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al-Sira al-Nabawiyya al-Sahiha (The Authentic Prophetic Biography)

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By Akram Diya' al-Umari

السيرة النبوية الصحيحة

Dr Akram Diya' al-Umari's biography of the Prophet ﷺ, subtitled 'an attempt to apply the hadith scholars' rules to the criticism of the sira reports': it gives sound reports first, then good ones, then weak ones that are corroborated; it is strict where belief and law are concerned and lenient for reports on building and battle description; and it draws on the hadith collections alongside the sira books.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Contemporary Era

ProphetsHistory-writing and social thought

Summary

Al-Sira al-Nabawiyya al-Sahiha: An Attempt to Apply the Hadith Scholars' Rules to the Criticism of the Sira Reports is a book by Dr Akram Diya' al-Umari; the copy used here is its sixth edition, Maktabat al-Ulum wa-al-Hikam, Medina, 1415/1994. 1 2

The problem it addresses

In his introduction al-Umari distinguishes the historians, such as al-Waqidi and al-Baladhuri, who arrange events chronologically, from the hadith scholars, who keep to the rules of transmission and cut a single report to fit their chapter headings, as in al-Bukhari's book of campaigns, and from those who combined both, like Ibn Ishaq, Khalifa ibn Khayyat, Ya'qub ibn Sufyan and al-Tabari. 3 He holds that knowledge of narrators and chains is no longer part of the learned culture of later times, so that modern writings do not sift reports, and that leading modern historians follow Western historical criticism, which was not adapted to Islamic reports built on chains of transmission. 4 He does not dismiss that method; he advocates combining the hadith scholars' method with Western criticism, governed by the standards of the Islamic worldview. 5 6

Method

His method is to rely first on sound reports, then good ones, then weak ones that are corroborated, preferring the stronger in case of conflict; uncorroborated weak reports may fill gaps provided they do not touch belief or law, by the rule of "strictness in matters of creed and law", while reports on building and descriptions of battlefields may be treated leniently. 7 He holds that the hadith books, above all the two Sahihs, support the sira books in most respects — especially the biographies of Ibn Ishaq and Musa ibn Uqba — and that Ibn Ishaq's sira is more accurate and reliable than the campaigns of al-Waqidi, whom the hadith critics weakened, against a tendency among some orientalists. 8 9 He lists the fruits of the method: greater certainty about the sira's information, added social, economic and administrative detail, clarification of points where historians and hadith scholars differ, such as the campaign against Banu al-Mustaliq, and revision of some topics such as the brotherhood pact and the Medina charter — while warning against exaggerating the extent of revision. 9 10

His survey of sources

He reviews the books of the Prophet's qualities, special features and proofs, then the pioneers of sira-writing among the Successors and after them, with their standing in narrator criticism: Aban ibn Uthman, Urwa ibn al-Zubayr, al-Sha'bi, Asim ibn Umar ibn Qatada, al-Zuhri, Shurahbil ibn Sa'd, Musa ibn Uqba, Sulayman ibn Tarkhan al-Taymi, Ma'mar ibn Rashid and Muhammad ibn Ishaq. 11 12 13 14 15 16

Structure

After the introduction come four chapters: the Prophet in Mecca, from Mecca before Islam to the two pledges of Aqaba and the Hijra; the Prophet in Medina — the features of Medinan society, its first institutions, the Medina charter and the expulsion of the Jewish tribes; the struggle against the polytheists, from the first expeditions and Badr to Tabuk, then the Farewell Pilgrimage and the Prophet's death; and "the Message and the Messenger", on the unseen, prophecy, the Prophet's humanity, the inimitability of the Qur'an, sensory miracles, the Mothers of the Believers and the merit of the Companions. 17 18 19 20

For young visitors

A book on the Prophet's life whose author tries to choose the most reliable reports, using the hadith scholars' way of examining narrators.

Research notes

  • Pages are PDF pages, printed = PDF. The whole work is in one file although the title page says "part one".

Connections

Explore the connections

Authored by
Akram Diya' al-Umari
About
Muhammad
Relies on
Sahih al-Bukhari· Sahih Muslim

People and things also explored

The Six Books· al-Ilzamat· al-Mustadrak 'ala al-Sahihayn· al-Targhib wa-l-Tarhib min al-Hadith al-Sharif (al-Mundhiri)· Asdaf al-Lu'lu': Shells of Pearl· Jami' al-Usul fi Ahadith al-Rasul· Muqaddimat Ibn al-Salah (Ma'rifat Anwa' Ilm al-Hadith)· Nuzhat al-Nazar fi Tawdih Nukhbat al-Fikar

