Muhammad, the Qur'an and Islam
[4] Guillaume, in Muhammad, pp. xiv f, gives a brief description of these
collections and biographical information regarding the editors, who were:
Aban b. `Uthman b. `Affan (d. ca. 100 AH)
`Urwa b. Zubayr (d. 94 AH)
Shurahbil b. Sa`d (d. 123 AH)
Wahb b. Munabbih (d. 110 AH)
`Asim b. `Umar b. Qatada (d. ca. 120 AH)
Muhammad b. Muslim (d. 124 AH)
`Abdullah b. Abu Bakr (d. 130 or 135 AH)
b. Muhammad b. `Amr
Abu'l-Aswad Muhammad (d. 131 or 137 AH)
Musa b. `Uqba (d. 141)[5] Guillaume was not certain of the genuiness of a fragment of Wahb b.
Munabbih's Maghazi (Muhammad, p. xvii); but he gives the translation of
the fragments of Musa b. Uqba's work, which follow the edition of Sachau; see Guillaume, Muhammad, pp. xvi, xlii f. The Sira of Musa b.Uqba also
contained biographical traditions about Muhammad's life and was once
seen as a rival to Ibn Ishaq's works; some of his traditions can be found in
the canonical traditions.
[6] Ibn Ishaq was the grandson of a manumitted slave, whose father was
also a Muslim traditionist. Ibn Ishaq was raised in Medina, where he began
collecting traditions. Although it appears that his (now lost) work on the
practice of Muhammad (Sunan) was disliked by some, he was generally
held in high regard as a traditionist; Guillaume, Muhammad, pp. xiii, xxxiv
f. For more biographical information, see the first references given in n. 7,
below.
[7] Guillaume, Muhammad, pp. xvii f; Sezgin, Schrifttums, vol. 1,
pp. 288 f; SEI and EI², s.v. "Ibn Ishak, Abu `Abd Allah Muhammad." Ibn
Ishaq's work originally contained not only the biography of Muhammad,
but also a history of the prophets up until his time; (Guillaume,
Muhammad, pp. xvii f.) Barring any new manuscript discoveries, it has
been hoped that someday the original text of Ibn Ishaq may be able to be
reconstructed from all of the secondary sources where it has been cited.