biographies
A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or c ...
of the
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
ic
prophet
In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
, ranging from the earliest traditional writers to modern times.
Earliest biographers
The following is a list of the earliest known
Hadith
Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...
collectors who specialized in collecting Sīra and Maghāzī reports.
1st century of Hijra (622–719 CE)
* Sahl ibn Abī Ḥathma (d. in
Mu'awiya
Mu'awiya I ( ar, معاوية بن أبي سفيان, Muʿāwiya ibn Abī Sufyān; –April 680) was the founder and first caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from 661 until his death. He became caliph less than thirty years after the deat ...
's reign, i.e., 41-60 AH), was a young companion of Muhammad. Parts of his writings on Maghazi are preserved in the ''Ansāb'' of
al-Baladhuri
ʾAḥmad ibn Yaḥyā ibn Jābir al-Balādhurī ( ar, أحمد بن يحيى بن جابر البلاذري) was a 9th-century Muslim historian. One of the eminent Middle Eastern historians of his age, he spent most of his life in Baghdad and e ...
, the ''Ṭabaqāt'' of
Ibn Sa'd
Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Sa‘d ibn Manī‘ al-Baṣrī al-Hāshimī or simply Ibn Sa'd ( ar, ابن سعد) and nicknamed ''Scribe of Waqidi'' (''Katib al-Waqidi''), was a scholar and Arabian biographer. Ibn Sa'd was born in 784/785 C ...
al-Waqidi
Abu `Abdullah Muhammad Ibn ‘Omar Ibn Waqid al-Aslami (Arabic ) (c. 130 – 207 AH; c. 747 – 823 AD) was a historian commonly referred to as al-Waqidi (Arabic: ). His surname is derived from his grandfather's name Waqid and thus he became fa ...
.
*
Abdullah ibn Abbas
ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās ( ar, عَبْد ٱللَّٰه ٱبْن عَبَّاس; c. 619 – 687 CE), also known as Ibn ʿAbbās, was one of the cousins of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He is considered to be the greatest mufassir of the Qur'a ...
(d. 78 AH), a
companion of Muhammad
The Companions of the Prophet ( ar, اَلصَّحَابَةُ; ''aṣ-ṣaḥāba'' meaning "the companions", from the verb meaning "accompany", "keep company with", "associate with") were the disciples and followers of Muhammad who saw or m ...
, his traditions are found in various works of
Hadith
Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...
and Sīra.
* Saʿīd ibn Saʿd ibn ʿUbāda al-Khazrajī, another young companion, whose writings have survived in the ''Musnad'' of
Ibn Hanbal
Ahmad ibn Hanbal al-Dhuhli ( ar, أَحْمَد بْن حَنْبَل الذهلي, translit=Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal al-Dhuhlī; November 780 – 2 August 855 CE/164–241 AH), was a Muslim jurist, theologian, ascetic, hadith traditionist, and f ...
and Abī ʿIwāna, and al-Tabari's ''Tārīkh''.
* ʿUrwa ibn al-Zubayr (d. 713). He wrote letters replying to inquiries of the
Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...
caliphs,
Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan
Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ibn al-Hakam ( ar, عبد الملك ابن مروان ابن الحكم, ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam; July/August 644 or June/July 647 – 9 October 705) was the fifth Umayyad caliph, ruling from April 685 ...
and
al-Walid I
Al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ( ar, الوليد بن عبد الملك بن مروان, al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān; ), commonly known as al-Walid I ( ar, الوليد الأول), was the sixth Umayyad Caliphate, Umayyad ca ...
, involving questions about certain events that happened in the time of Muhammad. Since Abd al-Malik did not appreciate the maghāzī literature, these letters were not written in story form. He is not known to have written any books on the subject. He was a grandson of
Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr Abdallah ibn Uthman Abi Quhafa (; – 23 August 634) was the senior companion and was, through his daughter Aisha, a father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, as well as the first caliph of Islam. He is known with the honor ...
and the younger brother of Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr.
* Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib al-Makhzūmī (d. 94 AH), a famous
Tābiʿī
The tābi‘ūn ( ar, اَلتَّابِعُونَ, also accusative or genitive tābi‘īn , singular ''tābi‘'' ), "followers" or "successors", are the generation of Muslims who followed the companions (''ṣaḥābah'') of the Islamic prop ...
and one of the teachers of
Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri
Muhammad ibn Muslim ibn Ubaydullah ibn Abdullah ibn Shihab al-Zuhri ( ar, محمد بن مسلم بن عبید الله بن عبد الله بن شهاب الزهری, translit=Muḥammad ibn Muslim ibn ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh b. S̲h̲i ...
