Alfiyyat al-Sirah al-Nabawiyyah - Nazm al-Durar al-Saniyyah al-Zakiyyah
- Author died
- 806 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Minhāj
Alfiyyat al-Sirah al-Nabawiyyah (Arabic: ألفية السيرة النبوية), formally titled al-Durar al-Saniyyah fi Nazm al-Siyar al-Zakiyyah (Arabic: الدرر السنية في نظم السير الزكية), is a didactic poem in the rajaz meter on the biography of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ by the Shafi'i hadith scholar Zayn al-Din al-Iraqi (d. 806 AH / 1404 CE) .
Composition and Context
The work was composed as an alfiyyah (a thousand-line poem) summarizing the prophetic biography, commonly referred to as Alfiyyat al-Sirah to distinguish it from al-Iraqi's well-known Alfiyyah on hadith terminology (al-Tabsirah wa-al-Tadhkirah) . Al-Iraqi dictated the poem in the Prophet's Mosque inside the Rawdah in Medina to a circle of contemporary hadith scholars and specialists . An extant holograph manuscript preserved at Princeton University contains forty folios, written at twenty-six lines per folio in vocalized Naskh script, bearing the author's own glosses and reading certificates (ijazat) .
Methodology and Scope
In his introduction, al-Iraqi outlines his methodology, explaining that biographical narratives (al-siyar) historically encompass both sound and uncorroborated reports, and that his objective was to document what biographers recorded even if the chain of transmission (isnad) lacked technical rigor, while explicitly noting sound narrations where established . The text is noted for its chronological precision in dating the military expeditions (maghazi) and raiding parties (saraya) .
The poem covers the major milestones of the Prophet's ﷺ life, beginning with his noble names and his lineage traced through Adnan and earlier ancestors . It treats his birth, nursing, guardianship under Abu Talib, the rebuilding of the Kaaba, the beginning of revelation, the early converts, the assembly at Dar al-Arqam, the Quraysh's opposition, the migrations to Abyssinia, the boycott of Banu Hashim, the Year of Sorrow, the Night Journey (al-Isra'), the pledges of the Ansar, and the emigration (Hijrah) to Medina .
Commentaries
The poem received extensive scholarly interest and was the subject of numerous commentaries and supercommentaries :
- Muhibb al-Din Muhammad ibn al-Ha'im (d. 798 AH): al-Ghurar al-Mudiyyah fi Sharh Nazm al-Durar al-Saniyyah .
- Ibn Arslan al-Ramli (d. 844 AH): Sharh Alfiyyat al-Iraqi fi al-Sirah .
- Abd al-Ra'uf al-Munawi (d. 1031 AH): al-Futuhat al-Subhaniyyah fi Sharh Nazm al-Durrah al-Saniyyah, widely known under the title al-Ujalah al-Saniyyah ala Alfiyyat al-Sirah al-Nabawiyyah .
- Nur al-Din Ali al-Ujhuri (d. 1066 AH): Sharh al-Durar al-Saniyyah fi Nazm al-Sirah al-Nabawiyyah .
- Yasin ibn Muhammad al-Khalili, known as Ibn Ghars (d. 1086 AH): al-Fawa'id al-Bahiyyah ala al-Durar al-Saniyyah fi Nazm al-Sirah al-Zakiyyah .
- Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Barlisi (d. 1097 AH): al-Badr al-Munir fi Sharh Sirat al-Bashir al-Nadhir .
- Ibrahim al-Shabrakhiti (d. 1106 AH): Sharh Alfiyyat al-Iraqi fi al-Sirah .
- Ibrahim ibn Mustafa al-Halabi, known as al-Madari (d. 1190 AH): Sharh Nazm al-Sirah al-Nabawiyyah .
- Muhammad al-Tayyib ibn Kiran (d. 1227 AH): Sharh Alfiyyat al-Iraqi fi al-Sirah .
- Ali ibn al-Husayn al-Sa'awi (d. after 1292 AH): al-Ghurar al-Aliyyah fi Sharh al-Durar al-Saniyyah fi Nazm al-Sirah al-Nabawiyyah .
- Abd Allah ibn Ibbayah al-Daymani (d. 1328 AH): Jami al-Sirah fi Sharh Alfiyyat al-Iraqi .
- Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Hasani al-Shinqiti (14th century AH): Sharh Alfiyyat Zayn al-Din al-Iraqi fi al-Sirah .
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