Seerah

Seerah is the biography of the Prophet Muhammad, tracing his life from his birth in Mecca around 570 CE to his death in Medina in 632 CE. It covers his prophethood, the revelation of the Qur’an, the early Muslim community, the migration (hijra) to Medina, and his leadership, teachings, and reforms. Seerah is a central genre in Islamic literature and complements the Qur’an and hadith by offering narrative context for the Prophet’s mission and actions.

The Seerah draws on early biographical and historical writings known as sira, as well as traditional hadith. The earliest surviving life of Muhammad is Ibn Ishaq’s Sirat Rasul Allah, later edited by Ibn Hisham; other early authors include Ibn Sa’d, al-Waqidi, and al-Tabari. Modern scholarship has offered critical assessments of these sources, noting varying levels of reliability and different chains of transmission. The Seerah is distinct from, but often integrated with, Qur’anic exegesis and legal hadith collections in traditional Islamic scholarship.

Scholarly histories typically divide the life into two broad periods: the Meccan period, which focuses on the Prophet’s preaching, moral reform, and opposition he faced in the early years of Islam; and the Medinan period, which centers on the establishment of the Muslim community, the Constitution of Medina, and the political and military events that followed, including key battles such as Badr, Uhud, and the Trench, along with the Treaty of Hudaybiyya and the Farewell Pilgrimage.

The Seerah serves as a primary source for understanding Muhammad’s character, leadership, and example (sunna). It informs religious practice, ethics, and jurisprudence, and remains a focal point of study in Islamic education, while also inviting ongoing scholarly discussion about sources, chronology, and interpretation.