Tatawwur Kitabat al-Sira al-Nabawiya
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- al-Thaqāfiyyah al-‘Āmmah
Tatawwur Kitabat al-Sira al-Nabawiya (The Evolution of Writing the Prophetic Biography) is an academic study by Ammar Abudi Muhammad Husayn Nassar that examines the historical development, genres, and methodologies of Arabic works on the biography of the Prophet Muhammad from the rise of Islam through the end of the Abbasid era.
Background and Purpose
The author undertook the study—titled in full Tatawwur Kitabat al-Sira al-Nabawiya 'inda al-Mu'arrikhin al-Muslimin hatta Nihayat al-'Asr al-'Abbasi (The Evolution of Writing the Prophetic Biography Among Muslim Historians Until the End of the Abbasid Era)—to fill a perceived gap in Arabic academic literature for a comprehensive historical survey of sira historiography. Earlier specialized studies, such as Josef Horovitz's al-Maghazi al-Ula wa-Mu'allifuha (The Earliest Biographies of the Prophet and Their Authors) and Abd al-Aziz al-Duri's Bahth fi Nash'at Ilm al-Tarikh 'inda al-Arab (A Study on the Rise of Historical Science Among the Arabs), had largely restricted their scope to the first century or two of Islam. Nassar selected the end of the Abbasid era as the terminus of his investigation on the grounds that Muslim historians and biographers had by then explored virtually all structural formats and thematic avenues of sira writing, with later eras largely producing repetitions, summaries, and versifications (arajiz).
Structure and Contents
The work comprises an introduction, four main chapters, and a conclusion:
- Chapter One: Explores the linguistic evolution of the term sira and its early overlap with maghazi (military expeditions), followed by an overview of the earliest primary sources and recording efforts among the Companions and Successors prior to formal categorization.
- Chapter Two: Treats standalone, comprehensive sira monographs from the Prophet's birth to his death, dividing them into detailed, expansive works and concise, abridged summaries.
- Chapter Three: Investigates sira material embedded within broader historical works, focusing on its integration into universal chronicles (kutub al-tarikh al-'amm) as well as biographical dictionaries and generational compendia (tabaqat and tarajim).
- Chapter Four: Analyzes independent thematic monographs devoted to specific facets of the Prophet's life, divided into six sections: works on his birth (mawlid), his relatives and wives, his character and physical traits (shama'il), military campaigns (maghazi), signs and proofs of prophecy (a'lam wa-dala'il al-nubuwwa), and exclusive prophetic privileges (khasa'is).
Method and Sources
The author's method relies on surveying surviving classical texts, analyzing each author's approach, narrative scope, and source criticism, and tracking how later historians built upon or condensed earlier accounts. Among the primary historical sources heavily utilized are the Sira of Ibn Ishaq as edited by Ibn Hisham, the Maghazi of al-Waqidi, the Tabaqat al-Kubra of Ibn Sa'd, and the Tarikh al-Rusul wa-al-Muluk of al-Tabari. For biographical sketches and lost works, the study draws on classical biographical works such as al-Khatib al-Baghdadi's Tarikh Baghdad, Ibn Khallikan's Wafayat al-A'yan, al-Dhahabi's Tadhkirat al-Huffaz, and Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani's Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, alongside bibliographical references including Ibn al-Nadim's al-Fihrist, al-Sakhawi's al-I'lan bi-al-Tawbikh, and Hajji Khalifa's Kashf al-Zunun.
Reception
In a preface written in Baghdad in April 2002, the Iraqi historian Saleh Ahmad al-Ali commended the study for cataloging foundational sira sources alongside specialized topical genres that had received less attention from modern researchers, describing it as an indispensable reference that filled a notable gap in the field despite occasionally dense phrasing.
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