Khulasat Siyar Sayyid al-Bashar
- Author died
- 694 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat Nizar Mustafa al-Baz
Khulasat Siyar Sayyid al-Bashar (Arabic: خلاصة سير سيد البشر, lit. 'The Epitome of the Biography of the Master of Mankind') is a concise biographical work on the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ by the Meccan Shafi'i scholar and hadith specialist Muhibb al-Din al-Tabari (d. 694 AH / 1294 CE) . The work also appears recorded under the variant title Khulasat al-ʿIbar fi Siyar Sayyid al-Bashar .
Composition and Sources
In his prologue, al-Tabari explains that he compiled the text as an abridgment drawn from twelve earlier works, selecting from extensive volumes and summarizing shorter treatises on prophetic biography .
Structure and Contents
The work is organized into twenty-four chapters (fusul) . It offers a structured summary of the Prophet's ﷺ life, attributes, and material world, covering:
- The Prophet's ﷺ noble lineage and birth .
- His upbringing, youth, journeys to Syria, and marriage to Khadijah bint Khuwaylid .
- Highlights of his military expeditions (ghazawat) and general circumstances .
- His Major Pilgrimage (Hajj) and Lesser Pilgrimages (Umrah) .
- His names, physical descriptions, moral traits, and miracles (muʿjizat) .
- His wives, sons, daughters, paternal uncles, and paternal aunts .
- His servants, horses, livestock, weapons, furnishings, and garments, culminating in the events of his death .
Transmission and Reception
Khulasat Siyar Sayyid al-Bashar was transmitted and studied in scholarly circles in Mecca during the author's lifetime. The Andalusian scholar Muhammad ibn Jabir al-Wadi Ashi recorded that he read and heard the entire book in 664 AH facing the Kaaba from the author's relative Radi al-Din Abu Ishaq Ibrahim al-Tabari, and transcribed it from his archetype . It was also documented in the bibliographic catalog (Barnamaj) of al-Qasim ibn Yusuf al-Tujibi .
Al-Tabari himself cross-referenced details regarding the wet nurses of the Prophet ﷺ to this book in his work Dhakha'ir al-ʿUqba . Later scholars also cited its specific reports on the Prophet's ﷺ possessions and life, such as Shihab al-Din Ibn Raslan in his commentary on Sunan Abi Dawud . The book was published in Mecca in 1412 AH / 1992 CE .
Answer updated