Meccan Dawn: The Life of the Beloved Prophet Muhammad Sallalahu 'Alayehi Wasallam
Taught by: Ustadh Abdullah Misra
Alhamdulillahi Rabil Alameen Wa Sallallahu Ala Ashraful Ambiyaee Wal Mursaleen Waa la alihi wa ashabihi ajmaeen. Subhanaka la ilma lana illa ma allamtana innaka antal-alimul hakeem. Allahuma alimna ma yanfa’una wanfa’na bima tu alim-una wa zinda min fadhlika wa ilman taleeman innaka ala kulli shayin qadeer.
Introduction
Objective of this course:
1) Understand key events in the life of the Prophet and build a timeline in our minds through which we can peg later events that we learn about. i.e. we learn hadith or read ayah of quran. Once we know the sequence of events, it is easier to sketch an outline and accommodate new things that we learn.
2) To understand the gradual development of Islam and struggle of Muslims as it progressed into one of the major religions.
3) The manner in which the Prophet conducted himself in different situation and circumstances in many different stages of his life with different people and groups.
4) Will provide context and background on key rulings on the commandments of Allah. i.e ruling to pray or certain prohibitions.
5) Contextualizes Seerah into our own lives and locate our problems, challenges and happiness within the life of the Prophet and the Sahaba. Provides a correlation between their and our stories.
6) Understand the sacrifices and obstacles made by the Prophet and the Sahaba to get this message to us.
7) Increasing our love for the Prophet Sallalahu Alyehi wasallam and his companions.
8) Applying Seerah and its teachings into our own lives.
Science of the Seerah
Other words for Seerah used in the past:
1) Maghazi – Refers to the military campaigns of the Prophet. Ghaza yaghzu = To intend or go out to something. Authors used this term as a way to pegging an outline and relating to certain time periods.
2) Shamail – Refers to the good qualities and attributes of the Prophet. It doesn’t include historical events or sequences.
3) Dalail – Imam Bayhaqi – The indications or signs towards Prophethood and his divine mission and personality.
4) Qasais – Attributes only found in him and no one else in creation.
Relationship between Seerah and recorded Arab history
Development of the Seerah
Introduction
- ·In the past, in the Muslim world, the seerah was a subject that was a part of the Muslim tradition regardless of culture and country. It was constantly referred to during the date of hijrah, night of Isra wal Miraj, Ramadan, laylatul qadr as well as in public and private spaces. i.e. schools, private gatherings.
- As Islamic learning grew weaker in the Muslim world, particularly in the west, Islamic learning opportunities had to be prioritized to basic fiqh i.e. prayer, Quran. We haven’t had much time to reflect on the Seerah.
Objective of this course:
1) Understand key events in the life of the Prophet and build a timeline in our minds through which we can peg later events that we learn about. i.e. we learn hadith or read ayah of quran. Once we know the sequence of events, it is easier to sketch an outline and accommodate new things that we learn.
2) To understand the gradual development of Islam and struggle of Muslims as it progressed into one of the major religions.
3) The manner in which the Prophet conducted himself in different situation and circumstances in many different stages of his life with different people and groups.
4) Will provide context and background on key rulings on the commandments of Allah. i.e ruling to pray or certain prohibitions.
5) Contextualizes Seerah into our own lives and locate our problems, challenges and happiness within the life of the Prophet and the Sahaba. Provides a correlation between their and our stories.
6) Understand the sacrifices and obstacles made by the Prophet and the Sahaba to get this message to us.
7) Increasing our love for the Prophet Sallalahu Alyehi wasallam and his companions.
8) Applying Seerah and its teachings into our own lives.
Science of the Seerah
- Seerah comes from the root word in Arabic ‘ sara yaseeru- sair’ – meaning to travel/journey/to move.
- Seerah dhatiyyah – Resume. It tells us life journey of a person. i.e. their experiences.
- Hasan-us-seerah – Someone who has lead a good life.
- Qabeeh-us-seerah – Someone who has lead a blameworthy or bad life.
- Siyar a’lam al nubala – Life outline of noble figures (saints, Imams etc) by Imam Dhahabi.
- As Seerah – The Seerah – Unanimously refers to the life history, behavior and habits of our Prophet. This also includes his personality as well as his inward and outward traits.
Other words for Seerah used in the past:
1) Maghazi – Refers to the military campaigns of the Prophet. Ghaza yaghzu = To intend or go out to something. Authors used this term as a way to pegging an outline and relating to certain time periods.
2) Shamail – Refers to the good qualities and attributes of the Prophet. It doesn’t include historical events or sequences.
3) Dalail – Imam Bayhaqi – The indications or signs towards Prophethood and his divine mission and personality.
4) Qasais – Attributes only found in him and no one else in creation.
- The seerah begins with past events and incidents of the Arabs before the Prophet was born as well as the beginning of Arab civilization because it builds the story and sets the stage of the blessed work of the Prophet. After the birth, it goes into the Makkan and Madinan period as well as the passing of the Prophet and into the history of the four righteous caliphates.
- After math of his passing and how the Muslim community carried forward.
