The distorted and concealed narratives in Ibn Hisham's book on the Prophet's biography (d. 218 AH/833 AD)

The requirements of this research necessitated dividing our dissertation into an introduction and five chapters, varying in length according to the writing requirements. It begins with an introduction addressing the thesis's central idea, its temporal and spatial scope, the justifications for choosing its topic, and a presentation of the most important sources and references used. It concludes with a summary outlining the key points, the most significant findings, and the resulting recommendations, followed by a list of sources and references. In the introduction, we familiarize ourselves with the biographies of Ibn Ishaq (d. 151 AH/768 CE) and Ibn Hisham (d. 218 AH/833 CE) and their scholarly output, focusing on their works on the Prophet's biography. The first chapter, "Motives for Writing Ibn Hisham's Biography of the Prophet, His Sources, Chains of Transmission, and Methodology," consists of four sections. The first section, titled "Motives for Writing the Biography of the Prophet," presents the book's sources. The third section clarifies the chains of transmission, and the fourth section explains Ibn Hisham's methodology in writing the biography. The second chapter, titled "Distorted and Omitted Narratives of the Prophet's Life Before the Prophetic Mission in Ibn Hisham's Biography," contains two sections. The first section focuses on the distorted and omitted narratives concerning the Prophet's birth, name, epithets, titles, upbringing, and family in Ibn Hisham's biography. The second section examines the distorted and omitted narratives concerning the Prophet's lineage and ancestors in Ibn Hisham's biography. Chapter Three, titled “Distorted and Obscured Narratives of the Stages of the Islamic Call and the Prophet’s Procedures in Establishing the State and Developing the Muslim Community in Mecca in Ibn Hisham’s Biography,” comprised two sections. The first section revealed the distorted and obscured narratives of the stages of the Islamic call in Ibn Hisham’s biography, while the second section examined the distorted and obscured narratives of the Prophet’s procedures in establishing the state and developing the Muslim community in the same book. Chapter Four, titled “Distorted and Obscured Narratives of the Prophet’s Political, Administrative, Urban Development, and Service-Related Procedures in Medina in Ibn Hisham’s Biography,” also comprised two sections. The first section presented the distorted and obscured narratives of the Prophet’s political and administrative procedures in Medina in Ibn Hisham’s biography, while the second section examined the distorted and obscured narratives of the Prophet’s urban development, service-related, economic, scientific, and judicial procedures in Medina as presented in the same biography. Chapter Five was titled (Distorted and Obscured Narratives of the Prophet’s Military Procedures in Medina in Ibn Hisham’s Biography), and it included three sections. The first section was titled Distorted and Obscured Narratives of the Prophet’s Military Procedures with the Arabs in Ibn Hisham’s Biography. The second section was dedicated to Distorted and Obscured Narratives of the Prophet’s Military Procedures with the Jews in the aforementioned Biography, while the third section was dedicated to Distorted and Obscured Narratives of the Prophet’s Military Procedures with the Empires around him in the aforementioned book.