The Earliest Sources of Muhammad's Life

[What Is Truth?]

I have been reading a little about Muhammad's life and the rise of Islam. I have found it difficult to find out some basic historical facts though, and was wondering if you could help me out!

1. What are the earliest sources (Muslim or non-Muslim) that provide information about Muhammad's life (and when were they written)?
2. What are the earliest sources that tell us about the Companions of the Prophet and what they did immediately after his death?
3. What are the names of the earliest manuscripts (complete and fragmentary) of the Quran and when were they written?

Many thanks in advance for going out of your way to find this information!
Matthew

[omar ibrahim]

Hi brother

i recommened a book called Alraheq alkaktom,it has the biography of prophet mohammed from the a to z even before he was born.

[What Is Truth?]

Hi brother

i recommened a book called Alraheq alkaktom,it has the biography of prophet mohammed from the a to z even before he was born.

I'm not really looking for modern biographies of Muhammad, but the actual historical sources that scholars use.

[awais]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Ishaq

"He collected oral traditions that formed the basis of the first biography of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. This biography is usually called Sirat Rasul Allah ("Life of God's Messenger")."

"Ibn Isḥaq wrote several works, none of which survive.

His collection of traditions about the life of Muhammad survives mainly in two sources:

an edited copy, or recension, of his work by his student al-Bakka'i, as further edited by Ibn Hisham. Al-Bakka'i's work has perished and only Ibn Hisham's has survived, in copies.

an edited copy, or recension, prepared by his student Salamah ibn Fadl al-Ansari. This also has perished, and survives only in the copious extracts to be found in the volumimous historian al-Tabari.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Jarir_al-Tabari

Alfred Guillaume translated the extracts from Ibn Hisham and put them together with those from Tabari to "recreate" this Biography: http://www.amazon.com/Life-Muhammad-...1502745&sr=1-1

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[Danah]

^What do you mean by modern biography?

what is in our hands now is all narrations by those who lived at that time. the book that was recommended by the member above you is a good source of the narrations you are looking for. When you read the biography of the prophet Mohammad peace be upon him you will find that they mention the actual narrations of people who lived with him at that time.

the book of the sealed nectar(Al Raheeq Al Makhtoom) can be found here:
Ar-Raheeq Al-Makhtum (Sealed Nectar) - Safir Rahman al Mubarakpuri

Or if you are looking for a brief biography of him but still including the narrations I told you about you will find them here:
http://protectedpearl.webs.com/prophetmohammed.htm

[Uthman]

Greetings,

I highly recommend the following video:



The most relevant part to this thread comes about 12 minutes into the video.