Relationship between Seerah and recorded Arab history
- The recording of the Seerah was a point of departure after which the Arabs began to record history in general. Before that, it was not recorded. It was versified and sung in poetry. There was no corpus of literature. After the concern for writing the Seerah came about, it gave rise to the writing history that occurred before the birth of the Prophet. i.e. jahiliiyah
- Started to sift through events and deem which were authentic in order to bring the student to a correct understanding of why the world was ripe for the sending of the Prophet. Thus we not just see Arab history but writers of the Seerah mentioning events in different parts of the world that were occurring for example at the night of the birth of the Prophet just so we can understand the full picture.
- Recording of the Seerah led to a science which dictated how to regulate historical events. As soon as it came time to record seerah, there had to be standards in place because before seerah was written it was past from teacher to student, parent to child, rulers would promote people speaking about the Seerah in speeches and Khutbas and it was also recorded in part through the hadith which slightly predated the recording of the Sunnah. So, when the Seerah was to be recorded it meant that there had to be a Science.
- Muslims had to sort through different version of events and in order to protect the Prophetic Sunnah from corruption, they had to create a Science with rules and measures on how to verify which accounts were authentic.
- The reason why Seerah was preserved leads back to the greater purpose of contextualizing the hadith and the Sunnah. The sunnah of the Prophet was understood, thought and preserved in order to understand the message of the Qur’an. It all went back to preserving the deen and understanding the rulings and context of the Qur’an.
- After the science was established, it was able to establish between historical facts and fabrications.
- The Seerah was kept as pure and as accurate as possible. As objective and impartial as possible.
- History records general events in a time period or place and they don’t look at specific lives of people but in Seerah, the person becomes the focus and their life story and events as well as inner development becomes of focus. Everything around the person such as rulers, people around that person become secondary and is mentioned to understand the life of the person being spoken about in the Seerah.
- Difference between Seerah and Islamic term of Seerah. Biography is used for good and bad people. Seerah in the Islamic term is used to speak about someone who is praiseworthy, exemplary and highlight lessons from their lives and to create respect for that person. It’s not made as an expose as we know it today rather it is to promote good examples and their love and respect.
- The hadith are reports –sayings, actions and approval of the Prophet. They are not in chronological order rather they are ordered to different standards. As well as pure hadith which is just the narration, there is no contextual background and various relations towards other hadith are not made. It is up to the reader to string it together and this is why the ulema have written commentaries on the hadith.
- The hadith are disparate reports that give us some benefit in order to understand Islamic law for example. Furthermore, we take rulings, virtues, and points of belief from hadith. The condition of accepting hadith in order to act upon them is very stringent.
- The Seerah is a flowing narrative in chronological order which is supported by hadith to shed light on a certain issues but it is a narrative that is occurring on behalf of person writing the seerah. It is not necessary to hold the Seerah as a rigorous standard as that of hadith because the point of Seerah is not to take out points of Fiqh or Islamic sacred law. Although the Ulema have a separate science on how to take the fiqah out of the Seerah, but that fiqh is not particular rulings on for example how to pray or fast rather they are overarching principles that govern and breathe life into the way we implement the Islamic sacred law.
- Rather we take virtue, examples and lessons from Seerah.
- It’s a misunderstanding that since the standard of Seerah is not as rigorous that it is inauthentic or not as accurate. The science of recording the Seerah follows the same rules and regulations as that of the hadith. The only difference is we do not make a legal ruling from Seerah.
Development of the Seerah
- Seerah was existent from the time of the Sahabah. They studied and passed on the Seerah because they experienced and lived through the Seerah and they passed it down to students and people.
- In the time of the Sahaba and followers and followers of followers only the Quran was preserved and written because there was a concern from the time of the Prophet that if there was any other piece of writing made that it would be confused with the Quran and so in order to establish the preservation of the Quran, only the Quran at that time was written down and recorded. Other events were passed down orally but still with a level of rigor and exactness.
- Sunnah was ordered to be preserved and recorded than the death of the Prophet. When they were begun to be recorded, there was a stringent process and Science to know exactly which person heard the hadith – in a chain called Isnad. The lives of those people who narrated the hadith were scrutinized to make sure the report was authentic as possible. There was also a need to understand the entire life of the Prophet. Recording the Sunnah (actions, experiences) was nothing new but was commanded during the lifetime. Only difference was not to write down but was to be passed down. (Relate information from me even if it is one verse)
- The writing of the Prophetic biography – while it was secondary to the writing of hadith itself, in a short time of the inception of the recording of hadith, the need to record seerah was also felt.
- Writers of Seerah: Urwah ibn az Zubair – 92 of Hijra- 81 years after the death of the Prophet. The son of az zubair, a sahaba, who had heard first hand accounts of the Prophet from his father. He was also a sahabah who was promised paradise.
- Hibban ibn Uthman
- Later generations : Wahab Ibn Munabbi (110 hijrah) Saad, Az Zuhri (124 Hijri)
- Their writings and recordings have not made it to our time and so we don’t know what exactly they wrote but their writings set the stage for scholars who came after.
- The benefit was the later writers who came short time after were available to compile from various sahabah and use the hadith narrations in order to collate different accounts and views of the Seerah which were authentic.
- Shaykh of Seerah – Ibn Ishaq – Al Maghazi. Popular in reference to the works of seerah. Died in 152 of hijrah.
- First person to collate all different accounts of Seerah and compiled it into one book. It was the most reliable book until that time and he became the standard for all others who were inspired to write Seerah. His works not available.
- Ibn Hisham (218 Hijrah) further refined his work and compiled from him a book called Seerat Ibn Hisham.