Living in the Time of Prophecy: Internalized Sirah Texts

Muzaffar Iqbal1

Modern Sirah texts are deeply affected by the formidable historical currents that

have shaped the post-colonial Muslim world. The intellectual rigor of some of

these texts notwithstanding, the trend that dominates most nineteenth and early

twentieth century Sirah works is one that works to justify and apologize. Muslim

intellectuals of this period were generally reacting against two centuries of

colonial dominance; with few exceptions, their characterizations of the life of the

Prophet were attempts to rationalize the miracles mentioned in classical works of

Sirah, omit events which would be considered “scandalous” in the political

climate of their times, and more generally introduce an ―historical-critical‖ mode

of so-called scientific objectivity borrowed from the intellectual apparatus of

Orientalism.

During the last quarter of the twentieth century, Sirah texts started to move away

from these political, social, and intellectual burdens. This relief made it possible

for a few writers to produce remarkably vivid accounts of the entire Prophetic

era, recapturing the intimacy that was the hallmark of classical Sirah texts. A

necessary step in writing such Sirah was the personal internalization of that

unique period in human history when the last of Allah‖s prophets lived on earth.

The present paper examines this process of internalization, which allowed these

writers to produce works that read as if the writers—and their responsive

readers—were ―living in the time of prophecy‖. The paper explores characteristic

features of the process of internalization as “read back” in the works produced by

this process.

Introduction

A defining feature of modern2 Sirah texts—indeed of all branches of Islamic studies—is the emergence of

“lay scholars”.3 There are numerous historical, social, and political reasons for this, but one over-arching

factor is Muslim encounter with the West. The French occupation of Egypt and the south of Syria (1798-

18O1), and the long British occupation of the Indian subcontinent, which formerly came under the

British crown in 1857, and colonization of other parts of the Muslim world all have had decisive influence

on the field of Islamic studies in general and Sirah studies in particular. For the first time in Muslim

history, Europe had direct contact with a very large number of Muslims and Western civilization began to

directly influence Muslim daily life in a manner that had not been experienced before. Sirah texts of the

nineteenth and early twentieth centuries reflect various facets of this impact.

Most of these lay scholars were actually appalled by the state of their people and, for the most part,

they uncritically accepted the European verdict—even condemnation—of their own history, culture,

civilization, and intellectual tradition. To be sure, most of them retained a firm faith, but intellectual

foundation of faith was severely damaged. Many of these lay scholars also became aware of the European

attacks on the life of the Noble Prophet, upon him blessings and peace, and this painful recognition

1 Muzaffar Iqbal, President, Center for Islam and Science. Email: muzaffar5O@gmail.com. 2 “Modern” is used in this paper to denote the period beginning with the nineteenth century. 3 “Lay-scholars” here means those who are not fully-trained in Islamic studies through traditional

channels but who entered the field from “outside”, that is, their primarily training was in a

field other than Islamic subjects, or those who had a rudimentary madrasa education before

entering modern educational system.

prompted them to write “defensive works”.4 In addition to “defensive texts”, these trends yielded (i)

motivational and inspirational works, which attempted to awaken Muslims and prompted them to action;

(ii) apologetic and polemical works using a rational approach which flattened—and in many cases

discarded—anything that did not fit the scientific rationalism then reigning supreme in Europe; and (iii)

Sirah texts which reflect strong impact of modern Western political and social theories.

Many authors of these Sirah works were literary critics, writers, poets, intellectuals, and scholars

trained in humanities through a Western-style education. They read the works of European writers on the

life of the Prophet, upon him peace and blessings, and in order to respond, adopted their methodologies

and frameworks. More often than not, they found faults with traditional understanding of Sirah works,

criticized the “supernatural” aspects of these accounts and explained away the miraculous in order to fit

their conception of the life of the Prophet, upon him blessings and peace, within a rational framework.

Many simply claimed that the only miracle of the Prophet was the Qurʾān.5 They used logical arguments

to discard a good part of traditional understanding of Sirah texts.

This is not to deny the existence of Sirah works during this era which continued to use the traditional

understanding,6 but to underscore the dominant trend which gained force with the passage of time so

much so that one can genuinely speak of a flowering of modern Sirah texts during the first three decades

of the twentieth century. No doubt, these writers were personally filled with the love of the Prophet, as

every Muslim is, but their education and more importantly their obsession of the so-called “scientific

method” deeply influenced their understanding of prophethood and consequently their attempts to study

the life of the Prophet “scientifically” led to reductionism and distortions.

This trend is most apparent in the works of Egyptian Sirah writers of the first half of the twentieth

century many of whom had gone to Europe for education, although it is not limited to them. Others were

literary figures who ventured into the domain of Sirah either to “defend” the Prophet,7 or to find some

new facet in his personality (e.g. socialism and heroism).8

During this same time period, non-Muslim, mostly Western, tradition of Sirah went through its own

transformation: The expansion of European knowledge of other cultures through travel and trade during

the eighteenth century and European understanding of the Muslim world through colonization in the

nineteenth century, coupled with the forces of rationalization and Enlightenment served to transform

4 “Muslim discovery of the West,” W. C. Smith once commented, “was in large part a pained

discovery of Western antipathy to Islam”. W. C. Smith, Islam in Modern History. p. 77. A good

example of such a work is Sayyid Ahmad Khan‖s A Series of Essays on the Life of Mohammed and

Subjects Subsidiary Thereto, London. 1870. 5 For example, in the last story of the third volume of Ṭāhā Ḥusayn‖s ăAlā hāmish al-Sīra, it is denied

that the Prophet performed miracles. See Ṭāhā Ḥusayn‖s ăAlā hāmish al-Sīra, part III, p. 238. 6 These include, for instance, al-Sīra al-Nabawiyya wa al-Āthār al-Muḥammadiyya (1875) by Aḥmad

Zainī; al-Nabhānī‖s al-Mawāhib al-Laduniyya; Muḥammad al-Khudarī‖s Nūr al-Yaqīn. 7 For instance, the motivation for Tawfīq al-Ḥakīm‖s 1936 play, Muḥammad, came from his

encounter with Voltair‖s play Fanatisme ou Mahomet le prophète. ʿAbbās Maḥmūd al-ʿAqqād

wrote his ăAbqariyyat Muḥammad (The Genius of Muḥammad) because he was motivated to do so

after reading Carlyle‖s “The Hero as Prophet”; for references to original works and comments,

see Antonie Wessels, A Modern Arabic Biography of Muḥammad: A Critical Study of Muḥammad

Ḥusayn Haykal’s Ḥayāt Muḥmmad; hereinafter Wessels, A Modern Biography; Leiden: E. J. Brill,

1972, p. 10-15. 8 For instance, Maḥmūd Shalabī, Ishtirākiyyat Muḥammad (The Socialism of Muḥammad), which was

“inspired” by a speech of the Egyptian president Jamāl ʿAbd al-Nāṣir, “who commented on

the lack of a study of the socialism of Muḥammad”; or ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ʿAzzām‖s Baṭal al-abṭāl

aw abrāz ḧifāt al-nabī Muḥammad (The Hero of Heroes or the Most Prominent Attributes of Prophet

Muḥammad); Wessels, A Modern Biography, pp. 27-34.

open missionary hostility9 toward Islam and Muslims into Orientalism proper, which claimed to study

Islam and its Prophet, upon him peace and blessings, scientifically. Major works which redefined the

parameters of discourse include works by Simon Ockley (History of the Saracens, 1708–18), Edward Gibbon

