Editing Muhammad ﷺ (section)

===Early biographies===
{{Main|Prophetic biography}}
[[File:PERF No. 665.jpg|thumb|right|upright|An early manuscript of [[Ibn Hisham]]'s [[Al-Sirah al-Nabawiyyah (Ibn Hisham)|a''l-Sirah al-Nabawiyyah'']], believed to have been transmitted by his students shortly after his death in 833]]
Important sources regarding Muhammad's life may be found in the historic works by writers of the 2nd and 3rd centuries of the [[Hijri year|Hijri era]] (around the 8th and 9th century CE respectively).{{sfn|Watt|1953|p=xi}} These include traditional Muslim biographies of Muhammad, which provide additional information about his life.{{sfn|Reeves|2003|pp=6–7}}

The earliest written ''sira'' (biographies of Muhammad and quotes attributed to him) is [[Ibn Ishaq]]'s ''[[Prophetic biography|Life of God's Messenger]]'' written c. 767 CE (150 AH). Although the original work was lost, this ''sira'' survives as extensive excerpts in works by [[Ibn Hisham]] and to a lesser extent by [[Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari|Al-Tabari]].{{sfn|Nigosian|2004|p=6}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Donner |first=Fred |author-link=Fred Donner |date= 1998|title=[[Narratives of Islamic Origins]]: The Beginnings of Islamic Historical Writing |url= |location= |publisher=Darwin Press |page=132 |isbn= 0878501274}}</ref> However, Ibn Hisham wrote in the preface to his biography of Muhammad that he omitted matters from Ibn Ishaq's biography that "would distress certain people".<ref>{{cite book |last=Holland |first=Tom |title=In the Shadow of the Sword |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5u3Ukw7AftwC&pg=PT28 |date=2012 |publisher=Doubleday |pages=42|isbn=978-0-7481-1951-6 |quote=Things which it is disgraceful to discuss; matters which would distress certain people; and such reports as I have been told are not to be accepted as trustworthy – all these things have I omitted. [Ibn Hashim, p. 691.]}}</ref> Another early historical source is the history of Muhammad's campaigns by [[al-Waqidi]] ({{died in|207}} AH), and [[The Book of the Major Classes|the work]] of Waqidi's secretary [[Ibn Sa'd al-Baghdadi]] ({{died in|230}} AH).{{sfn|Watt|1953|p=xi}} Due to these early biographical efforts, more is known about Muhammad than almost any other founder of a major religion.{{sfn|Armstrong|2013|p=3|loc=Introduction}}

Many scholars accept these early biographies as authentic.{{sfn|Nigosian|2004|p=6}} However, Waqidi's biography has been widely [[Al-Waqidi#Islamic criticism|criticized by Islamic scholars]] for his methods, in particular his decision to omit his sources.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Çakmak |first1=Cenap |title=Islam: a worldwide encyclopedia |date=2017 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, California Denver, Colorado |isbn=978-1610692175 |pages=1634}}</ref> Recent studies have led scholars to distinguish between traditions touching legal matters and purely historical events. In the legal group, traditions could have been subject to invention while historic events, aside from exceptional cases, may have been subject only to "tendential shaping".{{sfn|Watt|1953|p=xv}} Other scholars have criticized the reliability of this method, suggesting that one cannot neatly divide traditions into purely legal and historical categories.<ref name=":3" /> Western historians describe the purpose of these early biographies as largely to convey a message, rather than to strictly and accurately record history.<ref>{{Citation |last=Lecker |first=Michael |title=Glimpses of Muḥammad's Medinan decade |date=2010-04-19 |work=The Cambridge Companion to Muhammad |pages=61–80 |editor-last=Brockopp |editor-first=Jonathan E. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/CBO9780511781551A008/type/book_part |access-date=2024-06-27 |edition=1 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/ccol9780521886079.004 |isbn=978-0-521-88607-9}}</ref>