The Hybrid Nature of Sirah Nabawiyyah: An Analysis of Quranic Biography of Muhammad’s Early Lifeife

Abstract

Sirah materials have been deemed by modern scholars as a hybrid literature, a combination of biography, prophetology and hagiography. The authors of the sirah record the Prophet’s significance with admiration and clear devotion; but there is very little evidence of his early life and the narratives are recorded with reverence.  In the Quran itself, there is little evidence of Prophet Muḥammad’s early biography, with scarcely any details before the receiving of his first revelations around the age of forty. Even with the infrequency of its references, this condition cause no hinder to a Muslim. A complete biography of the Prophet’s life was produced completely equipped with its references from the Quran. The present study aims to explore the development of emerging number of Quranic verses that used as references for the narratives of the Prophet’s early life in sirah literature. It also seeks to analyze the nature of relationship between sirah and the Quran. The present study deals solely with texts. In order to attain the objectives of the research, textual analysis will be employed as a major tool in examining and exploring the sources The study in its findings argue that Quranization of the sirah account in the rationalist atmosphere of the ninth century drove some authors to refer to the Quran as a supportive mechanism, to strengthen and provide a solid ground for what they were saying about Prophet Muhammad.