(History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 1776–87) and Thomas Carlyle (The Hero as Prophet,

Mahomed, 1840). These were the so-called “sympathetic works” which approached the Prophet, upon him

peace and blessings a historical figure who had played a part in world events and not as a diabolic

deceiver driven by depravity and greed. The emergence of Orientalism was fostered by the establishment

of chairs of Arabic (Leiden, 1613; Cambridge, 1632; Oxford, 1634), the compilation of Arabic

dictionaries and grammars (especially that of Silvestre de Sacy, 1810), and the acquisition and study of

numerous manuscripts from the Middle East. The material resources available to the Western scholars

increased considerably. This increase led Ernest Renan to state confidently that “one can say without

exaggeration that the problem of the origins of Islam has definitely now been completely resolved…The

life of its founder is as well known to us as that of any sixteenth-century reformer. We can follow year by

year the fluctuations of his thoughts, his contradictions, his weaknesses . . .”10

This understanding of the Western scholars of the Prophet being in the “full light of history” was to

be replaced within the course of the twentieth century to its opposite: the Western scholarship was to go

on the “quest for historical Muhammad”;11 this took place through a number of important shifts which

included an assault on the sources of Prophetic biography by men like Ignaz Goldziher, who passed the

verdict that Ḥadīth cannot be trusted as a historical document; Joseph Schacht, who emphasized that ―to

a much higher degree than hitherto suspected, seemingly historical information on the Prophet is only

the background for legal doctrines and therefore devoid of independent value”;12 and Henri Lammens

who argued that all we know about the Prophet, upon him peace and blessings, consists of a few allusions

taken from the Qurʾān and elaborated into stories. Others who had impact on the Western

understanding of Sirah include Regis Blachere, Montgomery Watt, Rudolf Sellheim, F. E. Peters, Patricia

Crone and Michael Cook.

Against this background and dominant trend, a remarkable development in Sirah writing emerged

during the last quarter of the twentieth century, which attempted to recapture the intimacy and

traditional understanding of the original source-texts which had been shadowed by the modernistic

trends. This development was further helped by the overall political, social, and intellectual revivalism of

the Muslim world toward at the beginning of the fifteenth Islamic century—a time which heralded the

emergence of the contemporary Muslim world and closed the period of three centuries of siesta. In fact,

one can call the turn of the fourteenth Islamic century a watershed, marking the closure of the lowest

intellectual and political mark in Muslim history and heralding a period of awakening which like all such

changes is currently characterized by a great of confusion, chaos, violence, and intellectual anarchy, but

which, nevertheless, has all the ingredients and signs of a turning point in world history, which might as

well be a decisive event for the whole humanity.13 These works, called “Internalized Sirah Texts” in this

9 Displayed by men like Bede (), who considered Muslims a “plague of Saracens”; Charlemagne‖s

son Louis, who called Muslims detestable followers of the commandments of the demons”. 10 E. Renan, “Mahomet et les origins de l‖Islamisme‖, Revue des deux mondes, 12 (1851):1065, quoted

by Robert Hoyland, “Writing the Biography of the Prophet Muhammad: Problems and

Solutions” in History Compass 5/2 (2007) 581-602. 11 F. E. Peters, “The Quest of the Historical Muhammad,” International Journal of Middle East Studies,

Vol. 23, No. 3. (August, 1991), pp. 291-315. 12 Ibid. 13 It might well be a prelude to the unfolding of the “greater signs” as Mustafa Badawi has pointed

out in his insightful Man and his Universe, for most of the “minor signs have already

manifested”. See, Mustafa Badawi, Man and his Universe (Amman: Iqra publishers, 2006).

paper, reflect varying degree of the process of internalization and recapturing of the Prophetic era.14

They differ from Sirah texts where the Prophetic era remains external to a very large extent and seldom

forms an organic unity with the author. They also vary a great deal in their style, extent of detail, target

audience, intent and purpose. For example, Sayyid Sulayman Nadvi‖s (1884-1953) Raḥmat-e ăĀlam is a

short Sirah intended for students, but one that is able to transpose the reader to the times of the

Prophetic era. Its fluent prose, its evocative narrative and its conciseness is a remarkable achievement of

the first order.15

In order to explore the process of internalization, we must begin with a note on source material, as

all Sirah texts draw their content from a common pool sources. These include the Qurʾān and Ḥadīth

along with previous works on Sirah.

Earliest Sources of Sirah

Besides the Qurʾān and Ḥadīth, early sources for Sirah include the ansāb (genealogy) literature, and

the reports and works which ultimately go back to the Companions (Ḧaḥāba), may Allah be pleased with

them all; the Successors (Tābiăūn) and those who followed them. Among the works which impacted all

Sirah texts the following deserved special mention.

1. The still-to-be discovered collection of traditions concerning Prophetic life and battles, gathered

by Abān b. ʿUthmān b. ʿAffān (d. 105/723), collected in book form by his student, ʿAbd al-

Raḥmān b. al-Mughīra (d. before 125/742).

2. Kitāb al-Maghāzī of ʿUrwa b. al-Zubayr (d.92?/710?),16 from which subsequent authors quote

extensively.

3. Kitāb al-Maghāzī of Wahb b. Munabbih (d. 110/728), a part of which was discovered by C. H.

Becker among the papyri of the Schott-Reinhardt collection, now preserved in Heigelberg.17

4. The lost book on Maghāzī by ʿAbd Allāh b. Abī Bakr ibn Ḥāzim (d. 135/752), from whom Ibn

Isḥāq, al-Wāqidī, Ibn Saʿd, and al-Ṭabarī quote.

5. Works by ʿĀṣim b. ʿUmar b. Qatāda (d. 120?/737?), originally his lectures later committed to

writing and used by Ibn Isḥāq and al-Waqidī.

6. The lost work of Ibn Shihāb al-Zuhrī (124/741), from which his student Mūsā b. ʿUqba (d.

141/758) quoted in his own lost work, which, nevertheless survives in fragments in many later

works, especially in volume 3 and 4 of Ibn Saʿd‖s Ṭabaqāt.

7. The preserved fragments of the book of Maʿmar b. Rāshid (d. 150?/767?), who was a student of

al-Zuhrī, and from whom Ibn Saʿd, al-Wāqidī, al-Ṭabarī, and al-Balādhurī, all quote.

8. The Sīrat Rasūl Allāh of Ibn Isḥāq (85-152/7O4-769), the first complete Sirah, in Ibn Hishām‖s (d.

218/833) recension.

9. Sirah and history works by the third and fourth century writers, notably those by Abū ʿAbd Allāh

Muḥammad b. ʿUmar al-Waqidī (207/823); Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Saʿd ibn Mānīʿ al-

14 It should be noted that almost every Sirah text by a devoted Muslim will have a certain degree of

internalization of the life and time of the Prophet, upon him peace and blessings. What is

being said is, therefore, not exclusiveness, but degree to which the writer has internalized

source material. 15 Sayyid Sulman Nadvī, Raḥmat-e ăĀlam. The scene of the opening of Makka is a representative

sample of what is being said here. 16 Ed. M. M.al-ʿAzami, [add details]. 17 Josef Horovitz, “The Earliest Biographies of the Prophet and their Authors,” Islamic Culture 1

(October 1927); now available in book form, Horovitz, Josef. The Earliest Biographies of the

Prophet and their Authors, edited by Lawrence I. Conrad (Princeton, New Jersey: Darwin Press,

2002).

