al-Ihtimam bil-Sira al-Nabawiya bil-Lugha al-Inجليزية
- Author died
- 1428 AH
- Editions
- King Fahd Complex for the Printing of the Holy Quran in Medina
al-Ihtimam bil-Sira al-Nabawiya bil-Lugha al-Injliziyya: 'Ard wa-Tahlil (Interest in the Prophetic Biography in the English Language: Presentation and Analysis) is a bibliographical and critical study by the Bangladeshi historian and scholar Muhammad Mehr Ali (d. 1428 AH / 2007 CE) . The work surveys and analyzes literature on the biography of the Prophet Muhammad (al-Sirah al-Nabawiyyah) produced in the English language, classifying works according to authorship, historical period, thematic focus, and methodology .
Muslim Writings in English
The first chapter examines English-language writings produced by Muslims, tracing their emergence to the colonial period in British India following the establishment of British rule in Bengal in 1757 CE (1170 AH) and the 1835 CE (1251 AH) educational decree replacing Persian with English as the medium of instruction . In the 1860s, English-educated Muslim authors began writing on the Sira primarily in response to Orientalist polemics, most notably Sayyid Ahmad Khan's Essays on the Life of Muhammad (1870 CE), written to refute Sir William Muir, and Syed Ameer Ali's A Critical Examination of the Life and Teachings of Muhammad (1873 CE), later republished as The Spirit of Islam (1891 CE) .
The author classifies Muslim English writings into six categories:
- Comprehensive biographies, including works by Abu al-Fadl (1910 CE), Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din (1925 CE), Muhammad Hamidullah (1974 CE), and Ghulam Waheed Choudhury (1995 CE) .
- Thematic monographs, covering military campaigns, governance, and foreign policy, such as Hamidullah's The Battlefields of the Prophet Muhammad (1953 CE), Barakat Ahmad's Muhammad and the Jews (1979 CE), and Yasin Mazhar Siddiqi's Organization of Government under the Holy Prophet (1987 CE) .
- Introductory overviews, such as the biographical essays prefacing English translations of the Quran by Marmaduke Pickthall and Hafiz Ghulam Sarwar .
- Scholarly articles, published in specialized academic periodicals addressing particular historical events or questions .
- Critical evaluations of Orientalist scholarship, such as Muhammad Zafar Ali Qureshi's Prophet Muhammad and his Western Critics (1992 CE), Jabal Muhammad Buaben's Image of the Prophet Muhammad in the West (1995 CE), and Mehr Ali's own Sirat al-Nabi and the Orientalists (1997 CE) .
- English translations of Islamic biographical sources, including translations of works by Shibli Nomani, Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi, Safiur Rahman Mubarakpuri, Ibn Kathir, and Muhammad Husayn Haykal (translated by Ismail Raji al-Faruqi), as well as multi-volume reference projects like Afzalur Rahman's Encyclopedia of Seerah .
Non-Muslim and Orientalist Literature
The second chapter examines non-Muslim Western scholarship in English, dividing it into six structural types: comprehensive biographies (e.g., Walter Raleigh, Humphrey Prideaux, Washington Irving, William Muir, and John Bagot Glubb); introductory essays in translations and general histories (e.g., H. Stubbe, George Sale, Edward Gibbon, and H. A. R. Gibb); specialized monographs (e.g., Nabia Abbott and Geo Widengren); academic journal articles; English translations of European or classical Arabic texts (e.g., Ignaz Goldziher, Tor Andrae, Maxime Rodinson, and Alfred Guillaume's translation of Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah); and critical or revisionist apologetic studies (e.g., Godfrey Higgins, John Davenport, Minou Reeves, and Antonie Wessels) .
The book outlines three distinct historical phases in the evolution of Western English writings on the Sira :
- First Stage (Middle Ages to mid-15th century): Marked by severe hostility and ignorance linked to the Crusades, where European writers portrayed Islam as a form of idolatry and alleged that the Prophet demanded divine worship .
- Second Stage (mid-15th to mid-19th century): A period of increased familiarity through Ottoman contact, recognizing Islam's strict monotheism while pivoting to allegations of deliberate imposture, political opportunism, and deception (represented by figures such as Martin Luther, Voltaire, Prideaux, and Gibbon) .
- Third Stage (mid-19th century onwards): Prompted by British colonialism, missionary endeavors, and direct access to published classical Arabic historical sources (such as Ibn Hisham, Ibn Sa'd, and al-Waqidi) . Following Thomas Carlyle's 1840 lecture on heroes, Western scholars shifted toward acknowledging subjective sincerity while relying on psychological, socioeconomic, or secular explanations and selective skepticism toward early Islamic sources .
Critical Analysis of Major Orientalists
The study dedicates separate analytical sections to three influential English Orientalist biographers:
- William Muir: Analyzes his four-volume Life of Mahomet (1858–1861 CE), examining how his missionary connections (such as Carl Gottlieb Pfander) influenced his selective methodology regarding source criticism, his dismissal of hadith collections, and his reliance on psychological and diabolical theories regarding revelation and the Meccan and Medinan periods .
- D. S. Margoliouth: Examines his Mohammed and the Rise of Islam (1905 CE), critiquing his claims that the Prophet established a secret society, pursued political unification from the outset, and borrowed extensively from Judeo-Christian concepts, comparing his thesis to Frank Podmore's contemporary theories on spiritual deception .
- W. Montgomery Watt: Critiques his biographical works, particularly Muhammad at Mecca (1953 CE) and Muhammad at Medina (1956 CE), focusing on Watt's socioeconomic materialist interpretation of early Islam in Mecca, his adoption of Richard Bell's theories on Quranic revision, his psychological framing of revelation, and his minimization of the persecution suffered by early Muslims .
The book concludes that despite evolving methodologies and terminology, modern English Orientalist literature largely reproduced older polemical premises, substantially shaping academic and public perceptions of Islam in the English-speaking world .
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