Book Review of Sirat-Un-Nabi By Shibli

Nomani

(In the name of Allah,

the Beneficent, the merciful. All praise belongs to Allah,

Lord of the worlds. May blessings and peace be on His

messenger, Muhammad, and his descendents and his
companions, every one of them.)

Authors Biography .

The authors of the book are :

Allama Shibli Nomani. Syed Sulaiman Nadvi .

1.

Allama Shibli Nomani:

Muhammad Shibli Nomani was Born on 3rd June 1857 in Bindawal Azamgarh
(UP).His fathers name was Shaikh Habibullah and his Mother name was
Moqeema Khatoon His brothers were Mahdi Hasan, Mohammad Ishaq and
Mohammad Junaid, Mohammad His wifes name was Majidunnisa (Married
1876-77) Maulanas teachers were Maulana Farooq Chirayyakuti, Chirayyakot
AzamgarhMaulana Irshad Husain, Rampur, Maulana Faiz ul Hasan Saharanpuri
and, Maulana Ahmad Ali Saharanpuri Maulanas famous Students were Hamid
ud din Farahi, Abul Kalam Azad, Saiyid Sulaiman Nadvi, Muhammad Ali Jauhar,
Zafar Ali Khan, Sajjad Haider Yaldram, Aziz Mirza and Masud Ali Mahvi He died
in 18th November 1914 in Azamgarh (UP) Mawlana Shibli Nu'mani

was an

Indian Muslim scholar (1857 1914). He went to Makkah for the Hajj and there
he devoted his time to furthering his studies in Muslim theology, history,
philosophy and Sufism from different scholars in Arabia. An orthodox Hanafi
Muslim, he was a staunch supporter of the Sharia and an opponent of the
Wahhabi movement. When he returned to India he met Sir Syed Ahmed Khan
(1817-1898) who had just established Aligarh Muslim University. Nomani was
offered and accepted a teaching position at the university. He taught at Aligarh
for sixteen years where he met Thomas Arnold and other British scholars from
whom he learned first hand modern Western ideas and thoughts. He traveled
with Thomas Arnold in 1892 to Syria, Egypt, Turkey and other countries of the
Middle East and got direct and practical experience of their societies.

He

collected much material on the life of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, but
could write only first two volumes of the planned book Sirat-un-Nabi. His
disciple, Syed Suleman Nadvi, made use of this material and added his own
and wrote remaining five volumes of the book after the death of his mentor. 2.
Allama Syed Sulaiman Nadvi: Allama Syed Sulaiman Nadvi (November 22, 1884
- November 22, 1953) was an eminent Indian and Pakistani historian,

biographer, littrateur and scholar of Islam. He is the author of monumental

works, "Sirat-un-Nabi" (Life of holy prophet(pbuh)) and "Khutbat-e-Madras".
Sulaiman Nadvi was born on November 22, 1884, in Desna village of Patna,
British India. His father, Hakeem Syed Abdul Hasan was a pious Sufi. His first
teachers were Khalifa Anwar Ali of Desna and Maulvi Maqsood Ali of Ookhdi.
Later he received his education from his elder brother, Hakeem Syed Abu
Habeeb and his father, who was a physician at Islampur near Patna. In 1899 he
went to Phulwari Sharif (Bihar) where at the famous Khanqah-e-Mojeebia he
became a disciple of Maulana Mohiuddin and of Shah Sulaiman Phulwari. From
there he went to Darbhanga where he studied for a few months at Madrasa-eImdadia. Aligarh Muslim University conferred on him the honorary degree of
Doctorate of Literature in 1940. 2.

Contribution to Islamic literature.

In 1910, Shibli Nomani had begun the monumental task of writing "Sirat-unNabi" (biography of Muhammad in Urdu). Sulaiman Nadvi became Shibli's
literary assistant in the writing of Sirat. But Maulana Shibli Nomani could not
complete the Sirat in his life. After death of his mentor on November 18 1914,
Sulaiman Nadvi left the job of Professor in Deccan College, Pune and came
over to Azamgarh. Sulaiman edited and published the two volumes of Sirat-unNabi penned by Shibli and himself wrote and published third, forth, fifth and
sixth volume of this Magnum Opus. The work started through the munificence
of late Nawab Sulatan Jehan Begum of Bhopal and later through the aid of
Nizam of Hyderabad. It is the grandest biography of Muhammad (PBUH) ever
attempted in any language of the world. In October-November 1925, Sulaiman
Nadvi delivered a series of eight lectures on the life of Muhammad at Madras.
These lectures which are a masterpiece of erudition later published as
"Khutbat-e-Madras". In 1940, he published "Rahmat-e-Aalam", a book written
for children on the life of Muhammad. In 1933, he brought out his monumental
work, "Khayyam". The nucleus of this book was an article on noted Persian
scholar and poet Omar Khayyam. His mentor, Maulana Shibli Nomani had made
plans for Dar-ul-Mosannefeen (Academy of Authors) but could not implement
this scheme. After his death, Sulaiman Nadvi founded Dar-ul-Mosannefeen at
Azamgarh. The first book published was Ard-ul-Quran (2 volumes). Sirat-unNabi The Sirat-un-Nabi (PBUH) comprising seven volumes is that reliable and
authentic Urdu book which no other composition has equaled in acclaim and
authority. This book is the result of a deep research and it convincingly
answers the objections raised by orientalists. It presents the Islamic
philosophy of life and proves from the life the Messenger of Allah that no other
religion is a natural and practical as Islam. The work started through the
munificence of late Nawab Sultana Jehan Begum of Bhopal and later through

