1. Issues in the Biographies of Muhammad
1. Sources written long after Muhammad’s
death
2. Biographies as contextualisation and
defence of Qur’an and Islam
3. Muhammad as ideal figure and exemplar

2. 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 into
quarrel with Malik ibn Anas (d. 795) and
had to leave. Eventually settled in Baghdad.
Scholars during life and after divided on his
reliability.

3. Ibn Ishaq (b. Medina c. 704, d. Baghdad 767)
Works: Al-Sira al-Nabawiyya (biography of
the Prophet)
Kitab al-Khulafa’ (book on the caliphs)
Sunan (book of hadith [stories] of
Prophet and companions, guide for life)
Sunan lost. Others survive through other writers’
works. Sira preserved in version edited by
Ibn Hisham (d. 828 or 833) and in other
works, including history of al-Tabari

4. isnad = chain of transmitters
qara’a = to read/to recite

5. Al-Tabari (b. Amul 839, d. Baghdad 923)
Abu Ja‘far Muhammad ibn Jarir ibn Yazid
al-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 in
official position.

6. Al-Tabari (b. Amul 839, d. Baghdad 923)
Comprehensive user of sources, but also uses
own judgment.
Works: many, including:
Mukhtasar Ta’rikh al-Rusul wa’l-Muluk
wa’l-Khulafa’ (universal history from
creation to vols; original was
ten times that!)
Jami‘ al-Bayan ‘an Ta’wil al-Qur’an
(commentary on Qur’an, finished )

7. mi‘raj (miraculous
night journey)