Sirah Rasul Allah
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- Sira redirects here. For other uses, see Sira (disambiguation)
Sirah Rasul Allah (Life of the Apostle of God) or Sirat Nabawiyya (Life of the Prophet) (from Arabic سيرة) is the Arabic term used for the various traditional Muslim biographies of Muhammad, from which most historical information about his life and the early period of Islam is derived. The name is often shorted to "Sira" or "Sirah".
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[edit] Etymology
In the Arabic language the word seerah comes from saara yaseeru. Linguistically it means to travel or to be on a journey. When we’re talking about someone’s seerah we’re talking about that person’s journey through life. You are talking about the person’s birth, the events surrounding it, his life and his death, and you are also studying the manners and characteristics of that person. In modern times we still call it seerah, like a resume is called a seerah or seerah dhaatihi in the Arabic language.
In Islamic sciences or the Sharee’ah, seerah means the study of the life of the Prophet Mohammed (Sal Allahu Alayhi Wa Sallam), the last and final prophet and the messenger of Allah. It is the study of his life and all that is related to him. The information related to him would be like the events and aspects surrounding his biography. This would include knowledge of events that preceded his birth, his interactions and dealings with his companions, his family, the people around him, and also the events that occurred shortly after his death. No book of seerah stops at the death of the Prophet (Sal Allahu Alayhi Wa Sallam), it goes a little further in time or a few events further. And any seerah book usually talks about the Prophet (Sal Allahu Alayhi Wa Sallam)’s birth, his parents, his lineage, his tribe, and people that lived before him and the major events that took place around his (Sal Allahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) birth. Usually when a book on someone’s biography is written it is imperative that a little information about the people that the subject interacted and dealt with. The seerah of the Prophet (Sal Allahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) is no exception, it includes knowing about his companions, the disbelievers, the hypocrites, and the People of the Book that he interacted with.Source
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Muslims believe that these biographies are for the most part accurate portrayals of Muhammad - although some of their reports may be treated with skepticism - and as such they are used to provide the context for interpretation of the Qur'an. On the other hand, Western historians vary in their evaluation of the sira as reliable sources. Some, such as William Montgomery Watt, see the traditional accounts being on the whole reliable; taking exception only with some passages which they view as being devotional literature, intended to glorify Muhammad rather than relating historical information. Other, more sceptical, critics such as Patricia Crone are far less trusting of the sira.
The sira literature include a variety of materials such as political treaties, military enlistments, assignments of officials, etc. which were recorded by successive generations of Muslims. In principle, the biographies of Muhammad would have been assembled from reports of what Muhammad did, just as what he said was recorded in the form of hadith. However, the sirah literature is technically different from hadith literature as it is in general not as concerned with validation through the chain of transmitters (isnad), although in the earliest sira many of the narratives are accompanied by isnads. This is probably due to a number of reasons. First, the story of Muhammad's life was probably quite well-known and frequently re-told amongst Muslims, as well as to new converts, from the early days of Islam. Second, the sira literature is concerned primarily with the narrative of Muhammad's life, whereas the intent of the hadith literature is to assemble his sayings as an authoritative source for Islamic law. The immediate relevance of many hadith sayings to legal debates made it more important that they be accompanied by isnads.
Together the sira and the hadith constitute the sunnah, or prophetic example which has formed the basis of many practices shared by traditional Muslim communities around the world.
Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah is the earliest surviving traditional biography, and was written less than 150 years after Muhammad's death. It survives in the later editions of Ibn Hisham and al-Tabari. There are a few important differences between these, however. For example, al-Tabari includes the controversial episode of the Satanic Verses, while Ibn Hisham omits it. Another of the earliest siras is al-Waqidi's. Several writers are reported to have written siras before Ibn Ishaq, including: Urwah ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam (a descendant of Asma), who died in 92 AH and whom Ibn Ishaq, al-Waqidi, and at-Tabari are all said to have used as a source, and Abban ibn Uthman ibn Affan (d. 105 AH) and Wahb ibn Munabbih al-Yamani (d. 110 AH). However, their works do not survive.
