Methodological implications in writing the Prophet’s Sira " A study on the difference between the narrations of (Ibn Ishaq and Al-Bukhari) and Ibn Hajar's attitude towards them In the Al-Maghazi chapter from "Sahih al-Bukhari"»

Abstract

The most important aspect of Muslim scholars' attention to the Prophet’s biography is
examining and verifying it in order to arrive at an accurate historical knowledge of it, and to present it in a
form purified of the impurities of illusion and falsification. This aspect of consideration is highlighted in the
comparison between the different narratives and weighing them up according to the rules of Hadith narration
and the laws of history. From this, this essay comes to clarify some milestones from the methodology that
was followed by scholars in examining and writing the Sira, and this in order to show that the Sira is a
historical writing and not a literary narrative that cannot be verified against historical reality. To achieve this
aim, this article is based on studying the issues in which Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar dealt with the differences
between the hadiths of Al-Maghazi chapter from “Sahih Al-Bukhari” and Ibn Ishaq’s Sira. So, what is Ibn
Hajar's position regarding these differences, and what are the methodological implications we can infer from
it?