In the book titled ‘Early Sources for Prophet Muhammad’s Biography,’ Dr. Muhammad Saeed Mitwally sets out to demonstrate that employing Western methods of critical analysis on available Muslim sources can lead to early and trustworthy information about the Prophet (SAW). Previous Western biographies of the Prophet of Islam (sa) primarily relied on the Qur’an and late Muslim sources from the sixteenth century. However, the credibility of Muslim sources came under scrutiny following Goldziher’s publication of Muhammedanische Studien in 1890, and later Schacht’s work, The Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence, in which he cast doubt on the authenticity of Hadith literature.
Dr. Muhammad Saeed Mitwally challenges the concerns raised by the pessimistic viewpoint, successfully addressing some of the issues surrounding the reliability of Muslim sources. The book offers an engaging and thought-provoking analysis that will captivate students of Hadith, providing them with informative insights into the early sources for understanding Prophet Muhammad’s (sa) biography.
