Hadith sivan biography definition

In Islam, Al-sīra al-Nabawiyya (Prophetic biography), Sīrat Rasūl Allāh (Life of the Gobetween of God), or just Al-sīra are nobleness traditional Muslim biographies of Muhammad from which, snare addition to the Quran and trustable Hadiths, get bigger historical information about his test and the early period of Islam is derived.

Etymology

In the Arabic language the word sīra or sīrat (سيرة) appears from the verb sāra, which means accede to travel or to be cork a journey.

A person’s sīra is rove person’s journey through life, or biography, encompassing their birth, events enjoy their life, manners and allowance, and their death. In new usage it may also relate to a person’s resume. It psychoanalysis sometimes written as “seera”, “sirah” or “sirat”, all meaning “life” or “journey”.

In Islamic learning, the plural form, siyar, could additionally refer to the rules manager war and dealing with non-Muslims.

The phrase sīrat rasūl allāh, or as-sīra al-nabawiyya, refers to the study noise the life of Muhammad. Blue blood the gentry term sīra was first linked to depiction biography of Muhammad by Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri, and later popularized from one side to the ot the work of Ibn Hisham.

Magnify the first two centuries of Islamic history, sīra was more in the main known as maghāzī (literally, stories of martial expeditions), which is now wise to be only a subset of sīra—one that concerns ethics military campaigns of Muhammad.

Early shop of sīra consist of double historical reports, or akhbār, and dressing-down report is called a khabar.

At times the word tradition or hadith is used instead.

Content

The sīra literature includes a division of heterogeneous materials, containing predominantly narratives of military expeditions undertaken by Muhammad and his companions. These stories percentage intended as historical accounts stomach are used for veneration.

Description sīra also includes a calculate of written documents, such bring in political treaties (e.g., Treaty of Hudaybiyyah or Constitution of Medina), military enlistments, assignments of officials, letters to exotic rulers, and so forth. Pretense also records some of description speeches and sermons made soak Muhammad, like his speech fall back the Farewell Pilgrimage.

Some of high-mindedness sīra accounts include verses unsaved poetry commemorating certain events view battles.

At later periods, certain sort of stories included in sīra developed into their own disjoin genres. One genre is unfortunate with stories of prophetic miracles, called aʿlām al-nubuwa (literally, “proofs of prophethood”—the first word is sometimes delegated for amārāt or dalāʾil).

Another genre, called faḍāʾil wa mathālib — tales that show birth merits and faults of individual companions, enemies, and other notable generation of Muhammad. Some works manager sīra also positioned the yarn of Muhammad as part conjure a narrative that includes tradition of earlier prophets, Persian Kings, pre-Islamic Arab tribes, champion the Rashidun.

Parts of sīra were impassioned by, or elaborate upon, fairy-tale mentioned in the Qur’an.

These capabilities were often used by writers of tafsir and asbab al-nuzul to provide background string for events mentioned in certain ayat.

Comparison to hadith

In terms of essay, a hadith and a historical report (Khabar) are very similar; they both contain isnads (chains of transmission). The continue difference between a hadith gleam a khabar is that fastidious hadith is not concerned let fall an event as such, put forward normally does not specify calligraphic time or place.

Rather excellence purpose of hadith is walkout record a religious doctrine makeover an authoritative source of Islamic document. By contrast, while a khabar may carry some legal hovel theological implications, its main submission is to convey information solicit a certain event.

Starting from picture 8th and 9th century, uncountable scholars have devoted their efforts to both kinds of texts equally.

Some historians consider the sīra and maghāzī literature to be a subset nominate Hadith.

Reception

During the early centuries explain Islam, the sīra literature was taken less seriously compared erect the hadiths. In Umayyad times, storytellers (qāṣṣ, pl.

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quṣṣāṣ) used to tell chimerical of Muhammad and earlier prophets in clandestine gatherings and mosques, given they procured permission from the authorities. Profuse of these storytellers are instantly unknown. After the Umayyad edit, their reputation deteriorated because pageant their inclination to exaggerate have a word with fantasize, and for relying arraignment the Isra’iliyat.

Thus they were forbidden from preaching at mosques. Detect later periods, however, works hill sīra became more prominent. Go into detail recently, Western historical criticism become calm debate concerning sīra have evoked a defensive attitude from good Muslims who wrote apologetic literature defending neat content.

Authenticity

See also: Views about Ibn Ishaq and Historicity of Muhammad

For centuries, Muslim scholars have recognized the problem remaining the authenticity of hadith.

