Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University Religious Studies Theses Department of Religious Studies 11-17-2008 The Making of an Image: The Narrative Form of Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah Katherine Amanda Milby Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/rs_theses Part of the Religion Commons Recommended Citation Milby, Katherine Amanda, "The Making of an Image: The Narrative Form of Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2008. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/rs_theses/16 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Religious Studies at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Religious Studies Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE MAKING OF AN IMAGE: THE NARRATIVE FORM OF IBN ISHAQ’S SIRAT RASUL ALLAH by Katherine A. Milby Under the Direction of Dr. Timothy Renick ABSTRACT This thesis explores the meaning and significance of the form of Ibn Ishaq’s Sirat Rasul Allah. It asks the questions: What are the possible reasons for Ibn Ishaq choosing a narrative form for this biography of Muhammad? What does a narrative format grant the text? Are there historical factors which could have influenced the decision? What other influences affected the text? Finally, what are the implications of Ibn Ishaq’s decision to use a narrative form? Taking into consideration narrative theory, the historical setting, and textual evidence, the thesis argues that Ibn Ishaq chose the format most likely to control the image of Muhammad, thus controlling the conversation of what Islam should be. The implications of this view affect how one understands the usages of the Sira as well as the historicity of the text. INDEX WORDS: Islam, Ibn Ishaq, Narrative Theory, Islamic History THE MAKING OF AN IMAGE: THE NARRATIVE FORM OF IBN ISHAQ’S SIRAT RASUL ALLAH by Katherine A. Milby A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Masters of Arts in the College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University 2008 Copyright by Katherine Amanda Milby 2008 THE MAKING OF AN IMAGE: THE NARRATIVE FORM OF IBN ISHAQ’S SIRAT RASUL ALLAH by Katherine A. Milby Committee Chair: Timothy Renick Committee: Isa Blumi Kathryn McClymond Electronic Version Approved: Office of Graduate Studies College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University December 2008 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1 2 NARRATIVE THEORY 6 3 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 13 A brief biography of Ibn Ishaq 13 From the death of Muhammad through the Umayyads 15 Historical Setting of the Sira 20 4 TEXTUAL EVIDENCE 24 Pre- and Early-Islamic Literature 24 Comparison with Biblical Texts 27 Evidence in the Sira 39 5 IMPLICATIONS 42 6 CONCLUSION 46 BIBLIOGRAPHY 48 1 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION Ibn Ishaq’s (d. 767 C.E.) Sirat Rasul Allah (760 C.E.) is the first known narrative biography of Muhammad. However, this does not mean that biographies of Muhammad did not exist prior to Ibn Ishaq. These other early biographies are in an episodic form rather than the narrative chosen by Ibn Ishaq.1 This raises the question, why did Ibn Ishaq choose a narrative form? It is my contention that Ibn Ishaq chose the narrative form because it offered the most control over the image of Muhammad, and thus, if the text was accepted, allowed the most control of the conversation regarding what Islam should be. In other words, the Sirat Rasul Allah (known as the Sira henceforth) is an attempt by Ibn Ishaq to control the conversation taking place between various groups of Muslims about Islam. This time period in which the Sira was written, and the years leading up to it, were fraught with various groups vying for religious, political, and economic superiority. Thus, the Abbasids faced the need to create social cohesion, establish their political authority, as well as instill a vision of Islam upon which the Muslims under their control could agree. While it is not my claim that the only way they faced this challenge was through the Sira, it is my claim that the Sira was a part of the overall scheme to bring the community together by controlling the image of Muhammad. This thesis will address how narratives help to create image and tradition. Therefore, my conclusion will be based not only on the historical setting of Ibn Ishaq and a comparison of the Sira with pre- and early-Islamic Arabic literature as well as Biblical texts, but also on theoretical work done on historical narratives. 1 Imam Muslim. Sahih Muslim. Translated by Abdul Hamid Siddiqi. Vols. I-IV. New Delhi: Kitab Bhavan, 2004; Muhammad ibn Isma'il Bukhari. Sahih al-Bukhari: the translation of the meanings of Sahih al-Bukhari: Arabic- English. Translated by Muhammad Muhsim Khan. Riyadh-Saudi Arabia: Darussalam Pub. & Distr., 1997. 