Baṣrī al-Zuhrī (d. 23O/844); al-Azraqi (243/858); al-Balādhurī (278/892); and al-Ṭabarī (d.

310/923).18

Defining the Process of Internalization

All Sirah works are ultimately based on source texts some of which have been listed above. What

distinguishes one work from another in terms of the use of source material is the writer‖s selection,

understanding, and, ultimately, internalization of the material present in these sources. For the purpose

of this paper, the following steps are used as markers or stages to explore the process of

internationalization of the material used for the writing of Sirah works.

i. Spiritual dimension of the process of internalization

ii. Psychological dimension with its accompanying manifestation on the emotional plane

iii. Intellectual dimension involved in the processing of facts and information

iv. The process of organic reconstruction

i. Spiritual dimensions of the process of internalization

No author of a biography can remain unaffected by the life he or she is attempting to reconstruct and

present to the readers, but in this case, it is not merely the question of a remote contact; rather, one

comes into a very strong magnetic field, as it were, capable of deeply impacting one‖s whole being at the

spiritual level. This is obvious even in those authors who do not believe in his prophethood or those who

approach him with enmity in their hearts as they end up writing words devoid of truth and reverence and

often pass very strong negative judgments. For a believer, however, it is much more than an academic

exercise. As one interacts with the source material, a spiritual transformation begins to take place and

deeper one is capable of receiving the spiritual benefits of this interaction with the life and times of the

Prophet, upon him blessings and peace, deeper is the impact. This is a purely personal process, but

authors who have gone through this process reflect its fruits in their works.

Familiarity with source material also enriches one‖s understanding of the events. Details of the

Prophetic battles, for instance, not only bring a deeper awareness of what took place during the battle,

but also about the relationships between the Prophet, upon him peace and blessings, and his

Companions, may Allah be pleased with them all. This intimacy is capable of opening spiritual realms for

the receptive hearts as these very personal details of human interaction at a heightened time, filled with

perils and risks to one‖s life, serve as starting points for enhancing one‖s own relationship with the

Prophet, upon him blessings and peace. Reflected in Sirah works, this love, devotion, intimacy and

proximity to the one who was sent as mercy to humanity, infuses text with intimacy, love, and spiritual

courtesy, as the following representative sample shows:

The Prophet now drew up his army, and he passed in front of each man to give

them good heart and to straighten the ranks, bearing an arrow in his hand.

“Stand in line, O Sawād,” he said to one of the Helpers who was too far forward,

and he gave him a slight prick in the belly with his arrow. “O Messenger of God,

thou hast hurt me,” said Sawād, “and God hath sent thee with truth and justice,

so give me my requital.” “Take it,” said the Prophet, laying bare his own belly

and handing him the arrow whereupon Sawād stooped and imprinted a kiss

where it was his due to place the point of the shaft. “What made thee do this?”

said the Prophet. And he answered: “O Messenger of God, we are now faced with

18 For a useful, but dated bibliography see, Muhammad Maher Hamadeh, Muhammad the Prophet: A

Selected Bibliography, PhD thesis, University of Michigan, 1965.

what thou seest; and I desired that at my last moment with thee—if so it be—my

skin should touch thy skin;” and the Prophet prayed for him and blessed him.19

Notice the intimacy this passage brings to the reader through a recasting that could not have

been possible without the internalization of this beautiful event that took place on the Day of Badr. The

dialogue format, the emotional content of the exchange, the deep love of Sawād, may Allah be pleased

with him, and the heightened sense of danger all bring to life not only the exchange but also the personal

relationship of a Companion with the Prophet, upon him peace and blessings.

To be sure, that there are degrees of transformation that takes place within the being of a writer;

the same event, can produce different results and different levels of spiritual response. The following

example of one event, reconstructed by three different writers, will demonstrate this:

Muhammad led the Muslims and organized their ranks. As he looked over the

Quraysh army and compared them with his thin ranks and poor equipment, he

felt quite apprehensive. He returned to his booth with Abu Bakr, strongly moved by

fear and pity for the career of Islam should the Muslims lose on this day. Turning his face

to Makkah and his whole soul to God, he began to pray, calling on God to give him

victory. He prayed to God for a very long while, and was heard repeating the following

words: “O God, here is Quraysh with all her tribe seeking to belie your Prophet.

O God, give us the assistance which You promised. O God, if this little army

perishes, when will You be worshiped again?” Muhammad prayed with hands

raised to heaven. His mantle fell off and Abu Bakr had to pick it up and put it

back on his shoulders. Abu Bakr said to him: “O Prophet of God, enough calling

on God; He will surely give you what He promised. Muhammad continued to

pray, pouring out his whole soul in pious invocation to God to help him in this

hour of precipitous danger. After near collapse, he came back to himself and told

of a vision he saw of God‖s victory. With radiant face, he went out to meet his

men and incited them to put their faith in God and enter the battle without fear.

He assured them one by one: “By Him who controls Muhammad‖s soul, not one

of you today fights and falls but God will enter him into His paradise.”20

The second account of the same event, though somewhat different in details, reads:

When the two parties approached closer and were visible to each other, the

Prophet (Peace be upon him) began supplicating [to] Allâh “O Allâh! The conceited

and haughty Quraishites are already here defying You and belying Your Messenger. O

Allâh! I am waiting for Your victory which You have promised me. I beseech You Allâh to

defeat them (the enemies).”21

A third account reads:

19 Martin Lings, Muḥammad: His life based on the earliest sources (); hereinafter Lings, Life. 20 Muhammad Husayn Haykal, The Life of Muhammad (Allah‖s peace and blessing be upon him),

Translated by Isma‖il Razi A. al-Faruqi, New York: Islamic Book Service, 2OO5; herein after

Haykal, Life. 21 Sheikh Safi-ur-Rahman al-Mubarkpuri, Ar-Raheeq Al-Makhtum (The Sealed Nectar), Riyadh: Dar-us-

Salam, 2002; hereinafter Raḥīq.

Quraysh had now begun to advance. Seen across the undulating dunes, the

Meccan army appeared to be much smaller than it was. But the Prophet was fully

aware of their true numbers and of the great disparity between the two hosts, and he now

returned to the shelter with Abu Bakr and prayed for the help which God had promised

him. A light slumber came upon him, and when he woke he said: “Be of good

cheer, Abu Bakr; the help of God hath come to thee. Here is Gabriel and in his

hand is the rein of a horse which he is leading, and he is armed for war.”!22

Notice the intimate personal presence one feels in the third account, which is missing from the

first and is weakly present in the second. The highlighted text (italicized) also shows writers‖ own

projections on to the state of the Prophet, upon him peace and blessings. These differences are not

merely of style, they reflect the inner spiritual impact source material produced on the author, their

personal process of internalization of the event and their spiritual participation in the event. The

highlighted (italicized) text also shows how these three authors have understood the Prophet‖s

recognition of the importance of that day of Badr.

