Bahth an al-Sira al-Nabawiya

Bahth an al-Sira al-Nabawiya (بحث عن السيرة النبوية, lit. 'A Study on the Prophetic Biography') is an anonymous treatise that outlines the significance, distinguishing characteristics, and primary sources of the biography of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, followed by an overview of his life and prophetic mission Bahth an al-Sira al-Nabaw…+1.

Significance and Distinguishing Features

The treatise establishes the importance of studying the Prophetic biography on four foundational points: verifying and documenting the events of his life as a core religious duty; understanding its details to enable emulation of his practical application of Islamic law; corroborating the truth of his prophethood through the preserved, uninterrupted historical record; and illustrating the civilizational impact of Islam achieved over twenty-three years Bahth an al-Sira al-Nabaw…+1.

The work identifies three principal advantages of the Prophetic biography:

• Documentation through connected chains of transmission (isnad): Reliance on upright, trustworthy narrators among the Companions and Successors. The author notes that Companions such as Abu al-Tufayl Amir ibn Wathila (d. 101 AH), Mahmud ibn al-Rabi (d. 99 AH), Abdullah ibn Busr (d. 96 AH), and Anas ibn Malik (d. 93 AH) lived into the era when official compilation began under Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz (d. 101 AH), ensuring unbroken reception Bahth an al-Sira al-Nabaw….
• Early written recording: Notes and hadiths concerning the Prophet's campaigns, travels, and marriages were recorded during his lifetime. Comprehensive teaching and dictation of campaigns and lineage began under Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan through Companions including Abdullah ibn Abbas (d. 68 AH), Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As (d. 63 AH), and al-Bara ibn Azib (d. 74 AH) Bahth an al-Sira al-Nabaw…. This was followed by early compositions by Successors such as Urwa ibn al-Zubayr (d. 93 AH), Aban ibn Uthman (d. 105 AH; completed prior to 83 AH), Wahb ibn Munabbih (d. 110 AH), and Musa ibn Uqba (d. 141 AH), culminating in the comprehensive works of Muhammad ibn Ishaq (d. 151 AH) and Ibn Hisham (d. 213 AH) Bahth an al-Sira al-Nabaw….
• Comprehensiveness and clarity: The preservation of intimate physical, moral, and behavioral details of the Prophet's life from his lineage and birth to his demise Bahth an al-Sira al-Nabaw….

Sources of the Biography

The treatise categorizes the primary sources of the Sira into three main repositories Bahth an al-Sira al-Nabaw…:

1. The Quran: Containing allusions to his upbringing as an orphan, the beginning of revelation, his marriages (such as to Zaynab bint Jahsh), military encounters like the Battle of the Trench in Surat al-Ahzab, responses to inquiries, and the incident of the slander (al-ifk) concerning Aisha in Surat al-Nur Bahth an al-Sira al-Nabaw…+1.
2. The Prophetic Sunna: Preserving detailed reports narrated by the Prophet ﷺ himself and his Companions, evaluated through critical scholarly methodologies Bahth an al-Sira al-Nabaw….
3. Dedicated biographical works (kutub al-sira): Developed continuously from the era of the Companions and Successors onward Bahth an al-Sira al-Nabaw….

Biographical Overview

The latter part of the text provides a narrative summary of the Prophet's life. It recounts the ransom of his father Abdullah by Abd al-Muttalib with one hundred camels, followed by the Prophet's agreed-upon lineage tracing back to Adnan through Fihr (Quraysh) Bahth an al-Sira al-Nabaw…+1. It describes his nursing by Halima al-Sa'diyya, the event of the splitting of his chest at age five, the death of his mother Amina when he was six, and the death of Abd al-Muttalib when he was eight years, two months, and ten days old, after which his uncle Abu Talib took custody of him Bahth an al-Sira al-Nabaw….

The work details his youth as a shepherd, his trade journey to Bosra around age ten where the monk Bahira (named Jurjis) recognized his prophetic signs, and his marriage at age twenty-five to Khadija bint Khuwaylid (who was forty) Bahth an al-Sira al-Nabaw…+1. It mentions his arbitration in placing the Black Stone during the rebuilding of the Kaaba, his worship in the cave of Hira, the first revelation of Surat al-Alaq, and his encounter with Waraqa ibn Nawfal Bahth an al-Sira al-Nabaw…+1. The text concludes by summarizing his thirteen years of preaching in Mecca and ten years in Medina following the Hijra, leading up to his death in the tenth year of the Hijra Bahth an al-Sira al-Nabaw….