Muhammad Hamid Allah
- Died
- 1424 AH
- Born in
- -
Muhammad Hamid Allah (d. 1424 AH / 2002 CE) was an Indian Muslim scholar, historian, and legal researcher from Hyderabad, renowned for his documentary and historical research on the life of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and early Islamic governance .
Academic Career and Research
Originating from Hyderabad in India, Muhammad Hamid Allah al-Haydarabadi al-Hindi pursued higher academic studies in Europe and presented his doctoral dissertation in 1935 CE at Sorbonne University in Paris on Muslim diplomacy during the era of the Prophet ﷺ and the Rightly Guided Caliphs . This foundational research served as the basis for his documentary compendium, Majmūʿat al-Wathāʾiq al-Siyāsiyyah lil-ʿAhd al-Nabawī wal-Khilāfah al-Rāshidah (Collection of Political Documents of the Prophetic Era and the Rightly Guided Caliphate), in which he compiled, authenticated, and examined treaties, pacts, and diplomatic correspondences from the pre-Hijra period through the early Caliphate .
Hamid Allah conducted extensive research in manuscript libraries and published multilingual studies in Arabic, French, English, and Urdu across international scholarly journals, including Arabica, the Revue des Études Islamiques, and Islamic Culture in Hyderabad . His studies investigated the discovery and historical authenticity of original letters sent by the Prophet ﷺ to rulers such as the Negus of Abyssinia, al-Muqawqis of Egypt, and al-Mundhir ibn Sāwā of Bahrain . He also produced significant works analyzing early constitutional texts, including The First Written-Constitution in the World, examining the Constitution of Medina and early administrative structures .
Scholarly Standing and Death
Hamid Allah gained wide recognition in both the Islamic world and Western academia for his rigorous historical methodology and contributions to prophetic biography . His extensive French biography, Le Prophète de l'Islam: sa vie et son œuvre (The Prophet of Islam: His Life and His Work), published in Paris in 1959, detailed the historical contexts of early Islam and its institutions . His specialized research on the military engagements and battlefields of the prophetic era was praised by French orientalist Maxime Rodinson for its precision and cartographic documentation .
Muhammad Hamid Allah died in 1424 AH (2002 CE) .
Answer updated
List of Works
Majmuat al-Wathaiq al-Siyasiyya lil-Ahd al-Nabawi wal-Khilafa al-Rashida (Collection of Political Documents of the Prophetic Era and the Rightly Guided Caliphate) is a historical and documentary sourcebook. It gathers, classifies, and annotates official political treaties, letters, pacts, safe-conducts, and diplomatic communications dating from the pre-Hijra period, the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad, and the era of the Rightly Guided Caliphs.