Recounting of the Prophetic battles is a good place to explore the process as they are better able

to show the heightened consciousness of the writers of the Sirah works and hence another example—this

time from the Battle of Uḥud—would serve to illustrate the point. All three accounts given below are

concerning the time in the Battle when the Prophet was left with a few Companions on the hill:

The first account has a subtitle, “The Prophet‖s Escape”, and reads:

Quraysh took the news of Muhammad‖s death with exhilaration and joy, and Abu

Sufyan began a search for his body on the battlefield. The Muslims around

Muhammad did not deny the news of his death in obedience to Muhammad‖s

own commandment designed to prevent any new onslaught by the Quraysh

against him. Kaʿb ibn Malik, however, came close to the circle and,

bending himself over Abu Dujanah, noticed that the Prophet was there and still

alive. He proclaimed at the top of his voice: “O Believers, be glad, for the

Prophet of God is here and still alive.” The Prophet, however, asked him to keep

quiet. The Muslims then reinforced the protective circle around the Prophet and

moved with him farther up toward the mountain; they were led by Abu Bakr,

ʿUmar, ʿAli ibn Abu Talib, al Zubayr ibn al ʿAwwam and others. The cry of Kaʿb

brought about a different effect upon the Quraysh. Most of the latter did not

believe it but regarded it as an enemy trick designed to rally the Muslims to fight

again. A few Makkans ran toward the Muslims shouting, “Where is Muhammad?

Death to me if he lives!” The Prophet hurled the javelin of al Harith ibn al

Simmah at the oncoming party. It hit the leader, threw him off his horse, and

killed him. When the Muslims reached the entrance to the valley on the other

side, ―Ali filled his shield with water, washed Muhammad‖s face and poured some

water on his head. Abu ʿUbaydah ibn al Jarrah pulled out the two links of chain

from Muhammad‖s wound, and his two front teeth fell off in the process. While

this was taking place, Khalid ibn al Walid pursued the Muslims on the hillside

with a small force of Makkan cavalry. But they were repelled by `Umar ibn al

Khattab and a number of the Prophet‖s companions. The Muslims continued

their retreat. So great was their exhaustion that when it was noon, the Prophet

22 Lings, Life.

led the prayer seated, suffering as he was from his wounds, and the Muslims

prayed behind him seated also.23

A second account also has a subheading, “the Most Awkward in the Messenger‖s life”, and it reads

as:

Eventually, the enemy of Allâh breathed his last at a place called Sarif, while they

were taking him back to Makkah.” In a version by Abul-Aswad, on the authority

of ―Urwa: He was lowing like a bull and saying: “By the One in Whose Hand is

my soul, if (the pain) I am suffering from now were distributed among the people

of Al-Majaz, it would cause them to die.” During the withdrawal of the Messenger

of Allâh (Peace be upon him) up to the cover of the mountain, a big rock blocked

his way. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) tried to mount it, but having worn a

short heavy armour, and being seriously wounded—he could not ascend it.

Readily enough Talha sat in a position that enabled the Prophet (Peace be upon

him) to stand on his back. Then he lifted him up till he stood on it. The Prophet

(Peace be upon him) then said: “Talha, after this job, is eligible for the Garden

(Paradise).” When the Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon h im) settled down in

his headquarters in the hillock, the idolaters started their last attack upon the

Muslims. Ibn Ishaq related that: “While the Prophet (Peace be upon him) was on

the way to the hillock, a group of Quraishite elite ascended the mountain. They

were led by Khalid bin Al-Waleed and Abu Sufyan. So the Messenger of Allâh

(Peace be upon him) implored his Lord saying: ―O Allâh, they (i.e. the idolaters)

should not be higher (i.e. in position or in power) than us (i.e. the Muslims).

Therefore ―Umar bin Al-Khattab and some of the Emigrants fought the idolaters

till they drove them down the mountain. In Al-Maghazi — a book by Al-Umawi —

it is stated that the idolaters went up the mountain. So the Messenger of Allâh

(Peace be upon him) said to Saʿd: “Drive them off.” “How can I drive them off by

myself (i.e. without anyone to assist).” But the Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon

him) repeated the phrase three times. Saʿd then took an arrow out of his quiver,

shot it at one of them and killed him. He said: “Then I took another one I know

(to be good) and I shot with it another man. Then I took a third I know and

killed a third one. Consequently they climbed down the mountain. I said to

myself, ―this must be a blessed arrow.‖ I put it in my quiver.” He kept it with him

till he died. His children kept it with them ever after.24

The third account is given below:

Some of the Companions closed round the Prophet, and others were about to

attack Ubayy when the Prophet ordered them to hold off their hands; and those

who were round him said afterwards that he shook himself clear of them as if

they had been no more than flies on a camel‖s back. Then he took a spear from

Harith ibn as-Simmah and stepped in front of them all. Not daring to move, they

looked on in awe at his grim and deadly earnestness. As one of them said: “When

the Messenger of God made a deliberate effort toward some end, there was no

earnestness that could compare with his.”! Ubayy approached with drawn sword,

23 Haykal, Life. 24 Raḥīq.

but before he could strike a blow the Prophet had thrust him in the neck. He

bellowed like a bull, then swayed and almost fell from his horse but, recovering

his balance, he turned and galloped down the slope and did not stop until he

reached the Meccan camp where his nephew Safwan and others of his clan were

now assembled. “Muhammad hath slain me,” he said in a voice he could not

control. They looked at his wound and made light of it, but he was convinced

that it was mortal, as indeed it soon proved to be. “He told me he would kill me,”

he said, “and by God if he had spat upon me he would have killed me.” Was

Muhammad not dead after all, they began to wonder. But Ubayy was clearly

beside himself, and in any case it was easy to mistake one helmeted man for

another. When the Prophet and his Companions reached the top of the glen, ―Ali

went to fill his shield with water from a cavity in the rocks. He held it out to the

Prophet, but the odour of its stagnancy repelled him, and he could not bring

himself to drink of it despite his thirst, though he used some of it to wash the

blood from his face. Then, since they were still too easily accessible from the

plain, he gave the word to move onwards. to higher ground, and he tried to raise

himself onto a ledge of rock from which further ascent could be made. But he

was too weak for the effort, so Talhah crouched below the ledge with great

violence to his wounds, and taking the Prophet on hisback he raised him to the

necessary height. The Prophet said of him that day: “He that would behold a

martyr walking the face ofthe earth, let him look on Talhah the son of ―Ubayd

Allah.?‖ By the time they had found a place which could serve as a temporary

camp the sun had reached its zenith and they prayed the noon prayer. The

Prophet, who led it, remained seated throughout, and everyone followed his

example. Then they lay down to rest and many of them slept a deep and

refreshing sleep, while a relay of watchmen kept watch from a point of vantage

overlooking the plain.25

These different accounts of the same event show varying degrees of authors‖ spiritual

participation in the event as well as different degrees of. All three narratives have the same source

material, all provide, more or less, the same information, but in the first account, there is a conscious

distance maintained by the author and even though some of the details are presented in dialogue form,

they remain external to the writer and hence the reader. The second account is heavily compromised by

the references to the sources which show academic erudition, even bookish scholarship, but not

internalization. In the third account, we have a representation of the events which was first internalized,

then graphically grasped, and finally written in a succinct manner which shows no signs of laboring over

the details. This kind of prose cannot come into existence without the author‖s own spiritual participation

and hence transformation in the very event which is being reconstructed for the readers.

One more example will illustrate this more fully: an episode from the Prophet‖s trip to Ṭā‖if. This

part of the trip involves the famous supplication made by the Prophet, upon him peace and blessings.

