Scholars of Arabic literature and readers with an interest in Arabic and Islamic civilization are now most fortunate to have available to them the works being published as the Library of Arabic Literature, the first series to attempt a systematic coverage of the Arabic literary heritage. The editors have already shown good judgment in selecting books for the series, and the present volume, The Expeditions, an early biography of the Prophet Muḥammad by Maʿmar ibn Rāshid, is no exception.
Maʿmar ibn Rāshid (d. 153/770) was a contemporary of Ibn Isḥāq (d. 151/768), author of the famous Al-Sīrah al-Nabawiyyah (The Prophetic Biography), also known as Sīrat rasūl Allāh (The Biography of the Messenger of God), which has come to be widely circulated and is known simply as the Sīrah. Alfred Guillaume’s English translation of Ibn Isḥāq’s Sīrah was published more than fifty years ago,1 so the English translation of another important early text about the life of the Prophet Muḥammad is well overdue. Indeed, there is a real need for more such texts from the early Islamic period to see the light of day.
It should be pointed out that these two works are not the earliest writings on the subject of the Prophet’s life. In his discussion of the genres of maghāzī and sīrah, the Ottoman literary historian Ḥājjī Khalīfah (d. 1067/1657) reports that Ibn Isḥāq compiled his work from preexisting materials, and goes on to identify ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr (d. 93/711–12) as the earliest to gather material on the topic.2 Thus, both Maʿmar ibn Rāshid and Ibn Isḥāq must have taken their information from written sources as well as authenticated oral reports collected by ʿUrwah and others.3
The major contribution of Maʿmar ibn Rāshid and Ibn Isḥāq was to bring the material from different sources together in one place. Other early Muslim scholars immediately recognized the value of this activity. This is why we have Ibn Isḥāq’s work in a recension by the later Ibn Hishām (d. 212/828 or 218/833), and Maʿmar ibn Rāshid’s work in a recension by ʿAbd al-Razzāq al-Ṣanʿānī (d. 211/827). Similarly, written material about the pillars of Islam—including ritual prayer (ṣalāh), the giving of alms (zakāh), fasting in Ramadan (ṣawm), and pilgrimage to Mecca (ḥajj)—cannot be assumed to have appeared for the first time at the end of the first or at the beginning of the second Hijri century. Muslims had been continually engaging in ritual activities, and writing about them, since the time of the Prophet. Nor should it be assumed that hadiths (reports about the Prophet Muḥammad) were only written down when al-Bukhārī (d. 256/870) and the other famous collectors of hadiths of that era produced their great compilations. Nonetheless, the compilation by Maʿmar ibn Rāshid of the present book was significant in its time for preserving the earlier scattered material.
The Arabic edition produced here, carefully edited from the extant manuscripts, as well as the translation into lucid English, have been undertaken by a gifted young scholar. What is more, his detailed introduction contains much useful guidance for the reader. Scholars of early Islam, Arabists, and interested readers will find this volume a welcome addition to the literature available and to their libraries.
Professor M. A. S. Abdel Haleem, OBE
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London