Why Study the Seerah? & Pre-Islamic Arabia

1. SEERAH OF THE
PROPHET(SWS)
Slides based on Seerah Series done
by Yasir
Qadhi
SLIDE#: SL3.2
TOPIC: Why Study the Seerah? & Pre-Islamic Arabia

2. PART I
(21:46 – 37:23)

3. • Where do we study the Seerah from?
• Where are we getting the information from?
• What are the sources of the Seerah of the
Prophet(sws)?
– 1. The Quran (the #1 source of Seerah)
• The Quran references almost every major incident in his
life, even stories of before he was Prophet and even
before he was born
• It is the best for many reasons
– 2. The Hadith

4. • Why is the Quran an amazing source?
– It is the language of Allah(swt)
– The language is unparalleled , beautiful
– It tells us the inward feelings and emotions, not just
the outward actions
– It addresses the unseen, e.x. sending angels during
Badr
– Issue One: One issue is that it is not chronological
– Issue Two: Also, the references aren’t always listed

5. • Hadith
• Each hadith refers to some part of the life of the
Prophet(sws)
• Books of Seerah (the 3rd source)
– Started being written by the sons of the Sahabas
– One of the greatest writers, Uruwa, the son of a
Sahaba and Sahabi
– However, he had access to Aisha because that was
his aunt
– Also, Abban, the son of Uthman ibn Affan, wrote
some books as well

6. • The earlier books we don’t have because books
were combined and put together because books had
to be hand written in the past
• The greatest scholar of Seerah is Mohammed Ibn
Ishaq.
– He was passionate about it and so he compiled a large
book and tried to make it chronological
– It had so many volumes
– A student (Ibn Hisham)  since he realized the work of
Ibn Ishaq was so long, he condensed it by cutting stuff
out
• We are big on compiling the narrators so we know
where the information is coming from

7. • Ibn Hisham realized that it was too much to
write that much, so he shortened it
• Ibn Ishaq was one of the first to write a history
from the beginning of time. Ibn Hisham
thought, no, lets just focus on the Prophet so he
took out the written part of the earlier history.
• Now, Ibn Ishaq is no longer available
– Some manuscripts may be around the world, now
under different people/countries, etc.

8. Questions
1. Describe the 3 sources explained from where
we get information about the Seerah.
2. What are two issues with the Quran in terms
of getting information about the Seerah?
3. Pick one Islamic scholar who wrote about the
Seerah and describe their role.

9. PART II
(37:24 – 51:46)

10. • Ibn Hisham took out lineages but he did keep the
original source (the books of Ibn Ishaq) intact
• 4th Source of the Seerah: the books written about
the characteristics of the Prophet(sws). Shama’il
(the characteristics/ specialities).
• 5th Source of the Seerah: books written about the
miracles of the Prophet (sws). Dala’il (miracles-
books). Can extract seerah from these types of
books.
• 6th Source: books w/ histories of the Sahabas
• 7th Source: books about the histories of Makkah
and Medina
• 8th Source: books about Islam and its history
written by the outside world (this is new)

11. • Pre-Islamic Arabia:
– Who were the Arabs? Topic of ethnicity and
genealogy
– Ibn Ishaq started this type of study
– A lot of Arabs now don’t trace back to the Arabs of
that time. So the Arab ethnicity is not what it used to
be.

12. • Scholars have created two categories of Arabs:
• 1. Al-Arab al Bayida  Extinct Arabs  the earliest
peoples that lived in Arabia. The Quran mentioned some
like the Ad and the Thamud. They have nothing to do
with the later Arabs. Thamud is the earliest humanity
living in Arabia. These people fled from Babel ( the
earliest cities).
• 2. Al Arab al Bakiya  the Arabs that remain. There are
two categories of this as well:
– A) Qahtan: the father of the Arab. His son was Yahrab. His
name became the basis of Arab. These are called the Qahtan
Arabs. Not sure who they are. Majority opinion is that he is
descendants of Sam (Nuh(a)’s son). They (Qahtanis) lived in
Southern Arabia. (The Aws and the Khajraj in Madina were
Qahtani).
– B) Adnan

13. Questions
1. Describe the 4 sources of seerah mentioned in
this segment.
2. What are the two categories of the Arabs?
Explain the difference.
3. What are the two categories of the Al-Arab al
Bakiya?
4. Describe the Qahtan.

14. The complete lecture can be found:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F5qzMI2IK
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