_Companions of the Prophet._
The _sahabah_, as they are called, are the subject of a vast
literature, and the biographical dictionaries devoted to them, of
which the best known are the _Usd ul-ghaba_ of the historian Ibn Athir
and the _Isabah_ of Ibn Hajar al-`Asqalani, enumerate many thousands.
The following two lists are of special groups.
(a) _Naqibs_, i.e. leaders selected by Mahomet from the Medinese
tribes: i. _Khazrajites_:--As`ad b. Zurarah, Sa`d b. al-Rabi`,
`Abdallah b. Rawahah, al-Bara' b. Ma`rur, `Abdallah b. `Amr b. Haram,
`Ubadah b. al-Samit, Sa`d b. `Ubadah, al-Mondhir b. 'Amr; ii.
_Ausites_: Usaid b. Hudair, Sa`d b. Khaithamah, Rifa`ah b. `Abd
al-Mondhir.
(b) _Commanders of Expeditions_: names occurring in (a) are not
repeated: `Abdallah b. Jahsh, `Abd ar-Rahman b. `Auf, Abu Bekr, Abu
Qatadah, Abu `Ubaidah b. al-Jarrah, `Ali, `Alqamah b. Mujazziz, `Amr
b. al-`As (ibn el-Ass), Bashir b. Sa`d, Dahhak b. Sofian, Ghalib b.
`Abdallah, Ibn Abi'l-Auja, Ka`b b. `Umair, Khalid b. al-Walid, Kurz b.
Jabir, Marthad b. Abi Marthad, Muhammad b. Maslamah, Qutbah b. `Amir,
Sa`d b. Abi Waqqas, Sa`d d. Zaid, Salama b. `Abd al-Asad, Shuja` b.
Wahb, `Ubaidah b. al-Harith, `Ukkashah b. Mihsan, `Umar b. al-Khattab,
Usamah b. Zaid, `Uyainah b. Hisn, Zaid b. Harithah.
AUTHORITIES.--The biography of Ibn Ishaq was before the world long
before the two chief causes for the falsification of tradition had
begun to have serious effects; these were the need for legal
precedents, and the concept of saintliness, combining those of
asceticism and thaumaturgy. These gave rise to the classical works on
the _Evidences of Mohammed's Mission_ by Abu Nu`aim (d. A.D.
1012-1013) and Baihaqi (d. A.D. 1066).
_Lives of the Prophet_ ([+] indicates that the work is lost);
[+]`Urwah b. Zubair (d. 712-713); [+]Musa b. `Ukbah (d. 758-759);
[+]Mohammed b. Ishaq (d. 768); Mohammed b. Hisham (d. 828-829), ed.
Wüstenfeld (Göttingen, 1860); reprinted in Egypt by Zubair Pasha, a
series of excerpts from the last; Mohammed b. Omar al-Waqidi (d. 823),
portion published by Kremer (Calcutta, 1855), abridged trans. of a
fuller copy by Wellhausen, _Muhammad in Medina_ (Berlin, 1882);
Mohammed b. Sa`d (d. 844-845), an encyclopaedic work on the history of
Mahomet and his followers, called _Tabaqat_, ed. Sachau and others
(Berlin, foll.); Mohammed b. Jarir al-Tabari (see TABARI). Many more
writers on this subject are enumerated in the _Fihrist_, cf.
Sprenger's _Leben Muhammads_, iii. 54-76.
Among the most popular compilers of later times are: Ibn al-Athir
(q.v.) al Jazari, the historian (d. 1233); Ahmad b. Ali al Kastalani
(d. A.D. 1517), whose _al-Mawahib al-Laduniyyah_ was published with
commentary (Cairo, 1278); Hosain b. Mohammed al Diyarbakri (d. 1574)
whose work _Ta'rikh al-Khamis_ was published in Cairo, A.H. 1382; `Ali
b. Burhan al-din al-Halabi (d. A.D. 1634), whose biography called
_Insan al-`uyun_ was published in Cairo, A.H. 1292. To these must be
added all the collections of Tradition.
_Modern Authorities._--The critical study of the Life of Mahomet
begins in Europe with the publication by Th. Gagnier in 1723 of the
Life by Abulfeda (q.v.). Presently there appeared an apologetic
biography by Henri Cmte. de Boulainvilliers (2nd ed., Amsterdam,
1731), to which Gagnier replied in 1732 (_La Vie de Mahomet,
traduite_, &c. ibid.). The next considerable advance in the treatment
of the subject is marked by the biography of G. Weil (_Muhammed der
Prophet_, Stuttgart, 1843), which is wholly without religious bias;
the popular life by Washington Irving (London, 1849) is based on this.
That by J. L. Merrick (the _Life and Religion of Mohammed_, Boston,
U.S.A., 1850) rests on Shi`ite sources. The search for MSS. in India
conducted by A. Sprenger led to the discovery of fresh material, which
was utilized by Sprenger himself in his unfinished _Life of Mohammad_
(Pt. 1, Allahabad, 1851), and his more elaborate _Das Leben und die
Lehre des Mohammad_ (Berlin, 1861-1865), and by Sir William Muir in
his _Life of Mahomet_, (London, 1858-1861) 4 vols.: afterwards
abridged in one volume and reprinted. These are still the standard
treatises on the subject; the pro-Christian bias of Muir is very
marked, while Sprenger has hazarded numerous conjectures on subjects
with which he had little familiarity. The biography by S. W. Koelle,
_Mohammed and Mohammedanism_ (London, 1889), is pro-Christian, the
popular work of Syed Ameer Ali _The Spirit of Islam_, (London, 1896)
an apology for Mahommedanism. Later treatises, resting on original
authorities, are those by H. Grimme _Mohamed_, (Münster, 1892, and
Munich, 1904), F. Buhl, _Mohameds Liv_ (Copenhagen, 1903--Danish:
since translated into German), D. S. Margoliouth _Mohammed and the
Rise of Islam_ (N.Y., 1905, &c.), and Prince Caetani _Annali del
Islam_, i. ii. (Milan, 1905-1907). For the direction of public opinion
in Mahomet's favour the Lecture on _The Hero as Prophet_ in Carlyle's
_Heroes and Hero-worship_ (London, 1846) was singularly effective; his
views were enforced by R. Bosworth Smith _Mohammed and Mohammedanism_,
(London, 1873, &c.). A somewhat similar line was taken in France by J.
Barthélémy Saint-Hilaire, _Mahomet et le Coran_, (Paris, 1865), while
the _Vie de Mahomet d'après la Tradition_ of E. Lamairesse and G.
Dujarric (Paris, 1897) is written entirely from the Moslem standpoint.
See further CALIPHATE, _ad init._; MAHOMMEDAN INSTITUTIONS; MAHOMMEDAN
LAW; MAHOMMEDAN RELIGION. (D. S. M.*)