The Prophet's Biography

This should have been the post before 'The Last Moghul.' Anyway, I finished reading Ibn Hesham's "The Prophet's Biography" couple of months back. It is a revised and abridged version of the earliest work on the subject by Mohammad Ibn Ishaq Al Matlabi.

Ibn Ishaq was born in Medina (85H) and died at Baghdad (152H). He composed his biography during the time of the Abbasid caliph Abu Jaafar Al Mansour (136-150H). There is an interesting story behind the origin of the book. When Ibn Ishaq met Mansour, the caliph asked him to write a valuable book for his son and crown prince Al Mahdi. Ibn Ishaq went and composed a biography of the holy Prophet [PBUH].

Ibn Ishaq's book has long been known among Muslim scientists as Ibn Hesham's biography, because it was he who revised and cited it. Abdul Malek Ibn Hesham Al Hemiari was born in Basra and died at Foustat, Egypt (218H).