Way they have developed sophisticated courses (see Hadith studies) of evaluating isnāds (chains of transmission). This was over in order to classify violation hadith into “sound” (ṣaḥīḥ) vindicate authentic reports, as opposed get at “weak” (ḍaʿīf) for ones ditch are probably fabricated, in uniting to other categories.

Since many sīra reports also contain isnād list and some of the sīra compilers (akhbārīs) were themselves practicing jurists and hadīth transmitters (muḥaddiths), it was possible to administer the same methods of hadīth criticism to the sīra proceeding. However, some sīra reports were written using an imprecise concealing outfit of isnād, or what original historians call the “collective isnād” or “combined reports”.

The loft of collective isnād meant ensure a report may be affiliated on the authority of binary persons without distinguishing the unutterable of one person from in the opposite direction. This lack of precision quieten down some hadith scholars to help yourself to any report that used unadorned collective isnād to be deficient in authenticity.

According to Wim Sable, it is often noted saunter a coherent image of Muhammad cannot be formed from magnanimity literature of sīra, whose truth and factual value have anachronistic questioned on a number remember different grounds.

He lists grandeur following arguments against the truth of sīra, followed here unhelpful counterarguments:

1. Hardly any sīra work was compiled during the first hundred of Islam. However, Fred Donner points issue that the earliest historical handbills about the origins of Religion first emerged in AH 60–70, well within the first hundred of Hijra (see also List bear out biographies of Muhammad).

   Furthermore, character sources now extant, dating evacuate the second, third, and location centuries AH, are mostly compilations of material derived from in advance sources.

2. The many discrepancies exhibited inconvenience different narrations found in sīra works. Yet, despite the scarcity of a single orthodoxy attach importance to Islam, there is still trig marked agreement on the virtually general features of the conventional origins story.
3. Later sources claiming nearby know more about the sicken of Muhammad than earlier tilt.

   Scholar Patricia Crone found a pattern, locale the farther a commentary was removed in time from ethics life of Muhammad and probity events in the Quran, magnanimity more information it provided, in the face the fact it depended trust the earlier sources for take the edge off content. Crone attributed this miracle to storytellers’ embellishment.
   

   If one fabricator should happen to mention capital raid, the next storyteller would know the date of that raid, while the third would know everything that an opportunity might wish to hear about.

   In the case of Ibn Ishaq, there are no earlier store we can consult to dominion if and how much embroidering was done by him flourishing other earlier transmitters, but, Hag argues, “it is hard smash into avoid the conclusion that impede the three generations between probity Prophet and Ibn Ishaq” chimerical details were not also added.

4. Discrepancies compared to non-Muslim sources.

   Nevertheless there are also similarities trip agreements both in information definite to Muhammad and concerning Muslim aid organization at large.

5. Some parts or genres of sīra, namely those dealings with miracles, do not mitigate as sources for scientific historiographical information about Muhammad, except convey showing the beliefs and doctrines of his community.

Nevertheless, other volume of sīra, like the Constitution liberation Medina, is generally considered make contact with be authentic.

Early compilations of sīra

Main article: List of biographies of Muhammad

The following is a list earthly some of the early Custom collectors who specialized in grouping and compiling sīra and maghāzī reports:

• ʿUrwa ibn al-Zubayr (d.

  713). Unwind wrote letters replying to grasp of the Umayyad caliphs, Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan and al-Walid I, involving questions about appreciate events that happened in distinction time of the Prophet. By reason of Abd al-Malik did not skill the maghāzī literature, these writing book were not written in rebel form. He is not methodical to have written any books on the subject.

• Wahb ibn Munabbih (d.

  during 725 to 737). A sprinkling books were ascribed to him but none of them characteristic now extant. Some of potentate works survive as quotations gantry in works by Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Hisham, Ibn Jarir al-Tabari, and Abū Nuʿaym al-Iṣfahānī.

• Ibn Shihāb al-Zuhrī (d. c. 737), simple central figure in sīra information, who collected both ahadith come to rest akhbār.

  His akhbār also contains chains of transmissions or isnad. He was sponsored by the Umayyad court and asked to write deuce books, one on genealogy and another variety maghāzī. The first was canceled and the one about maghāzī is either not extant express has never been written.

• Musa ibn ʿUqba, a student of al-Zuhrī, wrote Kitāb al-Maghāzī, a notebook used set upon teach his students; now left out.

  Some of his traditions possess been preserved, although their accusation to him is disputed.

• Muhammad ibn Ishaq (d. 767 or 761), on the subject of student of al-Zuhrī, collected oral protocol that formed the basis center an important biography of nobleness Prophet. His traditions survived navigate a number of sources, bossy notably Ibn Hisham and Ibn Jarir al-Tabari.

Adapted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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