. His traditions are quoted in the
Six major hadith collections
The ''Kutub al-Sittah'' ( ar-at, ٱلْكُتُب ٱلسِّتَّة, al-Kutub as-Sittah, lit=the six books) are six (originally five) books containing collections of ''hadith'' (sayings or acts of the Islamic prophet Muhammad) compiled by six S ...
, and in the Sīra works of
Ibn Ishaq
Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn Yasār ibn Khiyār (; according to some sources, ibn Khabbār, or Kūmān, or Kūtān, ar, محمد بن إسحاق بن يسار بن خيار, or simply ibn Isḥaq, , meaning "the son of Isaac"; died 767) was an 8 ...
, Ibn Sayyid al-Nās, and others.
* Abū Fiḍāla ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kaʿb ibn Mālik al-Anṣārī (d. 97 AH), his traditions are mentioned by Ibn Ishaq and al-Tabari.
* Abān ibn Uthmān ibn Affān (d. 101-105 AH), the son of
Uthman
Uthman ibn Affan ( ar, عثمان بن عفان, ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān; – 17 June 656), also spelled by Colloquial Arabic, Turkish and Persian rendering Osman, was a second cousin, son-in-law and notable companion of the Islamic proph ...
wrote a small booklet. His traditions are transmitted through
Malik ibn Anas
Malik ibn Anas ( ar, مَالِك بن أَنَس, 711–795 CE / 93–179 AH), whose full name is Mālik bin Anas bin Mālik bin Abī ʿĀmir bin ʿAmr bin Al-Ḥārith bin Ghaymān bin Khuthayn bin ʿAmr bin Al-Ḥārith al-Aṣbaḥī ...
in his '' Muwaṭṭaʾ'', the ''Ṭabaqāt'' of Ibn Sa'd, and in the histories of al-Tabari and
al-Yaʿqūbī
ʾAbū l-ʿAbbās ʾAḥmad bin ʾAbī Yaʿqūb bin Ǧaʿfar bin Wahb bin Waḍīḥ al-Yaʿqūbī (died 897/8), commonly referred to simply by his nisba al-Yaʿqūbī, was an Arab Muslim geographer and perhaps the first historian of world cult ...
.
* ʿĀmir ibn Sharāḥīl al-Shaʿbī (d. 103 AH), his traditions were transmitted through Abu Isḥāq al-Subaiʿī, Saʿīd ibn Masrūq al-Thawrī, al-Aʿmash, Qatāda, Mujālid ibn Saʿīd, and others.
*
Hammam ibn Munabbih
Hammam ibn Munabbih ibn Kamil al-Yamani ( ar, همام ابن منبه ابن كامل اليمني, translit=Hammām ibn Munnabih ibn Kāmil al-Yamanī) was an Islamic scholar, from among the Tabi‘in and one of the narrators of hadith.
Biogr ...
(d. 101 AH/719 CE), author of the
Sahifah Ṣaḥīfah (), also spelled sahifa or sahifeh, is an Arabic word meaning 'writing', 'book', or 'volume'. It may refer to:
*al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya, a book of supplications attributed to Ali ibn Husayn, the great-grandson of the Islamic prophet Mu ...
and a student of
Abu Hurayrah
Abu Hurayra ( ar, أبو هريرة, translit=Abū Hurayra; –681) was one of the companions of Islamic prophet Muhammad and, according to Sunni Islam, the most prolific narrator of hadith.
He was known by the ''kunyah'' Abu Hurayrah "Fathe ...
.
2nd century of Hijra (720–816 CE)
* Al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr (d. 107 AH), another grandson of
Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr Abdallah ibn Uthman Abi Quhafa (; – 23 August 634) was the senior companion and was, through his daughter Aisha, a father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, as well as the first caliph of Islam. He is known with the honor ...
. His traditions are mainly found in the works of al-Tabari, al-Balathuri, and al-Waqidi.
*
Wahb ibn Munabbih
Wahb ibn Munabbih ( ar, وهب بن منبه) was a Yemenite Muslim traditionist of Dhimar (two days' journey from Sana'a) in Yemen; died at the age of ninety, in a year variously given by Arabic authorities as 725, 728, 732, and 737 C.E. He was ...
(d. during 725 to 737, or 114 AH). Several books were ascribed to him but none of them are now existing. Some of his works survive as quotations found in works by
Ibn Ishaq
Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn Yasār ibn Khiyār (; according to some sources, ibn Khabbār, or Kūmān, or Kūtān, ar, محمد بن إسحاق بن يسار بن خيار, or simply ibn Isḥaq, , meaning "the son of Isaac"; died 767) was an 8 ...