2 I first became familiar with Ibn Ishaq’s Sira while taking a course on the life of Muhammad during my first semester in graduate school. Since I had just completed a bachelor’s degree in literature and was accustomed to analyzing texts, I was immediately struck by the topoi in the Sira which resembled the religious topoi I had seen in Christian texts. Aware that my own background could potentially influence the way I was interpreting the Sira, I was hesitant to make any conclusions without further research. The interest I had in the Sira led me to a project exploring the similarities and differences between Biblical texts and the Sira. Eventually, that project led to this thesis. Though the original project is unpublished, I have included some of that research here. Since my undergraduate work was primarily in literature and literary theory, and since the origin of this thesis began with a textual analysis, I have chosen to continue with a textual analysis. Analyzing the form of a text in combination with examining the historical context often provides insights. However, such an approach is hampered by the fact that I am working entirely from translations of the primary texts. I have attempted to lessen the impact of this fact in two ways. First, I have made every effort to choose standard, reliable texts both by consulting with those conversant in Arabic and by researching reviews of the translation.2 Second, I have chosen to focus on events and chronology rather than specific words or phrases which could lose their meaning through translation. Despite these efforts, I acknowledge the fact that using 2 For the purposes of this thesis, I am using the translation of the Sirat Rasul Allah by Alfred Guillaume. Despite the problematic aspects of some parts of this translation, it is the standard, most authoritative translation of Ibn Ishaq's work referenced, even in works which use the original Arabic text. See: Philip K. Hitti. "A Review of The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah by A. Guillaume." The Jewish Quarterly Review 47, no. 1 (1956): 85-86; R.B. Serjeant. "Professor Guillaume's Translation of the "Sirah"." Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 21, no. 1/3 (1958): 1-14. For biographical information on Ibn Ishaq see J.M.B. Jones Ibn Ishak. Vol. IV, in Encyclopaedia of Islam, edited by Ch. Pellat, and J. Schacht V.L.M.B. Lewis, 810-811. London: Luzac & Co., 1971. 3 translations opens the possibility of erroneous conclusions. In light of this, I have phrased my conclusions as possibilities rather than as proven fact. In the next chapter, I will discuss narrative theory. The main emphasis is on what the term narrative means and what a narrative form contributes to a biography. The question of what a narrative is becomes especially important when examining the Sira because the narrative in the text is often broken up by asaniid and repetitions of a particular event with different variations depending on who is relating the tradition. Determining what a narrative brings to a biography is also critical as it pertains directly to the hypothesis that Ibn Ishaq chose that form to create an image of Muhammad. In Chapter Three, I discuss the historical context of the Sira. The historical context contains two parts: the time from Muhammad's death to the rise of the Abbasid Empire and the context in which Ibn Ishaq lived. The time period leading up to the writing of the Sira is crucial since many divisions arose after Muhammad's death. Since my thesis claims that Ibn Ishaq sought to control the image of Muhammad, demonstrating that there was contestation over this image is vital. If there was consensus regarding this matter, Ibn Ishaq would not have needed the narrative form to control Muhammad's image. Thus, in Chapter Three I explore some of the disagreements and factions which arose during this time. The second part of Chapter Three explores some of the relevant information about the Abassids and the cultural context in which Ibn Ishaq lived. As will be discussed in Chapter Four, there is little precedent in Arab literary culture for a sustained narrative. Pre-Islamic literature was comprised mainly of poetry; early Islamic literature, as already stated, took mainly an episodic form, consisting of short stories meant to 4 capture a glimpse of the Prophet’s life as in the Hadith and Maghazi literature.3 Many stories appear in multiple genres. The story of the Battle of Badr, for instance, is referenced in the Sira, the Qur’an and other texts.4 However, whereas the stories in the Hadith and Maghazi literature simply capture the moment, the Sira presents a continuous vision.