Editing Sīrah (section)

== Reception ==
The main feature of the information that formed the basis of early historiography in Islam was that this information emerged as the irregular products of [[Qāṣṣ|storytellers (''qāṣṣ'', pl. ''quṣṣāṣ'')]] without details. While the narratives were initially in the form of a kind of heroic epics called magāzī, details were added later, edited and transformed into sirah compilations.<ref>Raven, Wim (2006). "Sīra and the Qurʾān". Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān. Brill Academic Publishers. pp. 29–49</ref><ref name="Crone-1987-223">{{cite book |last1=Crone |first1=Patricia |title=Meccan Trade and the Rise of Islam |url=https://archive.org/details/meccantraderisei00cron |url-access=limited |date=1987 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/meccantraderisei00cron/page/n213 223]|isbn=9780691054803 }}</ref> In [[Umayyad]] times, storytellers used to tell stories of Muhammad and [[Prophets of Islam|earlier prophets]] in private gatherings and [[mosques]], given they obtained permission from the authorities. Many of these storytellers are now unknown. After the Umayyad period, their reputation deteriorated because of their inclination to exaggerate and fantasize, and for relying on the [[Isra'iliyat]]. Thus they were banned from preaching at mosques.<ref name="EQ" /> In later periods, however, works of sīrah became more prominent.

During the early centuries of Islam, the sīrah literature was taken less seriously compared to the [[hadith]]s.<ref name="EI2" />
Today, although the orthodox Islamic approach frequently uses sirah material in its [[sermon]]s, [[Qur'anism]] and the academic community (including those called hadith or khabar and whose chain of transmission are labeled as sound by their authors) approach this material with suspicion. While [[Yaşar Nuri Öztürk]] notes that the hadiths, which have now reached millions, were initially limited to a few hundred, Mehmet Özdemir (prof.dr.) draws attention to the almost non-existent number of [[miracles]] (''dalāʾil al-nubuwwa'') in the first records and the hundreds of additions made in later periods.<ref>Özdemir, Mehmet, (2007). Siyer Yazıcılığı Üzerine, Milel ve Nihal, 4 (3), 129-162</ref>
[[File:Map of the Three Arabias Excerpted Partly from the Arab of Nubia Partly from Several Other Authors.png|upright=1.2|thumb|Non-Islamic testimonies about Muhammad's life describe him as the leader of the [[Saracens]],<ref>"Chapter 1. "A Prophet Has Appeared, Coming with the Saracens": Muhammad’s Leadership during the Conquest of Palestine According to Seventh- and Eighth-Century Sources". The Death of a Prophet: The End of Muhammad's Life and the Beginnings of Islam, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012, pp. 18-72. https://doi.org/10.9783/9780812205138.18</ref> believed to be descendants of [[Ishmael]], that lived in the [[Arabian Peninsula in the Roman era|Roman-era provinces]] of ''[[Arabia Petraea]]'' (West) and ''[[Arabia Deserta]]'' (North).]]
[[Lawrence Conrad]] examines the early sirah books and sees that the dates of Muhammad's birth span a period of up to 85 years.  Conrad defines this as "the fluidity (evolutionary process) continued even in the written period."<ref>Conrad (June 1987). "Abraham and Muhammad: Some Observations Apropos of Chronology and Literary topoi in the Early Arabic Historical Tradition". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 50 (2): 239. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00049016</ref>
Another striking example is the [[Siege of Banu Qurayza|Qurayza massacre]], which is attributed to Muhammad by various chains of attribution in sources considered authentic; The brutality of the event led researchers [[Quranism|skeptics of traditional sources]] such as [[İhsan Eliaçık]] and [[Mustafa İslamoğlu]] to think that the story of 960 Jews who destroyed themselves by refusing to surrender to the Romans in the clashes between Jews and Romans believed to have taken place at [[Masada]] was adapted to Muhammad. İhsan Eliaçık states that 3-5 Jews who were considered guilty may have been killed as a result of this incident. <ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvOcc_xERdI | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220911054048/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvOcc_xERdI | archive-date=11 September 2022 | title=Muhammed Peygamber 900 Yahudi'nin Ölüm Emrini mi Verdi? Beni Kureyza Olayı! İhsan Eliaçık Anlattı | website=[[YouTube]] | date=19 November 2020 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDc3xYbEpqg | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220911054103/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDc3xYbEpqg | archive-date=11 September 2022 | title=Masada Kalesi katliamı nasıl "Beni Kureyza katliamı" oldu? | website=[[YouTube]] | date=16 March 2022 }}</ref> Regarding the Qurayza massacre, [[Sami Aldeeb]] states that the incident is included in the Jewish holy texts, but according to these sources, Jews killed non-Jews.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nonteizm.com/islam/muhammet-yasadi-mi-prof-dr-sami-aldeeb-ve-furkan-er/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210622065037/https://www.nonteizm.com/islam/muhammet-yasadi-mi-prof-dr-sami-aldeeb-ve-furkan-er/ | archive-date=22 June 2021 | title=MUHAMMET YAŞADI MI? &#124; Prof. Dr. Sami Aldeeb ve Furkan Er - NON-TEİZM }}</ref>

Many Western scholars suspect that there was widespread fabrication of hadith (either entirely or by the misattribution of the views of early Muslim religious and legal thinkers to Muhammad) in the early centuries of Islam to support certain theological and legal positions.<ref name=":0" /> In addition to fabrication, it is possible for the meaning of a hadith to have greatly drifted from its original telling through the different interpretations and biases of its varying transmitters, even if the chain of transmission is authentic.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hoyland |first=Robert |date=March 2007 |title=Writing the Biography of the Prophet Muhammad: Problems and Solutions |url=https://compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1478-0542.2007.00395.x |journal=History Compass |language=en |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=581–602 |doi=10.1111/j.1478-0542.2007.00395.x |issn=1478-0542}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Citation |last=Görke |first=Andreas |title=Muhammad |date=2020-01-02 |work=The Wiley Blackwell Concise Companion to the Hadith |pages=75–90 |editor-last=Brown |editor-first=Daniel W. |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118638477.ch4 |access-date=2024-06-29 |edition=1 |publisher=Wiley |language=en |doi=10.1002/9781118638477.ch4 |isbn=978-1-118-63851-4}}</ref>  While some hadith may genuinely originate from firsthand observation of Muhammad (particularly personal traits that were not of theological interest, like his fondness for [[tharid]] and sweets), Western scholars suggest that it is extraordinarily difficult if not impossible to determine which hadith accurately reflect the historical Muhammad.<ref name=":2" />

More recently, [[Revisionist school of Islamic studies|western historical criticism and debate]] concerning sīrah have elicited a defensive attitude from some Muslims who wrote [[apologetic]] literature defending its content.<ref name="EI2" /> Some researchers, such as Volker Popp, have gone further and argued that names such as Muhammad and [[Ali]] were not names but titles.<ref>Volker Popp, Die frühe Islamgeschichte nach inschriftlichen und numismatischen Zeugnissen, in: Karl-Heinz Ohlig (ed.), Die dunklen Anfänge. Neue Forschungen zur Entstehung und frühen Geschichte des Islam, Berlin 2005, pp. 16–123 (here p. 63 ff.)</ref>