Ibn Shihāb al-Zuhrī
Muhammad ibn Muslim ibn Ubaydullah ibn Abdullah ibn Shihab az-Zuhri ( ar, محمد بن مسلم بن عبید الله بن عبد الله بن شهاب الزهري, translit=Muḥammad ibn Muslim ibn ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh b. S̲h̲i ...
(d. c. 737), a central figure in sīra literature, who collected both ahadith and akhbār. His akhbār also contain chains of transmissions, or
isnad
Hadith studies ( ar, علم الحديث ''ʻilm al-ḥadīth'' "science of hadith", also science of hadith, or science of hadith criticism or hadith criticism)
consists of several religious scholarly disciplines used by Muslim scholars in th ...
. He was sponsored by the
Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...
court and asked to write two books, one on
genealogy
Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kins ...
and another on maghāzī. The first was canceled and the one about maghāzī is either not extant or has never been written.
* Musa ibn ʿUqba, a student of al-Zuhrī, wrote ''Kitāb al-Maghāzī'', a notebook used to teach his students; now lost. Some of his traditions have been preserved, although their attribution to him is disputed.
*
Muhammad ibn Ishaq
Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn Yasār ibn Khiyār (; according to some sources, ibn Khabbār, or Kūmān, or Kūtān, ar, محمد بن إسحاق بن يسار بن خيار, or simply ibn Isḥaq, , meaning "the son of Isaac"; died 767) was an 8 ...
(d. 767 or 761), another student of al-Zuhrī, who collected oral traditions that formed the basis of an important biography of Muhammad. His work survived through that of his editors, most notably Ibn Hisham and Ibn Jarir al-Tabari.
*
Ibn Jurayj
Abd al-Malik ibn Abd al-Aziz ibn Jurayj ( ar, عبد الملك بن عبد العزيز بن جريج , translit=ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿAbd al-Azīz ibn Jurayj, 80 AH/699 CE - 150 AH/767 CE) was an eighth-century ''faqīh'', exegete and hadith tra ...
(d. 150 AH), has been described as a "contemporary" of Ibn Ishaq and "rival authority based in Mecca"
* Abū Ishāq al-Fazarī (d. 186 AH) wrote Kitāb al-Siyar.
* Abu Ma'shar Najih Al-Madani (d. c. 787)
*
Al-Waqidi
Abu `Abdullah Muhammad Ibn ‘Omar Ibn Waqid al-Aslami (Arabic ) (c. 130 – 207 AH; c. 747 – 823 AD) was a historian commonly referred to as al-Waqidi (Arabic: ). His surname is derived from his grandfather's name Waqid and thus he became fa ...
, whose surviving work ''Kitab al-Tarikh wa al-Maghazi'' (''Book of History and Campaigns'') has been published.
* Hisham Ibn Urwah ibn Zubayr, son of
Urwah ibn Zubayr
ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām al-Asadī ( ar , عروة بن الزبير بن العوام الأسدي, ) was among the seven '' fuqaha'' (jurists) who formulated the fiqh of Medina in the time of the Tabi‘in and one of the Muslim ...
, generally quoted traditions from his father but was also a pupil of al-Zuhri.
Ibn Ishaq
Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn Yasār ibn Khiyār (; according to some sources, ibn Khabbār, or Kūmān, or Kūtān, ar, محمد بن إسحاق بن يسار بن خيار, or simply ibn Isḥaq, , meaning "the son of Isaac"; died 767) was an 8 ...
and teacher of Ibn Hisham and thus forms a very important link in Sira between the two great scholars.
* Abdul Malik Ibn Hisham, his work incorporated the text of
Ibn Ishaq
Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn Yasār ibn Khiyār (; according to some sources, ibn Khabbār, or Kūmān, or Kūtān, ar, محمد بن إسحاق بن يسار بن خيار, or simply ibn Isḥaq, , meaning "the son of Isaac"; died 767) was an 8 ...
; he was a pupil of Al-Bakkaa'i.
*
Ibn Sa'd
Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Sa‘d ibn Manī‘ al-Baṣrī al-Hāshimī or simply Ibn Sa'd ( ar, ابن سعد) and nicknamed ''Scribe of Waqidi'' (''Katib al-Waqidi''), was a scholar and Arabian biographer. Ibn Sa'd was born in 784/785 C ...
wrote the 8-volume work called ''Tabaqat'' or ''
The Book of the Major Classes
Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Sa‘d ibn Manī‘ al-Baṣrī al-Hāshimī or simply Ibn Sa'd ( ar, ابن سعد) and nicknamed ''Scribe of Waqidi'' (''Katib al-Waqidi''), was a scholar and Arabian biographer. Ibn Sa'd was born in 784/785 C ...
