Best biography of prophet muhammad in english

Biographies of Muhammad

This is a chronological listing of biographies of the Islamicprophet, Muhammad, from the earliest traditional writers to modern times.

Number of biographies

The literature is extensive: in the Urdu language alone, a scholar from Pakistan in came up with a bibliography of more than 10, titles counting multivolume works as a single book and without taking into account articles, short essays or unpublished manuscripts, with the author also precising that the literature in Arabic is even more important.^[1]

Earliest biographers

The following is a list of the earliest known Hadith collectors who specialized in collecting Sīra and Maghāzī reports.

1st century of Hijrah (&#; CE)

• Sahl ibn Abī Ḥathma (d. in Mu'awiya's reign, i.e., AH), was a young companion of Muhammad. Parts of his writings on Maghazi are preserved in the Ansāb of al-Baladhuri, the Ṭabaqāt of Ibn Sa'd, and the works of Ibn Jarir al-Tabari and al-Waqidi.^[2]
• Abdullah ibn Abbas (d.

  78 AH), a companion of Muhammad, his traditions are found in various works of Hadith and Sīra.^[2]

• Saʿīd ibn Saʿd ibn ʿUbāda al-Khazrajī, another young companion, whose writings possess survived in the Musnad of Ibn Hanbal and Abī ʿIwāna, and al-Tabari's Tārīkh.^[2]
• ʿUrwa ibn al-Zubayr (d.

  ). He wrote letters replying to inquiries of the Umayyad caliphs, Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan and al-Walid I, 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.^[3] He was a grandson of Abu Bakr and the younger brother of Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr.

• Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib al-Makhzūmī (d. 94 AH), a famous Tābiʿī and one of the teachers of Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri.

  His traditions are quoted in the Six major hadith collections, and in the Sīra works of Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Sayyid al-Nās, and others.^[2]

• Abū Fiḍāla ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kaʿb ibn Mālik al-Anṣārī (d. 97 AH), his traditions are mentioned by Ibn Ishaq and al-Tabari.^[2]
• Abān ibn Uthmān ibn Affān (d.

  AH), the son of Uthman wrote a small pamphlet. His traditions are transmitted through Malik ibn Anas in his Muwaṭṭaʾ, the Ṭabaqāt of Ibn Sa'd, and in the histories of al-Tabari and al-Yaʿqūbī.^[2]

• ʿĀmir ibn Sharāḥīl al-Shaʿbī (d.

  AH), his traditions were transmitted through Abu Isḥāq al-Subaiʿī, Saʿīd ibn Masrūq al-Thawrī, al-Aʿmash, Qatāda, Mujālid ibn Saʿīd, and others.^[2]

• Hammam ibn Munabbih (d.
  I have personally scan each of the following biographies of Prophet Muhammad. Some are certainly better than others. One should also be aware that there are many more books of seerah biography of the Prophet that I have not yet read. If you possess read another and would appreciate to share what you idea of it, please drop a comment to this entry so others can read your recommendation.

  AH/ CE), author of the Sahifah and a student of Abu Hurayrah.

2nd century of Hijrah (&#; CE)

• Al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr (d. AH), another grandson of Abu Bakr. His traditions are mainly found in the works of al-Tabari, al-Balathuri, and al-Waqidi.^[2]
• Wahb ibn Munabbih (d.

  during to , or 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, Ibn Hisham, Ibn Jarir al-Tabari, Abū Nuʿaym al-Iṣfahānī, and others.^[2][3]

• Ibn Shihāb al-Zuhrī (d.

  c.&#;), a central figure in sīra literature, who collected both ahadith and akhbār.

  The Best Biographies of Prophet Muhammad (Book Review): 1- Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources by the late Dr. Martin Lings. This is arguably one of the very best and most approachable biographies on the Prophet. This book reads more enjoy a novel; it’s fast moving and always interesting. At the same time, Dr. Lings attempted to make an accurate telling based on the earliest sources.

