al-Sira al-Nabawiyya al-Sahiha Muhawala li-Tatbiq Qawaid al-Muhaddithin fi Naqd Riwayat al-Sira al-Nabawiyya
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- Maktabat al-Ulum wa-al-Hikam
al-Sira al-Nabawiyya al-Sahiha: Muhawala li-Tatbiq Qawaid al-Muhaddithin fi Naqd Riwayat al-Sira al-Nabawiyya (The Authentic Prophetic Biography: An Attempt to Apply the Rules of Hadith Scholars in Criticizing Biography Narrations) is a two-volume biographical study by the Iraqi historian Akram Diya al-Umari, devoted to critically evaluating the historical reports of the prophetic biography using the methodology of hadith scholars.
Purpose and Methodology
Al-Umari composed the work to reconstruct the life of the Prophet Muhammad by filtering historical reports through both chain-of-transmission (isnad) and textual (matn) criticism. He noted that early compilers of the biography had gathered large bodies of narrations with their chains without conditioning authenticity, relying on readers' familiarity with narrator evaluation. In contrast, modern writers often lacked this specialization or applied Western historical methods that overlooked the rich biographical evaluation of narrators preserved in Islamic tradition.
In establishing historical facts, al-Umari relied on narrations authenticated as sound (sahih) or good (hasan) by classical hadith critics, or applied their critical principles to unjudged reports. While he strictly required authentic narrations for topics touching upon theology ('aqida) and legal rulings (shari'a), he did not discard weak narrations entirely; rather, he permitted their use in general historical matters where authentic reports were unavailable, evaluating them under general rules of historical critique. The work also affirms prophetic miracles whenever they are established through sound transmission.
Publication and Translations
The author initially published the introduction and the first two chapters of the project under the title al-Mujtama' al-Madani (The Medinan Society), before revising and expanding the text into the comprehensive two-volume work. The book was published in Medina by Maktabat al-Ulum wa-l-Hikam. Most of the work was translated into Turkish and published in Istanbul in 1988, as well as into English and published in Maryland, United States, in 1991.
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