Here is the first account has a subtitle, “Muhammad‖s Excursion to Ta‖if (628 C.E.)”:

The Quraysh doubled and redoubled their injuries to Muhummad and his

followers until Muhammad could bear it no longer. Alone, and without telling

anyone, he undertook a trip to the city of Ta‖if where he solicited the support of

the tribe of Thaqif after calling them to Islam. When they refused, he asked them

not to spread the news of their refusal to his enemies that they might not rejoice

at his failure. The tribe of Thaqif, however, not only repudiated Muhammad‖s

25 Lings, Life. 187

call but sent their servants to insult him and throw him out of their city. He ran

away from them and took shelter near a wall which belonged to `Utbah and

Shaybah, sons of Rabi‖ah. There, he sat under a vine pondering his defeat, within

sight of the sons of Rabi‖ah. He raised his hands to heaven and prayed with

noticeable pain “O God, please consider my weakness, my shortage of means,

and the little esteem that people have of me. Oh, most Merciful God, You are the

Lord of the oppressed, and You are my Lord. To whom would You leave my

fate? To a stranger who insults me? Or to an enemy who dominates me? Would I

that You have no wrath against me! Your pleasure alone is my objective. Under

the light of Your faith which illuminates all darkness and on which this world and

the other depend, I take my refuge. I pray that I may not become the object of

Your wrath and anger. To You alone belongs the right to blame and to chastise

until Your pleasure is met. There is neither power nor strength except in You.”26

The second account:

For ten days he stayed there delivering his message to several people, one after

another, but all to no purpose. Stirred up to hasten the departure of the

unwelcome visitor, the people hooted him through the alley-ways, pelted him

with stones and obliged him to flee from the city pursued by a relentless rabble.

Blood flowed down both his legs; and Zaid, endeavouring to shield him, was

wounded in the head. The mob did not desist until they had chased him two or

three miles across the sandy plains to the foot of the surrounding hills. There,

wearied and exhausted, he took refuge in one of the numerous orchards, and

rested against the wall of a vineyard. At a time when the whole world seemed to

have turned against him, Muhammad (Peace be upon him) turned to his Lord

and betook himself to prayer and the following touching words are still

preserved as those through which his oppressed soul gave vent to its distress. He

was weary and wounded but confident of the help of his Lord:

“O Allâh! To You alone I make complaint of my helplessness, the paucity of my

resources and my insignificance before mankind. You are the most Merciful of

the mercifuls. You are the Lord of the helpless and the weak, O Lord of mine!

Into whose hands would You abandon me: into the hands of an unsympathetic

distant relative who would sullenly frown at me, or to the enemy who has been

given control over my affairs? But if Your wrath does not fall on me, there is

nothing for me to worry about.”

“I seek protection in the light of Your Countenance, which illuminates the

heavens and dispels darkness, and which controls all affairs in this world as well

as in the Hereafter. May it never be that I should incur Your wrath, or that You

should be wrathful to me. And there is no power nor resource, but Yours

alone.”27

The third account:

It was then that he decided to seek help from Thaqif, the people of Ṭāʾif—a

decision which eloquently reflected the apparent gravity of his situation in

Mecca. For except that truth can conquer all things, what indeed could be hoped

for from Thaqif, the guardians of the temple of the goddess al-Lat, whose shrine

they liked to think of as comparable to the House of God? There must however

26 Haykal, Life. 27 Raḥīq.

be exceptions in Ṭāʾif as there were in Mecca, and the Prophet was not without

hope as he rode up from the desert towards the welcoming orchards and gardens

and cornfields which were the outskirts of the walled city. On his arrival he went

straight to the house of three brothers who were the leaders of Thaqlf at that

time, the sons of Amr ibn Umayyah, the man whom Walid looked on as his own

counterpart in Ṭāʾif, the second of “the two great men of the two townships”. But

when the Prophet asked them to accept Islam and help him against his

opponents, one of them immediately said: “If God sent thee, I will tear down the

hangings of the Kaʿbah!”, and another said: “Could God find none but thee to

send?” As for the third, he said: “Let me never speak to thee! For if thou art a

Messenger from God as thou sayest, then art thou too great a personage for me

to address; and if thou liest, it is not fitting that I should speak to thee.” So the

Prophet rose to leave them, perhaps intending to try elsewhere in Ṭāʾif; but

when he had left them, they stirred up their slaves and retainers to insult him

and shout at him, until a crowd of people were gathered together against him

and he was forced to take refuge in a private orchard. Once he had entered it the

crowd began to disperse, and, tethering his camel to a palm tree, he made for

the shelter of a vine and sat in its shade.

When he felt himself to be in safety and at peace, he prayed: “O God, unto Thee

do I complain of my weakness, of my helplessness, and of my lowliness before

men. O Most Merciful of the merciful, Thou art Lord of the weak. And Thou art

my Lord. Into whose hands wilt Thou entrust me? Unto some far off stranger

who will ill-treat me? Or unto a foe whom Thou hast empowered against me? I

care not, so Thou be not wroth with me. But Thy favouring help -that were for

me the broader way and the wider scope! I take refuge in the Light of Thy

Countenance whereby all darknesses are illuminated and the things of this world

and the next are rightly ordered, lest Thou make descend Thine anger upon me,

or lest Thy wrath beset me. Yet is it Thine to reproach until Thou art well

pleased. There is no power and no might except through Thee.”!

Even disregarding the obvious differences in language and depreciation via translations28 as well

as degrees of precision of reconstruction, what is obvious from the above example is not only the amount

of information packed in the third account in a comparable space, but also its evocative power, its ability

to draw the reader into the event, and its wonderful contextualization—all of which are lacking in the

other two accounts.

ii. Psychological dimension with its accompanying manifestation on the emotional plane

Human psychology, as understood from within the Islamic tradition, deals with processes which have

an impact on the nafs, heart (qalb) and intellect (ăaql). Always transitory, psychological states are produced

by transforming currents through one‖s interaction with other human beings, books, and events. Writing

a Sirah work is, in itself, a transforming process. It involves formation of relationship with the Prophet,

upon him peace and blessings, as well as with numerous persons who appear in the source material in

relation to the Prophet, upon him peace and blessings. During the process of internalization of the

sources, these relationships attain a personal character and authors invariably reflect their psychological

28 The first two accounts are translations whereas the third is originally in English. But even in their

originals, the structure of the accounts remains the same.

reception of the material they are dealing with. Critical control is needed to avoid sentimentalism but it

need not be at the expense of suppressing the psychological impact one is able to convey to the readers.

Here is an example of how three different authors have portrayed the final moments of the Prophet‖s

life:

The same reports also tell that as the agonies of death became stronger, the

Prophet turned to God in prayer saying: “O, God, help me overcome the agonies

of death.” ʿA‖ishah reported that his head was in her lap during the last hour.

She said, “The Prophet‖s head was getting heavier in my lap. I looked at his face

and found that his eyes had become fixed. I heard him murmur, ―Rather, God on

High and Paradise.‖ I said to him, ―By Him who sent you as a Prophet to teach

the truth, you have been given the choice and you chose well.‖ The Prophet of

God expired while his head was on my side between my lungs and my heart. It

was my youth and inexperience that made me let him die in my lap. I then

placed his head on the pillow and rose to bemoan my fate and to join the other

women in our bereavement and sorrow.”

