The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) - Volume I — Page 11
I - Early Sources of Sīrat & Islāmic History 11 “The importance of this deduction can hardly be over-estimated. The Corân becomes the ground-work and the test of all enquiries into the origin of Islām and the character of its founder. Here we have a storehouse of Mahomet’s own words recorded during his life, extending over the whole course of his public career, and illustrating his religious views, his public acts, and his domestic character. ” 1 “And so true a mirror is the Corân of Mahomet’s character, that the saying became proverbial among the early Moslems, His character is the Corân” 2 Furthermore, a renowned Christian-British orientalist by the name of Professor Reynold A. Nicholson writes in his English work titled ‘Literary History of the Arabs’: “The Koran is an exceedingly human document, reflecting every phase of Muḥammad’s personality and standing in close relation to the ontward events of his life, so that here we have materials of unique and incontestable authority for tracing the origin and early development of Islām – such materials as do not exist in the case of Buddhism or Christianity or any other ancient religion. ” 3 Therefore, in Islāmic literature, not only is the Holy Qur’ān a genuine and authentic record of the Sīrat and biography of the Holy Prophet sa , but also, it possesses a position in reference to his Sīrat which no other book possesses in relation to any other individual. Finally, its integrity is of such magnitude, as friends aside, even the worst of adversaries dare not criticise it. Narrative Sources of Islāmic History The second largest source for the history of the origin of Islām and the Sīrat of the Holy Prophet sa are the narrations, existent in the form of Ḥadīth , Exegesis, Sīrat and Maghāzī 4. These narrations were transmitted through an organized system of narration by the companions of the Holy Prophet sa to the 1 Life of ‘Mahomet’, Sir William Muir, p. 563, Reprint of the 1894 Ed. , Published by Voice of India New Delhi 2 Life of ‘Mahomet’, Sir William Muir, p. 563, Reprint of the 1894 Ed. , Published by Voice of India New Delhi 3 Literary History of the Arabs, Reynold A. Nicholson, Chapter 4, The Prophet and the Qur’ān, p. 143, Printed in New York, 1907 4 History of the battles of the Holy Prophet sa (Publishers)