Sīrah

Sīrah is the biographical tradition recounting the life, actions, and character of the Prophet Muhammad. Its narratives draw on early Muslim reports and became a major source for Islamic history and religious thought.

Ibn Ishaq: An eighth-century Muslim scholar whose biography of Muhammad survives chiefly through later recensions. His lost work became the foundation of the earliest extensive Sīrah narrative.
Isnad: A chain of transmitters identifying how a report was passed from one person to another. Isnads record the claimed transmission paths behind many Sīrah reports.
Hijrah: Muhammad’s migration from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE, marking the beginning of the Islamic calendar. The migration divides the biography into Meccan and Medinan phases.
Islamic historiography: The historical writing produced in Muslim societies across diverse periods and regions. Sīrah is one early and influential form within the wider practice of Muslim historical writing.
Sunna: The normative example associated with Muhammad, expressed through reports of his words and conduct. Sīrah supplies narrative settings for actions later treated as part of the Prophet’s example.
Ibn Hisham: A ninth-century Muslim scholar who edited and transmitted Ibn Ishaq’s biography of Muhammad. His recension is the best-known surviving form of Ibn Ishaq’s Sīrah.
Matn: The wording or substantive content of a transmitted report, considered apart from its chain. Comparing report contents helps distinguish Sīrah narratives from their transmission claims.
Battle of Badr: A 624 CE battle in which Muhammad’s community defeated a larger Meccan force. Sīrah accounts present Badr as a turning point in the early Muslim community’s fortunes.
Hadith criticism: Methods for assessing transmitted reports through their chains, narrators, and contents. Hadith criticism evaluates reports with criteria that do not always match Sīrah’s narrative aims.
Islamic law: The body of legal reasoning and norms developed within Islamic traditions. Biographical reports have informed legal discussions about Muhammad’s conduct and precedent.

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