Did Muhammad truly die? That is the question over which the Arabs differed

greatly at the time, indeed so greatly that they almost came to blows. Thanks to

God‖s will and care, the division was quickly stamped out and the religion of the

Hanifs, God‖s true religion, emerged unscathed.29

A second account:

When the pangs of death started, ―Aishah leant him against her. She used to say:

One of Allâh‖s bounties upon me is that the Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon

him) died in my house, while I am still alive. He died between my chest and neck

while he was leaning against me. Allâh has mixed his saliva with mine at his

death. For ―Abdur Rahman — the son of Abu Bakr — came in with a Siwak (i.e.

the root of a desert plant used for brushing teeth) in his hand, while I was

leaning the Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him) against me. I noticed that

he was looking at the Siwak, so I asked him — for I knew that he wanted it —

“Would you like me to take it for you?” He nodded in agreement. I took it and

gave it to him. As it was too hard for him, I asked him “Shall I soften it for you?”

He nodded in agreement. So I softened it with my saliva and he passed it (on his

teeth). In another version it is said: “So he brushed (Istanna) his teeth as nice as

he could.” There was a water container (Rakwa) available at his hand with some

water in. He put his hand in it and wiped his face with it and said: “There is no

god but Allâh. Death is full of agonies.” As soon as he had finished his Siwak

brushing, he raised his hand or his finger up, looked upwards to the ceiling and

moved his lips. So ―Aishah listened to him. She heard him say: “With those on

whom You have bestowed Your Grace with the Prophets and the Truthful ones

(As-Siddeeqeen), the martyrs and the good doers. O Allâh, forgive me and have

mercy upon me and join me to the Companionship on high.” Then at intervals

he uttered these words: “The most exalted Companionship on high. To Allâh we

turn and to Him we turn back for help and last abode.” This event took place at

high morning time on Monday, the twelfth of Rabi‖ Al-Awwal, in the eleventh

year of Al-Hijrah. He was sixty-three years and four days old when he died.30

29 Haykal, Life. 30 Raḥīq,

The third account:

The prophet had now returned to his couch and was lying with his head upon

―A‖ishah‖s breast as if all his strength had been used. None the less, when her

brother ―Abd ar-Rahrnan entered the room with a tooth-stick in his hand, she

saw the Prophetlooking at it in such a way that she knew he wanted it. So she

took it from her brother and gnawed upon it to soften it. Then she gave it to the

Prophet, who rubbed his teeth with it vigorously despite his weakness. _

Not long afterwards he lost consciousness, and ―A‖ishah thought it was the onset

of death, but after an hour he opened his eyes. She then remembered his having

said to her: “No Prophet is taken by death until he hath been shown his place in

Paradise and then offered the choice, to live or to die.” And she understood that

this had been accomplished, and that he had returned from a vision of the

Hereafter. “He will not now choose us!” she said to herself. Then she heard him

murmur: “With the supreme communion in Paradise, with those upon whom God

hath showered His favour, the prophets and the saints and the martyrs and the righteous,

most excellent for communion are they.’ Again she heard him murmur: “O God, with

the supreme communion,”; and these were the last words she heard him speak.

Gradually his head grew heavier upon her breast, until the other wives began to

lament, and ʿA‖ishah laid his head on a pillow and joined them in lamentation.31

Once again, there is an almost mesmerizing atmosphere in the third account, even though all three

accounts are dealing with the same source material. What distinguishes one account from another is not

merely style, but psychological participation of the authors—and consequently of readers—in these final

moments of a blessed life which was to leave behind indelible mark on human history until the end of

time.

iii. Intellectual dimension involved in the processing of facts and information

All authors of Sirah deal with a certain amount of “raw information” which consists of facts, intricacies of

relationships, genealogy, tribal and social relations and the like. What an internalized text does is not a

simple reproduction of this raw content, but a deep consciousness of these details. Here is one example of

an author‖s keen sense of the family tree and tribal kinships of the Prophet, upon him and them blessings

and peace. Note how much detail is packed in one brief paragraph:

The followers of the Prophet were continually increasing, but whenever a new

convert came to him and pledged his or her allegiance, it was more often than

not a slave, or a freed slave, or a member of Quraysh of the Outskirts or else a

young man or woman from Quraysh of the Hollow, of influential family but of no

influence in themselves, whose conversion would increase tenfold the hostility of

their parents and elder kinsmen.ʿAbd ar-Raḥamān, Ḥamzah and Arqam had

been exceptions, but they were far from being leaders; and the Prophet longed

to win over some of the chiefs, not one of whom, not even his uncle Abu Talib,

had shown any inclination to join him. It would greatly help him to spread his

message ifhe had the support of a man like Abū Jahl‖s uncle, Walīd, who was not

only chief of Makhzūm but also, if it were possible to say such a thing, the

unofficial leader of Quraysh. He was, moreover, a man who seemed more open

31 Lings, Life, 345.

to argument than many of the others; and one day an opportunity came for the

Prophet to speak with Walīd alone. But when they were deep in converse a blind

man came past, one who had recently entered Islam, and hearing the Prophet‖s

voice he begged him to recite to him some of the Koran. When asked to be

patient and wait for a better moment, the blind man became so importunate that

in the end the Prophet frowned and turned away. His conversation had been

ruined; but the interruption was not the cause of any loss, for Walīd was in fact

no more open to the message than those whose case seemed hopeless.32

An important aspect of the process of internalization—the one which can be used to gauge its

success—is the continuity of the presence of a deep layer of the knowledge of relationships throughout

the text. Thus, as opposed to Sirah works which are weak in internalized texts, the authors who are able

to internalize the material live with their material, rather than quote it. This feature can be seen in yet

another description given below, this time involving several family relationships as well as tribal structure:

The hopes of Hāshim and Muṭṭalib—the two clans counted politically as one—

were set upon Muḥammad for the recovery of their waning influence. But

beyond all question of clan, he had come to be considered by the chiefs of

Quraysh as one of the most capable men of the generation which would succeed

them and which would have, after them, the task of maintaining the honour and

the power of the tribe throughout Arabia. The praise of al-Amin was continually

upon men‖s lips; and it was perhaps because of this that Abū Lahab now came to

his nephew with the proposal that Ruqayyah and Umm Kulthūm should be

betrothed to his sons ʿUtbah and ʿUtaybah. Muhammad agreed, for he thought

well of these two cousins, and the betrothals took place.33

In his insightful “constructive critique” of Lings‖s Sirah, Gibril Haddad has noted that:

at times Lings writes not only to narrate but to reflect—a Fiqh al-Sīra of sorts

before al-Ghazalī and al-Būṭī—and makes keen observations, particularly in

analysis of the attitude of the Jews toward the revelation: ―Generally speaking,

whereas the Arabs were in favour of the man but against the message, the Jews

were in favour of the message but against the man” (XIX, 57, 1) and the entire

paragraph that begins “Many of the Jews welcomed at first what seemed to be the

end of all danger of a further outbreak of civil war in the oasis” (XXXIX, 127, 2).

Of the arch-hypocrite of Madīna, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ubay ibn Salūl, he says “it was

his policy to be as non-committal as possible, but he sometimes betrayed his

feelings despite himself” (XXXIX, 128, 5). Lings is at his most brilliant in the

Banū Qurayẓa chapter (LXI) and in the last four chapters of the book,

particularly his superb contextualization of the ḥadīth of Ghadīr Khumm

(LXXXIII, 338, 2-3) which the sectarians have misused so much to wreak havoc

on the Umma‖s unity. To Allāh is our return!