''; he was also a pupil of
Al-Waqidi
Abu `Abdullah Muhammad Ibn ‘Omar Ibn Waqid al-Aslami (Arabic ) (c. 130 – 207 AH; c. 747 – 823 AD) was a historian commonly referred to as al-Waqidi (Arabic: ). His surname is derived from his grandfather's name Waqid and thus he became fa ...
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
)
4th century of Hijra (914–1010 CE)
*
Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari
( ar, أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), more commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Muslim historian and scholar from Amol, Tabaristan. Among the most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Tabari i ...
(d. 923) wrote the well-known work '' History of the Prophets and Kings'', whose earlier books include the life of Muhammad, which cite
Ibn Ishaq
Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn Yasār ibn Khiyār (; according to some sources, ibn Khabbār, or Kūmān, or Kūtān, ar, محمد بن إسحاق بن يسار بن خيار, or simply ibn Isḥaq, , meaning "the son of Isaac"; died 767) was an 8 ...
.
5th century of Hijra (1011–1108 CE)
*
Abu Nu'aym al-Isfahani
Abu Nuʿaym al-Isfahani (; full name: ''Ahmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ahmad ibn Ishāq ibn Mūsā ibn Mahrān al-Mihrānī al-Asbahānī'' (or ''al-Asfahānī'') ''al-Ahwal al-Ash`arī al-Shāfi`ī'', died 1038 CE / AH 430) was a medieval Persian Sh ...
(d. 1038) wrote ''Dala'il al-Nubuwwa''.
* Al-Bayhaqi (d. 1066), wrote ''Dala'il al-Nabuwwa'' (Proof of Prophethood).
*
Al-Baghawi
Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥusayn ibn Masʻūd ibn Muḥammad al-Farrā' al-Baghawī ( Persian/Arabic:ابو محمد حسین بن مسعود بغوی), born 1041 or 1044 (433 AH or 436 AH) died 1122 (516 AH) was a renowned Persian Muslim mufassir, h ...
wrote ''al-Anwar fi Shama'il al-Nabi al-Mukhtar''
Others (710–1100 CE)
*
Zubayr ibn al-Awwam
Az Zubayr ( ar, الزبير) is a city in and the capital of Al-Zubair District, part of the Basra Governorate of Iraq. The city is just south of Basra. The name can also refer to the old Emirate of Zubair.
The name is also sometimes written ...
, the husband of Asma bint Abi Bakr.
* Asim Ibn Umar Ibn Qatada Al-Ansari
* Ma'mar Ibn Rashid Al-Azdi, pupil of al-Zuhri
* Abdul Rahman ibn Abdul Aziz Al-Ausi, pupil of al-Zuhri
* Muhammad ibn Salih ibn Dinar Al-Tammar was a pupil of al-Zuhri and mentor of
al-Waqidi
Abu `Abdullah Muhammad Ibn ‘Omar Ibn Waqid al-Aslami (Arabic ) (c. 130 – 207 AH; c. 747 – 823 AD) was a historian commonly referred to as al-Waqidi (Arabic: ). His surname is derived from his grandfather's name Waqid and thus he became fa ...
.
* Ya'qub bin Utba Ibn Mughira Ibn Al-Akhnas Ibn Shuraiq al-Thaqafi
* Ali ibn mujahid Al razi Al kindi.
* Salama ibn Al-Fadl Al-Abrash Al-Ansari, pupil of Ibn Ishaq.
* Abu Sa`d al-Naysaburi wrote ''Sharaf al-Mustafa''
* Faryabi wrote ''Dala'il al-Nubuwwa''
Later writers and biographies (1100–1517 CE)
* Fath al-Din Ibn Sayyid al-Nas (d. 1334), wrote a famous biography ''ʿUyūn al-athar fī funūn al-maghāzī wa al-shamāʾil wa al-siyar''.
*
Ibn Kathir
Abū al-Fiḍā’ ‘Imād ad-Dīn Ismā‘īl ibn ‘Umar ibn Kathīr al-Qurashī al-Damishqī (Arabic: إسماعيل بن عمر بن كثير القرشي الدمشقي أبو الفداء عماد; – 1373), known as Ibn Kathīr (, was ...
