Ibn Hishām

…which the best known is ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Hishām’s (died 833–834) Sīrat Muḥammad rasūl Allāh (“Life of Muhammad, the Messenger of God”). Ibn Isḥāq’s original book was not his own composition but rather a compilation of autonomous reports about specific events that took place during the life of Muhammad and…

…book, in a recension by Ibn Hishām, is one of the most important sources on the Prophet’s life.

…before the Muʿtazilite controversy began, Ibn Hishām had produced his classic recension of the sīrah, or life, of Muhammad, composed half a century earlier by Ibn Isḥāq. As in the early Christian church, these were not merely dogmatic issues. They were rooted in the way ordinary Muslims lived, just as…