With the possible exception of Shaykh Muḥammad Saʿīd al-Būṭī‖s

superior Sīra entitled Jurisprudence of the Prophetic Biography (now

available in English translation at Dār al-Fikr), even among Arabic books,

in all these respects I cannot think of a single contemporary work that

32 Lings, Life, 70. 33 Lings, Life. 40.

gathers all those accomplishments under a single roof. Allah have mercy

on Abū Bakr Sirāj al-Dīn Lings and reward him abundantly!34

The IsrāĂ and Miărāj of the Prophet, upon him peace and blessings, has been a major issue with many

modern and modernistic texts. Many modernistic make this attempt without a disguise. In others, it is a

process of “intellectual inquiry” that takes away from the spiritual aspects of this event. In still others, there are analytical discussions. The following serves as one example:

As phenomena in the spiritual life of Muhammad, al Isra' and al Mi'raj carry

great and noble meanings that are greater than the foregoing descriptions have

suggested much of which being the product of pure imagination. In the moment

of al Israʾ and al Miʿraj, Muhammad grasped the unity of being in all its totality

and perfection. In that moment, neither space nor time could prevent his

consciousness from encompassing all being; whereas our consciousness,

determined by weaker perceptive and rational faculties, is incapable of

transcending the limitations of space and time. In that moment, all frontiers fell

before Muhammad's insight; and all being was, as it were, gathered in his soul. In

that moment, he came to know totality from beginning to end and represented

this totality as the self-realization of the forces of goodness, truth, and beauty in

their struggle against and conquest of evil, untruth, and fraud. All this happened

to Muhammad by God‖s grace. No one is capable of such transcendent vision

except by means of superhuman power. If any of the followers of Muhammad

were unable to match him in his struggle to rise to or to achieve such vision and

perception, there should be neither blame nor surprise. Men's degrees of

endowment differ, and their vision of the truth is always determined by these

limitations which our ordinary powers are unable to transcend. There is perhaps

an analogy between Muhammad's understanding of the universe at that moment

and that of any other person who has risen to the highest level of consciousness

possible for man. It is that of the story of the blind men who, upon being brought

into contact with the elephant, were asked to identify it. It will be remembered

that the first thought it was a long rope because he had touched its tail; the

second, a thick tree because he had touched its leg; the third, a spear because he

had touched its ivory; and the fourth, a moving round tube because he had

touched its trunk. These views are to the unimpaired view of the elephant as the

understanding of most of us to that of Muhammad, implied in al Isra' and al

Miʿraj, of the unity and totality of being. In Muhammad's vision, the finitude of

space and time disappeared, and he beheld the universe all "gathered up" and

present. Men capable of such great moments of consciousness see the details of

space-time and problems of worldly living as mathematical atoms appended to

the person without ever affecting him. None of them affect in the least the life of

his body, the beat of his heart, the illumination of his soul, the enlightenment of

his consciousness, nor his vibration with energy and life. For by existing, such a

person enters into communion with all existence and all life, as it were, ipso

facto.35

34 Gibril Fuad Haddad, “A Critical Reading of Martin Ling‖s Muḥammad: His Life Based on the

Earliest Sources, Foreword to the first Swedish translation at

<http://mac.abc.se/~onesr/d/crml_e.pdf>; accessed Feb 23, 2011. 35 Haykal, Life, 204. Haykal also attempts to enlist the service of modern science to “confirm” IsrāĂ

and miărāj: “In our modern age,” he writes, “science confirms the possibility of a spiritual Israʾ

and Miʿraj. Where there is a meeting of genuine forces, that which shines forth is genuine

As opposed to this “analytical” description, the following organic whole takes the reader into the

heart of this event in an experiential manner:

Then, as had happened to others before him -to Enoch and Elijah and Jesus and

Mary—Muḥammad was taken up out of this life to Heaven. From the rock in the

centre of the site of the Temple he again mounted Buraq, who moved his wings

in upward flight and became for his rider as the chariot of fire had been for

Elijah. Led by the Archangel, who now revealed himself as a heavenly being, they

ascended beyond the domain of earthly space and time and bodily forms, and as

they passed through the seven Heavens he met again those Prophets with whom

he had prayed in Jerusalem: But there they had appeared to him as they had

been during their life on earth, whereas now he saw them in their celestial

reality, even as they now saw him, and he marvelled at their transfiguration. Of

Joseph he said that his face had the splendour of the moon at its full,‖ and that

he had been endowed with no less than the half of all existing beauty.‖ Yet this

did not diminish Muhammad‖s wonderment at his other brethren, and he

mentioned in particular the great beauty of Aaron.‖ Of the Gardens that he

visited in the different Heavens he said afterwards: “A piece of Paradise the size

of a bow is better than all beneath the sun, whereon it riseth and setteth; and if a

woman of the people of Paradise appeared unto the people of earth, she would

fill the space between Heaven and here below with light and with fragrance.?‖

Everything he now saw, he saw with the eye of the Spirit; and of his spiritual

nature, with reference to the beginnings of all earthly nature, he said: “I was a

Prophet when Adam was yet between water and clay.”

The summit of his ascent was the Lote Tree of the Uttermost End. So it is named in

the Koran, and, in one of the oldest commentaries, based on the sayings of the

Prophet, it is said: “The Lote Tree is rooted in the Throne, and it marks the end

of the knowledge of every knower, be he Archangel or Prophet-Messenger. All

beyond it is a hidden mystery, unknown to any save God Alone.” At this summit

of the universe Gabriel appeared to him in all his arch angelic splendour, even as

he was first created.‖ Then, in the words of the Revelation: When there enshrouded

the Lote Tree that which enshroudeth, the eye wavered not nor did it transgress. Verily he

beheld, of all the signs of his Lord, the greatest.’ According to the commentary, the

Divine Light descended upon the Lote Tree and enshrouded it and all else

beside, and the eye of the Prophet beheld it without wavering and without

reality; just as a meeting of the same forces of nature configured by the genius of Marconi

produced the real effect of lighting a light in distant Australia by means of an electric radiation

directed at it on the waves of space from his ship in Venice. In this age of ours, science has

confirmed the possibility of prestidigitation, of broadcast of sound through space by means of

the radio, as well as of pictures and writing, all of which was considered too fanciful even for

the imagination. The forces latent in nature are still being discovered by science, and every

new day brings a new surprise. Strong and powerful spirits such as Muhammad's are perfectly

capable of being carried in one night from Makkah to Jerusalem and of being shown God's

signs. That is not opposed to reason, especially when the moral of it is the figurization of

divine truths, of extraordinary meanings of beauty and transcendence, and of the unity of

spirit and world so clearly achieved in the consciousness of Muhammad. Though

extraordinary and unique to Muhammad, the experience is certainly possible for man upon

removal of the illusions of this world, penetration of ultimate reality, and relation of oneself

and the world thereto. (p. 205)

turning aside from it.” Such was the answer -or one of the answers -to the

supplication implicit in his words: “I take refuge in the Light of Thy

Countenance.”

At the Lote Tree the Prophet received for his people the command of fifty

prayers a day; and it was then” that he received the Revelation which contains

the creed of Islam: The messenger believeth, and the faithful believe, in what hath been

revealed unto him from his Lord. Each one believeth in God and His angels and His books

and His messengers: we made no distinction between any of His messengers. And they say:

we hear and we obey; grant us, Thou our Lord, Thy forgiveness; unto Thee is the ultimate

becoming.”36

Note how the author seamlessly weaves into his narrative Prophetic traditions and the Qurʾānic

verses and how he is able to transpose the reader into the heart of the event.

iv. An organic reconstruction

In the final analysis, all that the reader has is the text of the Sirah and not the process of

internalization through which the author has gone. Thus, it is the organic infusion of the process that

matters, as far as the reader is concerned. This process in itself is a fascinating aspect of Sirah texts.

