari (b. Amul 839, d. Baghdad 923)

Abu Ja‘far Muhammad ibn Jarir ibn Yazidal-Tabari

Son of prosperous landowner. Child prodigy.

Left home at 12 to seek scholars to learn from.Travelled widely. Settled in Baghdad.

Wrote on history, Qur’anic interpretation,jurisprudence. Taught, but never inofficial position.

Al-Tabari (b. Amul 839, d. Baghdad 923)

Comprehensive user of sources, but also usesown judgment.

Works: many, including:

Mukhtasar Ta’rikh al-Rusul wa’l-Mulukwa’l-Khulafa’ (universal history fromcreation to 915. 12.5 vols; original wasten times that!)Jami‘ al-Bayan ‘an Ta’wil al-Qur’an(commentary on Qur’an, finished 896-903)

mi‘raj (miraculousnight journey)