Prophetic Biography
Meccan Dawn
Course Description
The life of the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم is a cornerstone for the full understanding of Islam. Every other Islamic discipline serves to elucidate how the tradition (sunnah) of the Prophet was embodied in his noble life.
In this course divided into three modules each comprising of 10 weeks, the Prophetic life is studied in a chronological order following the Prophet’s صلى الله عليه وسلم age at the time of events. Particular attention will be given to those Prophetic events that express virtuous character in the face of adversity. In addition, a sign posting of how other Islamic disciplines use prophetic events to inform their respective disciplines and were in the Quran these are mentioned. This is to cultivate in students an awareness and desire to further their learning of Islam’s integrated scholarly tradition.
This module concludes events of Mecca, with the night ascension, the establishing of the five prayers, the coming of the Ansar and giving their allegiance to Islam and its Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم .His migration to Medina aged 51 and the early years of the Prophet’s صلى الله عليه وسلم life in Medina forming of a community and needing facing battle.
Course Outline
Course Text
The course draws on works that came to inform Islam’s traditional pedagogy and represent its’ normative expression. These works are cited below for reference followed by brief biography authors:
Ibn Hashām, ‘Abd al-Malik. Al- sīrah al-nabawiyyah. 4vols. Edited by Muhammad Muhyi al-Din ‘Abd al-Hamid.Cairo: Matba’ al- Hijäzi, 1963
Trevor Le Gassick, Muneer Goolam Fareed and Ismāʻīl Ibn-ʻUmar Ibn-Kat̲hīr (2006). The life of the prophet Muḥammad : Al-Sīra al-nabawiyya.4. Reading: Garnet.
Al-Shāmī, Muhammad b.Yusuf al-Salihī. Subul al-Hudā wa al-Rashād fī sīrah khayr al-‘Ibād. 12vols Edited ‘Abd al-Mu’izz ‘Abd al-Hamid Cairo:Ihyā al-turāth al-Islamiyy, 2002
1- Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Hishām ibn Ayyūb al-Ḥimyarī al-Muʿāfirī al-Baṣrī
(died 7 May 833), or Ibn Hisham, edited the biography of Islamic Prophet Muhammad written by Ibn Ishaq. The nisba Al-Baṣrī means “of Basra”, in modern Iraq Ibn Hisham has been said to have grown up in Basra and moved afterwards to Egypt. His family was native to Basra but he himself was born in Old Cairo. He gained a name as a grammarian and student of language and history in Egypt. His family was of Himyarite origin and belongs to Banu Ma‘afir tribe of Yemen. As-Sīrah an-Nabawiyyah, ‘The Life of the Prophet’; is an edited recension of Ibn Isḥāq’s classic Sīratu Rasūli l-Lāh ‘The Life of God’s essenger’.Ibn Isḥāq’s now lost work survives only in Ibn Hishām’s and alTabari’s recensions, although fragments of several others survive, and Ibn Hishām and alTabarī share virtually the same material....Read More
Wikipedia. (2022b). Ibn Hisham. [online] Available at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Hisham
2- Ibn Kathir is Isma’il ibn ‘Umar ibn Kathir ibn Daww ibn Dara’, Abu al-Fida’ ‘Imad ai-Din
born in 70111302 in a village outside of Damascus, where he moved with his brother at the age of five. He later travelled in pursuit of Sacred Knowledge, becoming a principle Shafi’i scholar, hadith master (hafiz), and historian who authored works in each of these fields, though he is perhaps best known for his four-volume Tafsir al-Qur’an al-‘Azim [Commentary on the Mighty Koran], which reflects its author’s magisterial command of the sciences of hadith. He died in Damascus in (al-A ‘lam (y136), 1.320).
(Keller, Nuh Ha Mim. Reliance of the Traveller: A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law. Rev.ed. Beltsville, MD: Amman, 1996)
Shaykh Thaqib Mahmood
Shaykh Thaqib has travelled to numerous places over the last 10 years in pursuit of sacred knowledge. This began at several deen intensives with Shaykh Hamza Yusuf from whom the impetus to his seeking sacred knowledge belongs. After travelling to Morocco he went to Hadramawt to the village of Tarim where he sat at the feet of the spiritual Masters and jurists including Habib Umar bin Hafiz.
He travelled to Damascus a number of times and studied under Shaykh Muhammad Darwish, Shaykh Abdul Wahaab Shaykh Muhammad al Yaqoubi, Shaykh Adnan al Majd, Shaykh Maree al Rashid and Shaykh Khalil al Sabbagh. His travels also led him to Mauritania to study with Murabit al Hajj, to Liverpool to study with Shaykh Siraj Ud-Din and to Istanbul at the feet of the gnostic and friend of Allah, Shaykh Mahmud Effendi; and studied with Shaykh Ehsaan Hojah and Shaykh Muhammed Ameen Siraj.”
Shaykh Thaqib has been teaching on Sacred Study for 12 years and part of the Fountain teacher for now over 22 years.
Location
Bury Park Community Centre, 161, 161b Dunstable Rd, Luton LU1 1BW.
Zoom: links will be provided via email
Date/Time
Starting – 29th April 2023 for 10 weeks
Saturdays – 11.30AM to 12.30PM
Course Content
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