(d. 1373), wrote ''
Al-Sira Al-Nabawiyya (Ibn Kathir)
Abū al-Fiḍā’ ‘Imād ad-Dīn Ismā‘īl ibn ‘Umar ibn Kathīr al-Qurashī al-Damishqī (Arabic: إسماعيل بن عمر بن كثير القرشي الدمشقي أبو الفداء عماد; – 1373), known as Ibn Kathīr (, was ...
''.
* Mustafa son of Yusuf of
Erzurum
Erzurum (; ) is a city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is the largest city and capital of Erzurum Province and is 1,900 meters (6,233 feet) above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 367,250 in 2010.
The city uses the double-headed eagle as ...
, completed ''
Siyer-i Nebi
The Siyer-i Nebi ( ota, سیر نبی) is an Ottoman Turkish epic on the life of Muhammad, completed around 1388, written by Mustafa (son of Yusuf of Erzurum, known as al-Darir), a Mevlevi dervish on the commission of Sultan Barquq, the Mamluk ...
''
* Al-Hafiz Abdul Mu'min Al-Dimyati, wrote the book "al-Mukhtasar fi Sirati Sayyid Khair al-Bashar" but is commonly referred to as Sira of Al-Dimyati.
* Ala'al-Din Ali ibn Muhammad Al-Khilati Hanafi, wrote Sirat of Al-Khilati.
* Sheikh Zahir al-Din ibn Muhammad Gazaruni.
*
Abu-al-Faraj ibn Al-Jawzi
ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʿAlī b. Muḥammad Abu 'l-Faras̲h̲ b. al-Jawzī, often referred to as Ibn al-Jawzī (Arabic: ابن الجوزي, ''Ibn al-Jawzī''; ca. 1116 – 16 June 1201) for short, or reverentially as ''Imam Ibn al-Jawzī'' by ...
Al-Qastallani
Shihāb al-Dīn Abu'l-‘Abbās Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr al-Qasṭallānī al-Qutaybī al-Shāfi‘ī ( ar, أحمد بن محمد ابن أبي بكر ابن عبد الملك بن أحمد بن حسين بن علي القسطلاني ...
Al-Mawardi
Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī Ibn Muḥammad al-Māwardī (), known in Latin as Alboacen (972–1058 CE), was an Islamic jurist of the Shafi'i school most remembered for his works on religion, government, the caliphate, and public and constitutional law ...
wrote ''I`lam al-Nubuwwa''.
* `Abd al-Haqq al-Muhaddith al-Dahlawi wrote ''Madarij al-Nubuwwa''.
* Mulla Nuruddin Jami wrote ''Shawahid al-Nubuwwa''.
* Al-Aydurusi wrote ''Nur al-Safir''.
* Bajuri wrote ''Sharh al-Mawahib al-laduniyya''.
* Ibn Abdul-Barr wrote ''al-Durar fi ikhtisar al-maghazi was-siyar''.
*
Ibn Hajar al-Haytami
Shihāb al-Dīn Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Ḥajar al-Haytamī al-Makkī al-Anṣārī known as Ibn Hajar al-Haytami al-Makki ( ar, ابن حجر الهيتمي المكي) was an Egyptian Arab muhaddith and theologi ...
wrote ''Ashraf al-wasa'il ila faham al-Shama'il''.
* Ibn Mulaqqan wrote ''Ghayat al-sul fi Khasa'is al-Rasul''.
* Ahmad Sirhindi al-Faruqi wrote ''Ithbat al-Nubuwwa''.
*
Ibn Dihya
Umar bin al-Hasan bin Ali bin Muhammad bin al-Jamil bin Farah bin Khalaf bin Qumis bin Mazlal bin Malal bin Badr bin Dihyah bin Farwah, better known as Ibn Dihya al-Kalbi ( ar, ابن دحية الكلبي) was a Moorish scholar of both the Ara ...
wrote ''Nihaya al-Sul fi Khasa'is al-Rasul''.
*
Jalaluddin al-Suyuti
Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti ( ar, جلال الدين السيوطي, Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī) ( 1445–1505 CE),; ( Brill 2nd) or Al-Suyuti, was an Arab Egyptian polymath, Islamic scholar, historian, Sufi, and jurist. From a family of Persian ...
wrote '' Al Khasais-ul-Kubra'', ''al-Khasa'is al-Sughra'' and ''Shama'il al-Sharifa''.
* ` Abd al-Ghani al-Maqdisi wrote ''al-Durra al-Mudiyya''.
* Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Salihi al-Shami wrote ''Subul al-huda wa al-Rashad fi Sirah Khayr al-`Ibad''.
* Nuruddin `Ali ibn Ahmad al-Samhudi wrote ''Khulasa al-Wafa bi-Akhbar Dar al-Mustafa''.
