Marwiyat al-Sira li-Musfir al-Dumayni
- Author died
- 1436 AH
- Editions
- King Fahd Complex for the Printing of the Holy Quran in Madinah
Marwiyat al-Sira al-Nabawiyya bayna Qawa'id al-Muhaddithin wa-Riwayat al-Ikhbariyyin ("Reports of the Prophetic Biography between the Rules of Hadith Scholars and the Accounts of Chroniclers") is a scholarly treatise by the hadith scholar Misfar ibn Ghurm Allah al-Dumayni (d. 1436 AH / 2015 CE) examining the methodological evaluation and verification of prophetic biography (al-sira al-nabawiyya) narratives.
Background and Purpose
The treatise was prepared at the request of the organizers of the symposium Inayat al-Mamlaka al-Arabiyya al-Su'udiyya bi-l-Sunna wa-l-Sira al-Nabawiyya ("The Care of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the Sunnah and the Prophetic Biography"). Al-Dumayni conceived the paper as an exploratory project plan for a comprehensive work that theoretically and practically addresses the critical treatment of biographical reports. The codification of rules distinguishing authentic historical reports from unverified chroniclers' accounts shares its thematic scope and title with a contemporary study by Akram Diya' al-Umari.
Scope and Methodology
The work addresses the prevalence of uncritical chroniclers' narratives (riwayat al-ikhbariyyin) in historical and biographical literature, contrasting them with the rigorous transmission and evaluation standards of hadith scholars (muhaddithun). Al-Dumayni emphasizes that while minor descriptive details in biographical accounts may not always require strict isnad scrutiny, reports that form the basis for legal rulings (ahkam shar'iyya) or practical religious obligations necessitate the full application of hadith critical rules to establish their authenticity.
In setting out criteria for evaluating Sira reports, the author divides historical and biographical narratives into established categories:
- Reports authenticated according to the criteria of hadith specialists, such as those transmitted in the Sahihayn, the Sunan, and the Masanid with acceptable chains of transmission, which serve as firm foundations for deriving legal rulings and moral lessons.
- Reports that lack continuous chains of reliable transmitters, requiring systematic critical guidelines to assess their plausibility, textual soundness, and historical corroboration.
Al-Dumayni illustrates the early foundations of textual and isnad criticism by citing reports from the early generations of Muslims (al-salaf), including Abdullah ibn Abbas's critical scrutiny and rejection of unacceptable narrations.
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