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Ibāḍī Writings Concerning the Life of Prophet Muḥammad: Historiography, Ḥadīth Transmission, Theology, and Legal Integration

Ibāḍī Writings Concerning the Life of Prophet Muḥammad: Historiography, Ḥadīth Transmission, Theology, and Legal Integration

Walīd Fāris
أ.د. وليد فارس
Conference: The Tenth International Conference: The Prophetic Biography (Sīrah) in the Omani Heritage — Kuala Lumpur, 2026
Romanized conference title: al-Muʼtamar al-Duwalī al-ʻĀshir: al-Sīrah al-Nabawīyah fī al-Turāth al-ʻUmānī
Language of the paper: Arabic — this page presents the English metadata layer.
Permanent citation ID: MHF-SIRA2026-006

Abstract

The study of Ibāḍī writings concerning the life of the Prophet Muḥammad raises historiographical and methodological questions that have only recently begun to receive sustained scholarly attention. Unlike Sunni Islam, where independent biographical works such as the recension of Ibn Hishām (d. 218/833) preserve the earlier sīrah of Ibn Isḥāq (d. 150/767), and unlike Shiʿi Islam, which integrates prophetic biography within an imamate-centred sacred history, Ibāḍī Islam does not transmit a comprehensive, standalone chronological sīrah text running from birth to death. That absence has sometimes led to the mistaken conclusion that Ibāḍīs held a diminished interest in the life of the Prophet. Modern scholarship demonstrates that this assumption does not hold. The paper accordingly locates the Ibāḍī sīrah question and examines how material on the Prophet's life is carried within Ibāḍī historiography, hadith transmission, theology, and the integration of prophetic precedent into legal reasoning.

Keywords

Ibāḍī studiesSīrahIslamic historiographyHadith transmissionIslamic theologyIslamic law

How to cite

Fāris, Walīd. "" [Ibāḍī Writings Concerning the Life of Prophet Muḥammad: Historiography, Ḥadīth Transmission, Theology, and Legal Integration]. Paper presented at al-Muʼtamar al-Duwalī al-ʻĀshir: al-Sīrah al-Nabawīyah fī al-Turāth al-ʻUmānī, Kuwālā Lumbūr, 2026. MHF-SIRA2026-006

Catalog record

Romanization follows the ALA-LC Arabic table used by the Library of Congress and the British Library. The original Arabic is carried in the parallel MARC 880 fields, linked by subfield $6 — the standard treatment for non-English resources.

Show the MARC 21 record
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=520  3\$aThe study of Ibāḍī writings concerning the life of the Prophet Muḥammad raises historiographical and methodological questions that have only recently begun to receive sustained scholarly attention. Unlike Sunni Islam, where independent biographical works such as the recension of Ibn Hishām (d. 218/833) preserve the earlier sīrah of Ibn Isḥāq (d. 150/767), and unlike Shiʿi Islam, which integrates prophetic biography within an imamate-centred sacred history, Ibāḍī Islam does not transmit a comprehensive, standalone chronological sīrah text running from birth to death. That absence has sometimes led to the mistaken conclusion that Ibāḍīs held a diminished interest in the life of the Prophet. Modern scholarship demonstrates that this assumption does not hold. The paper accordingly locates the Ibāḍī sīrah question and examines how material on the Prophet's life is carried within Ibāḍī historiography, hadith transmission, theology, and the integration of prophetic precedent into legal reasoning.
=546  \\$aText in English.
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=653  \0$aIslamic historiography
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=653  \0$aIslamic theology
=653  \0$aIslamic law
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