* Abu al-Qasim `Abdur-Rahman al-Suhayli wrote '' al-Rawd al-anf fi Sharh al-Sirah al-Nabawiyya li-Ibn Hisham''.
* `Izzuddin ibn Badruddin ibn Jama`ah al-Kinani wrote ''al-Mukhtasar al-kabir fi Sirah al-Rasul''.
* Sheikh Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Abdul Wahab At-Tamimi An-Najdi wrote Mukhtasar Sirat Ar-Rasul, it is an abridgement of Sirat Ibn-e-Hisham.(available in Urdu pdf)
Aloys Sprenger
Aloys Sprenger (born 3 September 1813, in Nassereith, Tyrol; died 19 December 1893 in Heidelberg) was an Austrian Oritentalist.
Sprenger studied medicine, natural sciences as well as oriental languages at the University of Vienna. In 1836 he ...
William Muir
Sir William Muir (27 April 1819 – 11 July 1905) was a Scottish Orientalist, and colonial administrator, Principal of the University of Edinburgh and Lieutenant Governor of the North-West Provinces of British India.
Life
He was born at Gl ...
, ''The Life of Muhammad and History of Islam to the Era of the Hegira'' (London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1858-1861), 4 vols. – several later editions with slightly different titles.
*
Aloys Sprenger
Aloys Sprenger (born 3 September 1813, in Nassereith, Tyrol; died 19 December 1893 in Heidelberg) was an Austrian Oritentalist.
Sprenger studied medicine, natural sciences as well as oriental languages at the University of Vienna. In 1836 he ...
, ''Das Leben und die Lehre des Mohammad: Nach bisher größtentheils unbenutzten Quellen'' (Berlin: Nicolai'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1861-1865), 3 vols – a revised 2nd edition was published in 1869.
*
Theodor Nöldeke
Theodor Nöldeke (; born 2 March 1836 – 25 December 1930) was a German orientalist and scholar. His research interests ranged over Old Testament studies, Semitic languages and Arabic, Persian and Syriac literature. Nöldeke translated several ...
Muhammad Husayn Haykal
Mohammed Hussein Heikal ( ar, محمد حسين هيكل ; August 20, 1888 – December 8, 1956) was an Egyptian writer, journalist, politician. He held several cabinet posts, including minister of education.
Life
Haekal was born in Kafr Ghan ...
William Montgomery Watt
William Montgomery Watt (14 March 1909 – 24 October 2006) was a Scottish Orientalist, historian, academic and Anglican priest. From 1964 to 1979, he was Professor of Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Edinburgh.
Watt was one ...
, ''
Muhammad at Mecca
''Muhammad at Mecca'' is a book about the Islamic prophet Muhammad, specifically about the first phase of his public mission, which concern his years in Mecca until the hijra to Medina. It was written by the non-Muslim Islamic scholar W. Montgome ...
'' and '' Muhammad at Medina'' (1953 and 1956, Oxford University Press).
*
Alfred Guillaume
Alfred Guillaume (8 November 1888 – 30 November 1965) was a British Christian Arabist, scholar of the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament and Islam.
Career
Guillaume was born in Edmonton, Middlesex, the son of Alfred Guillaume. He took up Arabic a ...
Maurice Gaudefroy-Demombynes
Maurice Gaudefroy-Demombynes (15 December 1862 – 12 August 1957) was a French Arabist, a specialist in Islam and the history of religions.
His best known works are his historical and religious studies on Hajj and Muslim institutions. He also t ...
Maxime Rodinson
Maxime Rodinson (26 January 1915 – 23 May 2004) was a French Marxist historian, sociologist and orientalist. He was the son of a Russian- Polish clothing trader and his wife, who both were murdered in Auschwitz concentration camp. After stu ...
, ''Mahomet'' (Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1960) – also translated into English (1961).
*
Syed Abul Ala Maududi
Abul A'la al-Maududi ( ur, , translit=Abū al-Aʿlā al-Mawdūdī; – ) was an Islamic scholar, Islamist ideologue, Muslim philosopher, jurist, historian, journalist, activist and scholar active in British India and later, following the part ...
wrote '' Seerat-e-Sarwar-e-Alam'' (1978)
*
Muhammad Hamidullah
Muhammad Hamidullah ( ur, محمد حمیداللہ, translit=Muḥammad Ḥamīdullāh; 19 February 1908 – 17 December 2002) was a scholar of hadiths (''muhaddith)'' and Islamic law ( faqih) and a prolific academic author. A polymath with com ...
wrote four books on Sira, ''Muhammad Rasulullah: A concise survey of the life and work of the founder of Islam'' (1979); ''The Prophet of Islam: Prophet of Migration'' (1989); ''The Prophet's establishing a state and his succession'' (1988); ''Battlefields of the Prophet Muhammad'' (1992).