Sources

  1. al-Sira al-Nabawiyya al-Sahiha: An Attempt to Apply the Hadith Scholars' Rules to the Criticism of the Sira Reports — Akram Diya' al-Umari (Maktabat al-Ulum wa-al-Hikam, Medina, 6th ed. 1415/1994) , p.2
  2. al-Sira al-Nabawiyya al-Sahiha: An Attempt to Apply the Hadith Scholars' Rules to the Criticism of the Sira Reports — Akram Diya' al-Umari (Maktabat al-Ulum wa-al-Hikam, Medina, 6th ed. 1415/1994) , p.5
  3. al-Sira al-Nabawiyya al-Sahiha: An Attempt to Apply the Hadith Scholars' Rules to the Criticism of the Sira Reports — Akram Diya' al-Umari (Maktabat al-Ulum wa-al-Hikam, Medina, 6th ed. 1415/1994) , p.11
  4. al-Sira al-Nabawiyya al-Sahiha: An Attempt to Apply the Hadith Scholars' Rules to the Criticism of the Sira Reports — Akram Diya' al-Umari (Maktabat al-Ulum wa-al-Hikam, Medina, 6th ed. 1415/1994) , p.12
  5. al-Sira al-Nabawiyya al-Sahiha: An Attempt to Apply the Hadith Scholars' Rules to the Criticism of the Sira Reports — Akram Diya' al-Umari (Maktabat al-Ulum wa-al-Hikam, Medina, 6th ed. 1415/1994) , p.13
  6. al-Sira al-Nabawiyya al-Sahiha: An Attempt to Apply the Hadith Scholars' Rules to the Criticism of the Sira Reports — Akram Diya' al-Umari (Maktabat al-Ulum wa-al-Hikam, Medina, 6th ed. 1415/1994) , p.14
  7. al-Sira al-Nabawiyya al-Sahiha: An Attempt to Apply the Hadith Scholars' Rules to the Criticism of the Sira Reports — Akram Diya' al-Umari (Maktabat al-Ulum wa-al-Hikam, Medina, 6th ed. 1415/1994) , p.40
  8. al-Sira al-Nabawiyya al-Sahiha: An Attempt to Apply the Hadith Scholars' Rules to the Criticism of the Sira Reports — Akram Diya' al-Umari (Maktabat al-Ulum wa-al-Hikam, Medina, 6th ed. 1415/1994) , p.41
  9. al-Sira al-Nabawiyya al-Sahiha: An Attempt to Apply the Hadith Scholars' Rules to the Criticism of the Sira Reports — Akram Diya' al-Umari (Maktabat al-Ulum wa-al-Hikam, Medina, 6th ed. 1415/1994) , p.42
  10. al-Sira al-Nabawiyya al-Sahiha: An Attempt to Apply the Hadith Scholars' Rules to the Criticism of the Sira Reports — Akram Diya' al-Umari (Maktabat al-Ulum wa-al-Hikam, Medina, 6th ed. 1415/1994) , p.43
  11. al-Sira al-Nabawiyya al-Sahiha: An Attempt to Apply the Hadith Scholars' Rules to the Criticism of the Sira Reports — Akram Diya' al-Umari (Maktabat al-Ulum wa-al-Hikam, Medina, 6th ed. 1415/1994) , p.52
  12. al-Sira al-Nabawiyya al-Sahiha: An Attempt to Apply the Hadith Scholars' Rules to the Criticism of the Sira Reports — Akram Diya' al-Umari (Maktabat al-Ulum wa-al-Hikam, Medina, 6th ed. 1415/1994) , p.53
  13. al-Sira al-Nabawiyya al-Sahiha: An Attempt to Apply the Hadith Scholars' Rules to the Criticism of the Sira Reports — Akram Diya' al-Umari (Maktabat al-Ulum wa-al-Hikam, Medina, 6th ed. 1415/1994) , p.54
  14. al-Sira al-Nabawiyya al-Sahiha: An Attempt to Apply the Hadith Scholars' Rules to the Criticism of the Sira Reports — Akram Diya' al-Umari (Maktabat al-Ulum wa-al-Hikam, Medina, 6th ed. 1415/1994) , p.55
  15. al-Sira al-Nabawiyya al-Sahiha: An Attempt to Apply the Hadith Scholars' Rules to the Criticism of the Sira Reports — Akram Diya' al-Umari (Maktabat al-Ulum wa-al-Hikam, Medina, 6th ed. 1415/1994) , p.56
  16. al-Sira al-Nabawiyya al-Sahiha: An Attempt to Apply the Hadith Scholars' Rules to the Criticism of the Sira Reports — Akram Diya' al-Umari (Maktabat al-Ulum wa-al-Hikam, Medina, 6th ed. 1415/1994) , p.57
  17. al-Sira al-Nabawiyya al-Sahiha: An Attempt to Apply the Hadith Scholars' Rules to the Criticism of the Sira Reports — Akram Diya' al-Umari (Maktabat al-Ulum wa-al-Hikam, Medina, 6th ed. 1415/1994) , p.689
  18. al-Sira al-Nabawiyya al-Sahiha: An Attempt to Apply the Hadith Scholars' Rules to the Criticism of the Sira Reports — Akram Diya' al-Umari (Maktabat al-Ulum wa-al-Hikam, Medina, 6th ed. 1415/1994) , p.690
  19. al-Sira al-Nabawiyya al-Sahiha: An Attempt to Apply the Hadith Scholars' Rules to the Criticism of the Sira Reports — Akram Diya' al-Umari (Maktabat al-Ulum wa-al-Hikam, Medina, 6th ed. 1415/1994) , p.691
  20. al-Sira al-Nabawiyya al-Sahiha: An Attempt to Apply the Hadith Scholars' Rules to the Criticism of the Sira Reports — Akram Diya' al-Umari (Maktabat al-Ulum wa-al-Hikam, Medina, 6th ed. 1415/1994) , p.692
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “al-Sira al-Nabawiyya al-Sahiha (The Authentic Prophetic Biography)”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/work/al-sira-al-nabawiyya-al-sahiha-umari/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-11-04.

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Qur'an, hadith, poetry, and the languages and scripts of Muslim peoples. Related

The Six Books

The 'six books' of later convention: Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Sunan Abi Dawud, Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Sunan al-Nasa'i and Sunan Ibn Majah — the principal chapter-arranged hadith collections that became the community's widest hadith reference from the fifth century; some lists substitute the Muwatta or the Musnad of Ahmad for Ibn Majah.