  His akhbār also contain chains of transmissions, or isnad. He was sponsored by the Umayyad court and asked to draft two books, one on genealogy and another on maghāzī. The first was canceled and the one about maghāzī is either not extant or has never been written.^[3]

• Musa ibn ʿUqba, a student of al-Zuhrī, wrote Kitāb al-Maghāzī, a notebook used to teach his students; once mind to be lost now rediscovered.

  Some of his traditions possess been preserved, although their attribution to him is disputed.^[3]

• Muhammad ibn Ishaq (d. or ), another student of al-Zuhrī, who composed 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.^[3]

• Ibn Jurayj (d. AH), has been described as a "contemporary" of Ibn Ishaq and "rival authority based in Mecca"^[4]
• Abū Ishāq al-Fazarī (d.

  AH) wrote Kitāb al-Siyar.^[5]

• Abu Ma'shar Najih Al-Madani (d.
  The Prophet Muhammad is widely regarded as the bedrock of the Islamic religion. Muslims across the world contain him in high regard and view him as a righteous messenger to whom God Allah revealed the Quran Koran. Below, we present the full being story of the Prophet Mohammad Peace be on to Him :. Unfortunately, Muhammad never saw his father with his possess eyes — his father died before he came into the world.

  c.&#;)

• Al-Waqidi, whose surviving function Kitab al-Tarikh wa al-Maghazi (Book of History and Campaigns) has been published.(Online link).
• Hisham Ibn Urwah ibn Zubayr, son of Urwah ibn Zubayr, generally quoted traditions from his father but was also a pupil of al-Zuhri.

3rd century of Hijrah (&#; CE)

4th century of Hijrah (&#; CE)

• Ibn Hibban (d) wrote Kitāb al-sīra al-nabawiyya wa akhbār al-khulafāʾ.

5th century of Hijrah (&#; CE)

6th century of Hijrah (&#; CE)

7th century of Hijrah (&#; CE)

• Al-Kalāʿī of Valencia (d.

  ) wrote a three-volume biography called al-Iktifāʾ. It follows the structure of Ibn Ishaq's sira with additional traditions from various other works.^[7]

• Abdul Mu'min al-Dimyati (d. AH/CE), wrote the book "al-Mukhtasar fi Sirati Sayyid Khair al-Bashar" but is commonly referred to as Sira of Al-Dimyati.

8th century of Hijrah (&#; CE)

Others (&#; CE)

• Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, 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.
• 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 (–&#;CE)

19th century CE

• Bush, George ().

  The Life of Mohammed: Founder of the Religion of Islam, and of the Empire of the Saracens. J. & J. Harper.

• Gustav Weil, Mohammed der Prophet, sein Leben und seine Lehre (Stuttgart: J.B.&#;Metzler'schen Buchhandlung, )
• Washington Irving, Mahomet and His Successors ()
• Aloys Sprenger, The Life of Mohammad, from Original Sources (Allahabad: The Presbyterian Mission Press, ).
• William Muir, The Life of Muhammad and History of Islam to the Era of the Hegira (London: Smith, Elder & Co., ), 4&#;vols.

  – several later editions with slightly different titles.

• Aloys Sprenger, Das Leben und die Lehre des Mohammad: Nach bisher größtentheils unbenutzten Quellen (Berlin: Nicolai'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, ), 3&#;vols – a revised 2nd edition was published in
• Theodor Nöldeke, Das Leben Muhammed's: Nach den Quellen populär dargestellt (Hannover: Carl Rümpler, ).

Modern biographies ( CE – present)

• Muhammad Sulaiman Mansoorpuri, Rahmatul-lil-Alameen (Mercy for Mankind) in Urdu, First published in , 3 volumes.
• Ashraf Ali Thanwi (), Nashr al-Tib fi Zikr al-Nabi al-Habib
• Shafi Usmani (), Seerat Khatam al-Anbiya
• Muhammad Husayn Haykal, The Existence of Muhammad in Arabic, ; with English translation by Isma'il Raji A.

  al-Faruqi.