* Pir Muhammad Karam Shah al-Azhari wrote
Zia un Nabi
Muhammad Karam Shah al-Azhari (1 July 1918 – 7 April 1998) was an Islamic scholar of Hanafi jurisprudence, Sufi, and Muslim leader. He is known for his magnum opus,'' Tafsir Zia ul Quran fi Tafsir ul Quran,'' meaning “The light of the ...
in to Urdu, It was translated by Muhammad Qayyum Awan into English as Life of Prophet Muhammad, is a detailed biography of Muhammad published in 1993.
*
Martin Lings
Martin Lings (24 January 1909 – 12 May 2005), also known as Abū Bakr Sirāj ad-Dīn, was an English writer, Islamic scholar, and philosopher. A student of the Swiss metaphysician Frithjof Schuon and an authority on the work of William Sh ...
Karen Armstrong
Karen Armstrong (born 14 November 1944) is a British author and commentator of Irish Catholic descent known for her books on comparative religion. A former Roman Catholic religious sister, she went from a conservative to a more liberal and ...
Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Seyyed Hossein Nasr (; fa, سید حسین نصر, born April 7, 1933) is an Iranian philosopher and University Professor of Islamic studies at George Washington University.
Born in Tehran, Nasr completed his education in Iran and the United St ...
, ''Muhammad, Man of God'' (KAZI Publications, 1995)
*
Safiur Rahman Mubarakpuri
Safiur Rahman MubarakpuriAr-Raheeq Al-Makhtum Pdf (Pdf); See at Author's Autobiograp ...
wrote ''
Ar-Raheeq Al-Makhtum
''Ar-Raheeq Al-Makhtum'' ( ar, الرحيق المختوم; ), is a seerah book, or biography of the Prophet, which was written by Safiur Rahman Mubarakpuri. This book was awarded first prize by the Muslim World League in a worldwide competitio ...
'' 'The Sealed Nectar' (Riyadh: Darussalam Publishers, First published 1996); Translated into English, French, Indonesian, and Malayalam Online link .
*
Muhammad Asadullah Al-Ghalib
Muhammad Asadullah Al-Ghalib ( bn, মুহম্মদ আসাদুল্লাহ আল-গালিব; born 15 January 1948) is a Bangladeshi reformist Islamic scholar and former professor of Arabic at the University of Rajshahi. He is ...
, ''Seeratur Rasool (SM)'' he life of the Prophet Muhammad (SM)in Bangla ' Online link '', First published in 2015 by Hadeeth Foundation Bangladesh. He has written prophetic biography on twenty-six Prophets and Messengers including the last Prophet Muhammad (SM) in three series books.
*
Ali al-Sallabi
Dr. Ali Muhammad al-Sallabi, or ''al-Salabi'' ( ar, علي محمد الصلابي; born 1963 in Benghazi) is a Muslim historian, religious scholar and IslamistAdil Salahi, ''Muhammad: man and prophet, a complete study of the life of the Prophet of Islam'' (Leicester: Islamic Foundation, 2012).
*
Lesley Hazleton
Lesley Hazleton (born 1945) is a British-American author whose work focuses on the intersection and interactions between politics and religion.
Biography and career
Hazleton has reported from Jerusalem for ''Time'', and has written on the Middl ...
Joel Hayward
Joel Hayward (born 1964) is a New Zealand-born British scholar, writer and poet. The daily newspaper '' Al Khaleej'' called Hayward "a world authority on international conflict and strategy". '' The National'' newspaper called Hayward "eminent" ...
Joel Hayward
Joel Hayward (born 1964) is a New Zealand-born British scholar, writer and poet. The daily newspaper '' Al Khaleej'' called Hayward "a world authority on international conflict and strategy". '' The National'' newspaper called Hayward "eminent" ...
, ''The Warrior Prophet: Muhammad and War'' (Swansea: Claritas Books, 2022) .
Biographies missing date of publication
*
Muhammad Alawi al-Maliki
Al-Sayyid Muhammad al-Hasan bin ‘Alawi bin ‘Abbas bin ‘Abd al-‘Aziz (1944–2004), also knowing as Muhammad ibn Alawi al-Maliki, was one of the foremost traditional Sunni Islamic scholar of contemporary times from Saudi Arabia. He was ref ...
wrote Muhammad Rasulallah.
