Guillaume--Life of Muhammad.pdf - Radical Truth

xxxiv
Ibn Is~aq's
reputation.
The Life of Muhammad
Unfortunately for our purpose which is to record the opinion of our
author's co-religionists on his trustworthiness as a historian, their judge~
ment is affected by his other writings, one of which called Sunan is mentioned
by !:Iajji Khalifa.' This was freely quoted by Abu Yusuf (d. 182),'
but failed to hold its own and went out of circulation wmparatively early.
If we knew more about the contents of this book, which by reason of its
early date presumably would have had a considerable influence on the
daily life of Muslims had it been allowed to continue to challenge other
reporters of the apostle's deeds and words, we should be the better able to
assess the value and relevance of early Muslim criticism on 1.1. when it
was most definitely hostile. It is not always his book the Sira which is
attacked but the man himself, and if his sunna work ran counter to the
schools of law that were in process of development the author could not
hope to escape strong condemnation. It is most important that this fact
should not be overlooked. In the passage Wustenfeld quoted' from
Abu'I-Fatl,J. M. b. M, b. Sayyidu'l-Nas al-Yamari al-Andalusi (d. 734/
1334) the distinction between traditions of a general nature and traditions
about the prophet's sunna is clear and unmistakable. Al;mad b. I:Ianbal's
son stated that his father included LL's hadith in his Musnad, but refused
to regard him as an authority on sunan. 'WThile it is true that there are a
few stories in the Sira which report the prophet's practice in certain
matters ana so provide an authoritative guide for the future behaviour of
the faithful in similar circumstances, and while it is also true that in one or
two instances the principle underlying these actions is in conflict with the
findings of later lawyers, they form an insignificant part of the Sira, and it
may safely be concluded that L !:Ianba!'s objection to LL's authority
applies almost exclusively to his lost work, the Sunan.
Apostolic tradition in Islam, as Goldziher showed long ago, is the
battlefield of warring sects striving for the mastery of men's minds and the
control of their behaviour with all the weight that Muhammad's presumed
or fabricated example could bring to bear. The earlier the tradition, or
collection of traditions, the less this tendency is in evidence; hut we have
already seen that LL occasionally succumbed to the temptation to glorify
Ali at the expense of 'Abbas. This would seem to be supremely unnecessary
when one can read exactly what