• Andrae, Tor ().

  al-Shama’il al-Muhammadiyya by Imam Tirmidhi – The English translation of the famous classical work that presents us detailed descriptions of the moral, physical and spiritual qualities of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). The translators also incorporate footnotes from well-known commentaries on the book.

  Mohammed: The Human and His Faith. Dover. ISBN&#;.

• William Montgomery Watt, Muhammad at Mecca and Muhammad at Medina ( and , Oxford University Press).
• Alfred Guillaume, Ibn Ishaq: The experience of Muhammad, a translation of Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah, with introduction and notes, Oxford University Press, , ISBN&#;0 19 1(Online link).
• Maurice Gaudefroy-Demombynes, Mahomet (Paris: Éditions Albin Michel, ).
• Maxime Rodinson, Mahomet (Paris: Éditions du Seuil, ) – also translated into English ().
• Syed Abul Ala Maududi wrote Seerat-e-Sarwar-e-Alam ()
• Muhammad Hamidullah wrote four books on Sira, Muhammad Rasulullah: A concise survey of the life and work of the founder of Islam (); The Prophet of Islam: Prophet of Migration (); The Prophet's establishing a state and his succession (); Battlefields of the Prophet Muhammad ().
• Pir Muhammad Karam Shah al-Azhari wrote Zia un Nabi in to Urdu, It was translated by Muhammad Qayyum Awan into English as Existence of Prophet Muhammad, is a detailed biography of Muhammad published in
• Martin Lings, Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources (London: Islamic Texts World, ), ISBN&#;
• Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmood Ahmad, Life of Muhammad (Islam International Publications Limited, ).
• Karen Armstrong, Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet (London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, ), and Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time (New York: Harper Collins, ).
• Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Muhammad, Man of God (KAZI Publications, ) ISBN&#;
• Safiur Rahman Mubarakpuri wrote Ar-Raheeq Al-Makhtum [The Sealed Nectar] (Riyadh: Darussalam Publishers, First published ); Translated into English, French, Indonesian, and Malayalam (Online link).
• Muhammad Asadullah Al-Ghalib, Seeratur Rasool (SM) [The life of the Prophet Muhammad (SM)] in Bangla (Online link), First published in 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, The Noble Life of the Prophet (Riyadh: Darussalam Publishers, ), 3 vols.
• Allama Syed Saadat Ali Qadri, Jaan-e-Aalam – Soul of the worlds ().
• Adil Salahi, Muhammad: human and prophet, a complete explore of the life of the Prophet of Islam (Leicester: Islamic Foundation, ).
• Lesley Hazleton, The First Muslim: The Story of Muhammad (New York: Riverhead Books, ).
• Safvet Halilović, Životopis posljednjeg Allahovog poslanika (Biography of Allah's last messenger) (Sarajevo: El Kalem, )
• Sayeed Abubakar, Nabinama, an epic on Muhammad [Sarolrekha Prokashona Songstha, Dhaka, First Published]
• Joel Hayward, The Governance of Muhammad (Swansea: Claritas Books, ) ISBN&#;
• Mohamad Jebara, Muhammad the World-Changer: An Intimate Portrait (New York: St.

  Martin's Press, ) ISBN&#;

• Joel Hayward, The Warrior Prophet: Muhammad and War (Swansea: Claritas Books, ) ISBN&#;
• Dr.
  This is a chronological listing of biographies of the Islamic prophetMuhammadfrom the earliest traditional writers to contemporary times. The literature is extensive: in the Urdu language alone, a scholar from Pakistan in came up with a bibliography of more than 10, titles counting multivolume works as a single book and without taking into account articles, short essays or unpublished manuscripts, with the author also precising that the literature in Arabic is even more important. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk.

  Sarfaraz Hussain Shah wrote 'The Runner of Mercy: A Call in Makkah.' (The Middle Community, ) (ISBN&#;)

Biographies missing date of publication

See also

References