*
Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri
Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri ( ur, ; born 19 February 1951) is a Pakistani–Canadian Islamic scholar and former politician who founded Minhaj-ul-Quran International and Pakistan Awami Tehreek.
He was also a professor of international co ...
Yusuf al-Nabhani
Yusuf bin Ismail bin Yusuf bin Ismail bin Muhammad Nâsir al-Dîn an-Nabhani (1849–1932) born in Ijzim in Palestine, was a Palestinian Sunni Islamic scholar, judge, prolific poet, and defender of the Ottoman Caliphate. He died in Beirut. ...
wrote Fada'il al-Muhammadiyya, al-Anwar al-Muhammadiyya and Shawahid al-Haqq.
*
Shibli Nomani
Shibli Nomani ( ur, – ; 3 June 1857 – 18 November 1914) was an Islamic scholar from the Indian subcontinent during the British Raj. He was born at Bindwal in Azamgarh district of present-day Uttar Pradesh.Sirat-un-Nabi
''Sirat al-Nabi'' ( ur, سیرت النبی) is a 7-volume seerah book, or biography of the Islamic prophet Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and ...
Syed Sulaiman Nadvi
Syed Sulaiman Nadvi (—; 22 November 1884 – 22 November 1953) was a Pakistani historian, writer and scholar of Islam. He co-authored ''Sirat-un-Nabi'' and wrote ''Khutbat-e-Madras''.Syed Sulaiman Nadvi
Syed Sulaiman Nadvi (—; 22 November 1884 – 22 November 1953) was a Pakistani historian, writer and scholar of Islam. He co-authored ''Sirat-un-Nabi'' and wrote ''Khutbat-e-Madras''.Khwaja Shamsuddin Azeemi
Khawaja Shamsuddin Azeemi ( ur, خواجه شمس الدين عظيمي; born 17 October 1927) is a Pakistani scholar in the field of spiritualism and a Sufi master. He is the current head of the Azeemia Sufi order. He has written books on the sub ...
, wrote ''Muhammad-ur-Rasoolullah'' in 4 volumes.
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Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi
Abul Hasan Ali Hasani Nadwi (also known as Ali Miyan; 5 December 1913 – 31 December 1999) was a leading Islamic scholar, thinker, writer, preacher, reformer and a Muslim public intellectual of 20th century India and the author of numerous boo ...
wrote ''Muhammad Rasulullah'' .
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Naeem Siddiqui
Maulana Naeem Siddiqui (1916 – 25 September 2002) was a Pakistani Islamic scholar, writer and politician. He was among the founder-members of the Jamaat-e-Islami and a close associate of Abul A'la Maududi and Amin Ahsan Islahi.
Early life a ...
wrote ''Muhammad The Benefactor Of Humanity''.
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Ahmed Deedat
Ahmed Husein Deedat ( gu, અહમદ હુસેન દીદત; ur, Arabic: احمد حسين ديدات), also known as Ahmed Deedat (1 July 1918 – 8 August 2005), was a self-taught Muslim thinker, author, and orator on Comparative ...
wrote ''Muhammad the Greatest'' and ''Muhammad the Natural Successor to Christ''.
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Jamal Badawi
Jamal A. Badawi ( ar, جمال بدوي) is an Egyptian-Canadian author, preacher and speaker on Islam.
Life
Badawi completed his undergraduate studies at Ain Shams University in Cairo. He left for the United States in the 1960s and complet ...
wrote ''Muhammad A Blessing For Mankind'', a Short Biography and Commentary.
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Khalid Masud
Allama Khalid Masud (16 December 1935 – 1 October 2003), was a Muslim scholar of Pakistan. He spent the major part of his life with Moulana Amin Ahsan Islahi. He conveyed ideas and thoughts of his teacher and Imam Farhi to general public. He ...
wrote ''Hayat e Rasul e Ummi'' in Urdu (translated as: ''The Unlettered Prophet'' by Saadia Malik).Preamble to the book /ref>
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Wahiduddin Khan
Wahiduddin Khan (1 January 1925 – 21 April 2021), known with the honorific "Maulana", was an Indian Islamic scholar and peace activist and author known for having written a commentary on the Quran and having translated it into contemporary E ...
List of Muslim historians
:''This is a subarticle of Islamic scholars, List of Muslim scholars and List of historians.''
The following is a list of Muslim historians writing in the Islamic historiographical tradition, which developed from hadith literature in the time of ...
List of Islamic texts
Quran and the previous revelations
The Quran is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims believe to be a revelation from God. It is widely regarded as the finest work in classical Arabic literature. The Quran is divided into chapte ...