Editing Sīrah (section)

==Content==
The sīrah literature includes a variety of heterogeneous materials, containing mainly narratives of military expeditions undertaken by [[Muhammad]] and his [[Sahabah|companions]]. These stories are intended as historical accounts and are used for veneration. The sīrah also includes a number of written documents, such as political treaties (e.g., [[Treaty of Hudaybiyyah]] or [[Constitution of Medina]]), military enlistments, assignments of officials, letters to foreign rulers, and so forth. It also records some of the speeches and sermons made by Muhammad, like his speech at the [[Farewell Pilgrimage]]. Some of the sīrah accounts include verses of poetry commemorating certain events and battles.<ref name="EI2" />

At later periods, certain type of stories included in sīrah developed into their own separate genres. One genre is concerned with stories of prophetic miracles, called ''aʿlām al-nubuwa'' (literally, "proofs of prophethood"—the first word is sometimes substituted for ''amārāt'' or ''dalāʾil''). Another genre, called ''faḍāʾil wa mathālib'' — tales that show the merits and faults of individual [[Sahaba|companions]], enemies, and other notable contemporaries of Muhammad.<ref name="EI2" /> Some works of sīrah also positioned the story of Muhammad as part of a narrative that includes stories of [[Prophets in Islam|earlier prophets]], [[Persian Kings]], [[pre-Islamic Arabia|pre-Islamic Arab]] tribes, and the [[Rashidun]].<ref name="EI2" />

Parts of sīrah were inspired by, or elaborate upon, events mentioned in the [[Qur'an]]. These parts were often used by writers of [[tafsir]] and [[asbab al-nuzul]] to provide background information for events mentioned in certain [[ayat]].<ref name="EI2" />

==={{transliteration|ar|Sīrat rasūl allāh}}===
The phrase {{transliteration|ar|sīrat rasūl allāh}}, or {{transliteration|ar|as-sīra al-nabawiyya}}, refers to the study of the life of Muhammad. The term sīrah was first linked to the biography of Muhammad by [[Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri]] ({{abbr|d.|died}} 124/741–2), and later popularized by the work of [[Ibn Hisham]] ({{abbr|d.|died}} 833). In the first two centuries of [[Islamic history]], {{transliteration|ar|sīrah}} was more commonly known as {{transliteration|ar|maghāzī}} (literally, 'stories of military expeditions'), which is now considered to be only a subset of {{transliteration|ar|sīra}}<ref name="EI2" />—one that concerns the military campaigns of Muhammad.<ref name="Maghazi-oiso">{{cite web |title=Maghazi |url=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e1372 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170425141459/http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e1372 |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 25, 2017 |website=Oxford Islamic Studies |access-date=26 October 2019}}</ref>

Early works of sīrah consist of multiple historical reports, or {{transliteration|ar|akhbār}}, and each report is called a {{transliteration|ar|khabar}}.{{sfn|Humphreys|1991|p=83}} Sometimes the word ''tradition'' or ''hadith'' is used instead.