RESPONSE GIVEN BY JOSEPH ISLAM
[Please contact Joseph Islam for further details of the original thread]
I will try to summarise this in the best way I can:
The earliest source of the Prophet's history is by a professional storyteller / historian by the name of Ibn Ishaq who provides much of the biographical information on the Prophet. Ibn Ishaq was born in Madinah (c.704 CE) and wrote his biography (Sirat-ul Rasul) at the order of Caliph Mansur around 760-63 CE (approx. 130 years removed from the death of the Prophet).
Ibn Ishaq's work does not survive. What we have is his work coming to us via various editors such as Ibn Hisham (833 CE) which is one of the most popular recensions used as a source by both Muslim and Oriental scholarship. Ibn Hisham himself receives Ibn Ishaq's work through another intermediary by the name of Al-Bakkai.
Transmission:
Ibn Ishaq (d.c767 CE) - Al Bakkai - Ibn Hisham (d.833 CE)
A very interesting quote in Ibn Hisham's note is worth noting:
"I am omitting things which ibn Ishaq recorded in this book which are disgraceful to discuss and matters which would distress certain people" Ibn Hisham's Introduction
It is also interesting / significant to note that the early historian Ibn Ishaq receives much animosity in his own home town Madinah including animosity from Imam Malik himself who calls Ibn Ishaq a 'Liar'.
Ibn Ihaq's work is transmitted through many other students. Scholar J.Feuck mentions 15. I recall an Islamic scholar mentioning Abbot to have added three more.
Another important recension is found through Salama b.al-Fadl whose extracts can be found in the works of Al-Tabari (d.923 CE). Al-Tabari (838 CE-923 CE) relies on early historians such as Ibn Ishaq (and many others) through intermediary transmitters (such as Salama b.al-Fadl) to source his information. Of course, al-Tabari also makes use of many other sources as well. His colossal work entitled 'Tarikh al-Rasul wa al-Muluk (History of the Prophets and Kings) has been translated in English and consists of 39 volumes plus an index which can be found in specialist libraries (Worth consulting and studying).
A very interesting (and seemingly honest) excerpt is noted in his introduction of the 'Tarikh al-Rasul wa al-Muluk':
"Let him who examines this book of mine know that I have relied, as regards everything I mention therein which I stipulate to be described by me, solely upon what has been transmitted to me by way of reports which I cite therein and traditions which I ascribe to their narrators, to the exclusion of what may be apprehended by rational argument or deduced by the human mind, except in very few cases. This is because knowledge of the reports of men of the past and of contemporaneous views of men of the present do not reach the one who has not witnessed them nor lived in their times except through the accounts of reporters and the transmission of transmitters, to the exclusion of rational deduction and mental inference. Hence, if I mention in this book a report about some men of the past, which the reader of listener finds objectionable or worthy of censure because he can see no aspect of truth nor any factual substance therein, let him know that this is not to be attributed to us but to those who transmitted it to us and we have merely passed this on as it has been passed on to us"
Another recension of Ibn Ishaq's work is found through Ibn Al-Athir via Yunus bin-Bukayr. I understand that a copy of part of his recension ('Usdu'l Ghaba') exists in the Qarawiyin mosque in Fez which I have yet to find suitable sources / scholarship sources to access for my own study.
Ibn Ishaq was succeeded by another well known historian by the name of Al Waqidi (748 CE-822 CE) who like Ibn Ishaq exhibits possible Shia leans which is evidenced through a study of his works, narrative, collection style and his interpretation. There is much discussion in scholarly circles with regards Al-Waqidi's work and it is often asserted by some scholars that it contains possible plagiarism from Ibn Ishaq's work but with embellishments.
Having studied these sources in considerable depth, my own study concurs partially with this view. However I do feel that Al-Waqidi's work is somewhat shaped by his own image of the Prophet.
Both early historians have received criticisms of their works by their own contemporaries and by scholars throughout history to even the present day.
A good place to start a study in this area would be to access the Phd study of Dr. Rizwi Faizer.
Ibn Ishaq and Al-Waqidi Revisited: A Case Study of Muhammad and the Jews in Biographical Literature
The Phd thesis can be found here.
http://digitool.library.mcgill.ca/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=28738&local_base=GEN01-MCG02You can note the treatment of some of Ibn Ishaq's narratives such as the infamous slaughter of the Banu Qurayza by another well known scholar Dr. W.N. Arafat.
New Light on the Story of Banu Qurayza and the Jews of Medina
A copy of this article can be found here:
http://www.haqq.com.au/~salam/misc/qurayza.htmlAl Waqidi's secretary (Ibn Saad) is the source of the infamous Satanic Verses (Isnad: Al Waqidi from Yunus Ibn Muhammad Ibn Fazla al Zafari from father who said from Kasir ibn Zayd from Al Mutallib ibn Abdullah ibn Hantab).
Al Waqidi's Kitab al Maghazi has survived and was a crucial source regarding the prophet which also influenced Al-Tabari's work. It no doubt also shaped Ibn Saad's (d.845 CE) Kitab al-Tabaqat.
Point to note:
The earliest historians for the Prophet's biography such as Ibn Ishaq and others such as Al Waqidi (d.822 CE), often relied on folklore and various traditions from a plethora of traditionalists (at times indiscriminate) at times citing their sources and at others remaining economical with their source of information. Popular translations of this work exist such as that of Islamic scholar Guillaume (Oxford University Press) - The Life of Muhammad, a translation of Ibn Ishaq's Sira.
There are also non-Muslim sources worth considering which form a small body of literature and comprises Greek and Syriac writings dating from the time of early Muslim conquests which takes ones study to within the a time period of decades of the death of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)
It is the Armenian chronicler Sebeos, Bishop of the Bagratunis (writing approximately 660s CE - approximately 30 years after the death of the Prophet) who gives us the earliest narrative accounts of the Prophet's ministry in any language today.
I hope this helps :-)
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