the aid of Nizam of Hyderabad. Nomani had only managed to complete the first
two volumes when he died in 1914. His loyal disciple Syed Sulaiman Nadvi,
who was working with him as his literary assistant on the project, collected
his research papers and manuscripts and had published them. In 1953 Syed
Sulaiman Nadvi also died before completing and publishing the 7th volume of
the book. The series became very popular with the readers and admirers who
were very eager for volume7 to be compiled and published. Syed Sabahuddin
Abdul Rahman was approached to complete the work. He was initially very
reluctant to undertake it but when persistent requests were made and he
found that Syed Sulaiman had already written a good deal of the book and left
extensive notes, he agreed to take up the work. Accordingly he collected and
put together the work the material and compiled it in the form of the book
published as volume 7. Originally in Urdu, the book since has been translated
into many languages. The Arabic translation of the first part of this work was
done by late Muhammad Ismail Madrasi of Algiers University. Mr. Rizwan Uddin
Ahmad and Haji Muhammad Aslam have by translating it into simple and
readable English made it available to those who can only read or speak
English. This work remains Nomani's most famous work Although the book was
written about sixty years back, it would still be found useful for understanding
the aims and objects benefits and advantages and nature and wisdom of
devotion prescribed by Islam. At a time when the materialistic patterns of
thought and culture have relegated to the obscure background all the things
ethical and spiritual, and English rendering of this classical work was the need

3.

of the hour.

Review of Sirat-un-Nabi .
This book consists of 7 volumes and here is the review of all the volumes one
by one.

This book also deals with worship, mutual dealings, prophets

characteristics, his wives and children. It was first published in 1920 in Urdu
and ever since it is being reprinted regularly. It is the last word of the subject
with which it deals exhaustively. It was conceived by Allama Shibli Nomani and
after his death; Syed Sulaiman Nadvi gave it the final shape. The English
translation is published through painstaking effort of Darul-Ishaat. It is
rendered into English by Rafiq Abdur Rehman This book consists of 19
chapters

Volume No 1:
The name

of the Volume 1 is Life OF The Prophet Including Battles .

It is

the foremost obligation of everyone, and the most sacred service, that they
reform and perfect the morals and up-bringing of fellow man. That is a proper

standard of morals and etiquette should first be determined and then they
should be demonstrated practically before all men. These include piety and
God fearing attitude, chastity and forgiveness, determination and
perseverance, self-sacrifice and Loveland self respect and dignity. This
chapter further discuss about Sirah as Ilm Al-Klaam, first step in Sirah and
written sources, Sirah by different scholars, reliability of sources, second
principle? Ascertaining and also the beginning of principle of
Ascertaining. Second chapter is about comments on the writing of sirah.
Difference in rank of Hadith and sirah, sirah works ignore books of Hadith,
Sirah writers Deceit, Reasoning in narration, interpretation in narration and
conclusion of the foregoing essay. Then writer discus about the works of
Europeans as the Europeans writer may be divided in to three kinds, the
common basis of European work and then reference and sources. In the third
chapter the writer discus about Arabs geography, there civilization and
culture, sources of ancient history, Arab tribes, religion of the Arabs, site of
offering and the reality of sacrifice. The fourth chapter is about Makkah, The
scared city, the writer tells us about raising the Kabah and the sacrifice of
Sayyidna Ismail. Fifth chapter is Genealogy which tells us about Ismail, The
beginning of Quraysh, Qussay and Hashim. Chapter no six is about the life of
the Prophet (PBUH) As his date of birth, Sulking, Foster brother and sister, his
journey to Madinah, the guardianship of Abdul Muttalib and Abu Talib, prophets
journey to Syria, his participations in battels, marriage with Khadijah, number
of journeys in his life, abstaining from Polytheistic Customs, meting
worshippers of one God and also discus his close associates. Chapter no seven
is about the beginning of Prophecy. This chapter tells about the reason for the
Quraysh opposition, why did the Quraysh tolerate, Hamza and Omar embrace
Islam in 6th year of prophet hood, methods of torture against Muslims,
beginning of Islam among Ansars, Hijrah (migration) to Ethiopia then second
pledge at Aqabah 12th year of the call. Chapter no eight describes about the
Muslims migrations and different events and Series of Ghazwat. Then the
writer discuss about different battels as Battle of Badar, Battle of Uhud, Battle
of Azhab, treaties and wars against Jews. The writer further discuses about
different Ghazwat like Ghazwa Mutah, Ghazwa Tabook .