This is a chronological listing of biographies of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, from the earliest traditional writers to modern times.
The literature is extensive: in the Urdu language alone, a scholar from Pakistan in 2024 came up with a bibliography of more than 10,000 titles counting multivolume works as a single book and without taking into account articles, short essays or unpublished manuscripts, with the author also precising that the literature in Arabic is even more important. [1]
The following is a list of the earliest known Hadith collectors who specialized in collecting Sīra and Maghāzī reports.
This section needs additional citations for verification .(June 2011) |
Al-Sīra al-Nabawiyya, commonly shortened to Sīrah and translated as prophetic biography, are the traditional Muslim biographies of the Islamic prophet Muhammad from which, in addition to the Quran and Hadiths, most historical information about his life and the early period of Islam is derived.
Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Yasar al-Muttalibi, known simply as Ibn Ishaq, was an 8th-century Muslim historian and hagiographer.
Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Umar ibn Waqid al-Aslami (c. 130 – 207 AH; commonly referred as commonly referred to as al-Waqidi was an early Muslim historian and biographer of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, specializing in his military campaigns. His surname is derived from his grandfather's name Waqid, and thus he became famous as al-Imam al-Waqidi. He served as a judge for the Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun. Several of al-Waqidi's works are known through his scribe and student, Ibn Sa'd.
Abu Muhammad Abd al-Malik ibn Hisham ibn Ayyub al-Himyari, known simply as Ibn Hisham, was a 9th-century Muslim historian and scholar. He grew up in Basra, in modern-day Iraq and later moved to Egypt.
ʻAṣmāʼ bint Marwān a female Arab poet said to have lived in Medina in 7th-century Arabia. There is debate that Muhammad ordered her assassinated for her agitating against Muhammad.
Abu 'Afak was a Jewish poet who allegedly lived in the Hijaz region. After Muhammad moved to the city of Al-Madina and started to preach Islam, Abu 'Afak did not convert to Islam and was vocal about his opposition to Muhammad. He became a significant political enemy of Muhammad and was subsequently assassinated by a follower of Muhammad.
Faḍl ibn ʿAbbās was a brother of Abd Allah ibn Abbas and was a cousin of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
Zayd ibn Ḥāritha al-Kalbī, was an early Muslim, Sahabi and the adopted son of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad. He is commonly regarded as the fourth person to have accepted Islam, after Muhammad's wife Khadija, Muhammad's cousin Ali, and Muhammad's close companion Abu Bakr. Zayd was a slave that Hakim ibn Hizam, Khadija's nephew, bought for her at a market in Ukaz. Zayd then became her and Muhammad’s adopted son. This father-son status was later annulled after Muhammad married Zayd’s ex-wife, Zaynab bint Jahsh.
Urwa ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam al-Asadi was an early Muslim traditionist, widely regarded as a founding figure in the field of historical study among the Muslims. He was a son of Muhammad's close aide al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, and a nephew of his wife A'isha. He spent much of his life in Medina, witnessed the First Fitna (656–661) as a youth, and supported his elder brother Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr in his failed attempt to establish his caliphate in the Second Fitna (680–692). After Abd Allah's elimination by his Syria-based Umayyad rivals, Urwa reconciled with the Umayyads, whom he paid occasional visits and maintained a literary correspondence with.
Al-Miqdad ibn Amr al-Bahrani, better known as al-Miqdad ibn al-Aswad al-Kindi or simply Miqdad, was one of the companions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. His kunya was Abu Ma'bad. Miqdad was born in Eastern Arabia. He became fugitive in his hometown and ran to Mecca, where he served Aswad al-Kindi. Miqdad managed to gain favor of his master, who in turn adopted him as his son.
Abd Allah ibn Sa'd ibn Abi al-Sarh was an Arab administrator, scribe, and military commander, who was an early convert to, then later apostate from Islam He was a scriber of the Quran and governor of Upper Egypt for the Muslim caliphate during the reign of ʿUthmān (644–656). He was also the co-founder of the Islamic navy which seized Cyprus (647–649) and defeated a Byzantine fleet off Alexandria in 652.
Muhammad ibn Muslim ibn Ubaydullah ibn Abdullah ibn Shihab az-Zuhri, also referred to as Ibn Shihab or az-Zuhri, was a tabi'i Arab jurist and traditionist credited with pioneering the development of sīra-maghazi and hadith literature.
Abū Dujānā Simāk bin Kharāshā was a companion of Muhammad and a skilled swordsman who is mentioned in Hadith narrations from the six major Hadith collections of Sunni Islam.
Al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam ibn Khuwaylid al-Asadi was an Arab Muslim commander in the service of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the caliphs Abu Bakr and Umar who played a leading role in the Ridda wars against rebel tribes in Arabia in 632–633 and later participated in early Muslim conquests of Sasanid Persia in 633–634, Byzantine Syria in 634–638, and the Exarchate of Africa in 639–643.
Ḥamza ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib was a foster brother, paternal uncle, maternal second-cousin, and companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
The Banu Fazara or Fazzara or Fezara or Fezzara were an Arab tribe whose original homeland was Najd.
Abu Ma'shar Najih al-Sindi al-Madani, d. 787, was a Muslim historian and hadith scholar. A contemporary of Ibn Ishaq, he wrote the Kitāb al-Maghāzī, fragments of which are preserved in the works of al-Waqidi and Ibn Sa'd. Al-Tabari quoted him for Biblical information and chronological statements about the Islamic prophet Muhammad and later Muslim conquests. As a hadith transmitter, Muslim experts in biographical evaluation generally considered him unreliable.
Ma'mar ibn Rashid was an eighth-century hadith scholar. A Persian mawla ("freedman"), he is cited as an authority in all six of the canonical Sunni hadith collections. He was a student of and is considered one of the most important sources for Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri.
Al-Sīrah al-Nabawiyyah also known as Siraat-e Ibn Hisham and Sirat Al Nabi is a prophetic biography of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, written by Ibn Hisham. According to Islamic tradition, the book is an edited recension of Ibn Isḥāq's Sīratu Rasūli l-Lāh 'The Life of God's Messenger'. The work of Ibn Hishām and al-Tabari work, along with fragments by several others, are the only surviving copies of the work traditionally attributed to Ibn Ishaq. Ibn Hishām and al-Tabarī share virtually the same material.
According to al-Farghani [b. 282(895-6), d. 362(972-3], Tabari's work ended with the year 302. It was finished on Wednesday, Rabi II 26, 303 (Wednesday, November 8, 915).