Whereas the authors of the classical texts had recourse to traditional molds and patterns, modern

Sirah texts are often shaped by the extent of their authors‖ ability to organically reconstruct their

texts in a manner that is neither fictional nor false, but that still reads as a lifestory. An example will

make it clearer:

The young men of Quraysh who were chosen to kill Muhammad continued their

search and came close to the cave fully armed and ready for the kill. When they

found a shepherd in the vicinity, they asked him about Muhammad and Abu

Bakr. He answered, "Perhaps they are within the cave, although I have not seen

anyone go in or out." When he heard the shepherd's answer, Abu Bakr trembled

with fear and expected the Quraysh to break into the cave any moment. He

withdrew into a corner and, trusting in God, remained motionless. Some

members of the Quraysh party climbed up to the cave, and the foremost among

them turned round as soon as he saw the cave entrance. His companions asked

him, "Why have you not gone into the cave? He answered, "Its entrance is

covered with cobwebs, and there is a pair of wild pigeons on the threshold.

Obviously, no one could have gone in without disturbing the pigeons and

destroying the cobwebs." At that moment, Muhammad prayed while Abu Bakr

continued to shake with fear. To Abu Bakr, who pressed ever closer to

Muhammad, the latter whispered, "Do not grieve; God is with us." According to

some Hadith books, it is reported that when the Quraysh party arrived at the

cave entrance, Abu Bakr exclaimed: "If any one of them looks at his feet he will

find us," and that the Prophet had answered, "O Abu Bakr, how can you fear for

two men whose constant companion is God Himself?" The Quraysh men were

further convinced that the cave was empty when they saw the entrance to the cave

covered indeed blocked with branches growing from a tree nearby. They then

agreed to leave and called one another for their return to Makkah. Only then did

the two refugees within the cave feel reassured. Abu Bakr's faith in God and His

36 Lings, Life, 110-11.

Prophet became stronger, and Muhammad prayed: "Praise be to God! God is

greater than all!"37

The Miracle of the Cave

The cobwebs, the two wild pigeons, and the tree and its branches these are the miracles

which the biography books relate concerning the hiding in the cave of Thawr. The miracle

is that none of these things were there when the Prophet and his companion entered the

cave, and that thereafter, the spider hurried to weave its cobwebs, the two pigeons to

build their nest and to lay their eggs, and the tree to grow its branches around the door.

In this connection the Orientalist Dermenghem wrote, "These three things are the only

miracles recorded in authentic Mussulman history: the web of a spider, the love of a dove,

the sprouting of a flower three miracles accomplished daily on God's earth."[E.

Dermenghem, op. cit., p.

149]

Some Biographers Omit the Story

This miracle received no mention in Ibn Hisham's biography. His version of the story of the

cave ran as follows: "They [Muhammad and Abu Bakr] went to the cave of Thawr, on the

south side of Makkah. Abu Bakr ordered his son `Abdullah to stay in Makkah during the

day, listen to the news of the Quraysh and bring them knowledge thereof in the evening.

He ordered his servant, `Amir ibn Fuhayrah, to continue to graze his sheep and to come

by the cave at night. Asma', daughter of Abu Bakr, brought them provisions of food in the

evening, also. The Prophet of God-may God's peace and blessing is upon him stayed in the

cave three days. The Quraysh had announced a prize of one hundred camels to whosoever

would bring back Muhammad to Makkah. `Abdullah, son of Abu Bakr, used to spend his

day in Makkah listening well to the plotting and gossip of the Quraysh, and when visiting

the pair in the evening, related the news to them. `Amir ibn Fuhayrah, servant of Abu

Bakr, used to graze the flock of sheep around Makkah and, in the evening, passed by the

cave and gave milk and meat to the pair. When `Abdullah, son of Abu Bakr, returned

home to Makkah, he was followed by `Amir ibn Fuhayrah and his sheep in order to cover

over his footprints. Three days later, when the interest of the Quraysh in this search had

subsided, the man whom Abu Bakr had appointed to graze the two camels for the trip

came with the three camels, two for Muhammad and Abu Bakr, and a third for himself . . .

." That is all that Ibn Hisham says concerning the story of the cave.

On the third day the silence of their mountain sanctuary was broken by

the sound of birds—a pair of rock doves they thought -cooing and fluttering

their wings outside the cave. Then after a while they heard the faint sound of

men‖s voices, at some distance below them but gradually growing louder as if the

men were climbing up the side of the mount. They were not expecting ʿAbd

Allah until after nightfall, and there were still some hours to go before sunset,

although in fact there was strangely little light in the cave for the time of day they

supposed it to be. The voices were now not far off -five or six men at least-and

they were still approaching. The Prophet looked at Abu Bakr, and said: Grieve

not, for verily God is with us! And then he said: “What thinkest thou of two when

God is their third?”? They could now hear the sound of steps, which drew nearer

and then stopped: the men were standing outside the cave. They spoke

decisively, all in agreement that there was no need to enter the cave, since no one

could possibly be there. Then they turned back the way they had come. When the

37 Haykal, Life.

sound of their retreating steps and voices had died away, the Prophet and Abu

Bakr went to the mouth of the cave. There in front of it, almost covering the

entrance, was an acacia tree, about the height of a man, which had not been

there that morning; and over the gap that was left between the tree and the wall

of the cave a spider had woven its web. They looked through the web, and there

in the hollow of a rock, even where a man might step as he entered the cave, a

rock dove had made a nesting place and was sitting close as if she had eggs, with

her mate perched on a ledge not far above.38

It is interesting to note that some details of this event pose special problems for the ultra-rationalist

authors of modern Sirah works,39 while here they are presented as a matter of fact. More important,

however, are the internalized details of this event which allowed the author to recast it as if he were there.

In conclusion, one can say that modern Sirah works can be seen as recasting of traditional Sirah

works as no further details can be added to what is already known of the life of the Prophet, upon him

peace and blessings. It is, however, in the extent of internalization of the life and times of the Prophet,

upon him blessings and peace, that these works differ from one another. There are also varying degrees

of reception in the global readership of these works. For some, Lings Sirah may prove to be too difficult

because of its style and high English, for others, this intimate reconstruction may provide spiritual

opening and paths to that noble life which remains at the center of every Muslim‖s life.

38 Lings, Life, 128-9. 39 An example is Haykals Sirah where the author attempts to provide some rational to the “supra-

rational” facets of the account. Under a subheading, “The Miracle of the Cave”, Haykal states:

“The cobwebs, the two wild pigeons, and the tree and its branches these are the miracles which

the biography books relate concerning the hiding in the cave of Thawr. The miracle is that

none of these things were there when the Prophet and his companion entered the cave, and

that thereafter, the spider hurried to weave its cobwebs, the two pigeons to build their nest and

to lay their eggs, and the tree to grow its branches around the door. In this connection the

Orientalist Dermenghem wrote, “These three things are the only miracles recorded in

authentic Mussulman history: the web of a spider, the love of a dove, the sprouting of a flower

three miracles accomplished daily on God‖s earth.” [E. Dermenghem, op. cit., p.149]. Some

Biographers Omit the Story This miracle received no mention in Ibn Hisham's biography. His

version of the story of the cave ran as follows.