The great recorders of expeditions like ‘Aāsim bin Umar...

The great recorders of expeditions like ‘Aāsim bin Umar Qatāda who wrote al-Siyar wal-Maghāzi gave the following testimony about him: ‘The knowledge that Ibn Is’hāq placed at the disposal of the people through his narrations will never disappear[^25].’ When Zuhri was asked about Ibn Is’hāq’s accounts of expeditions, he said ‘he is the most learned of all people about the expeditions[^26]’.

Today, the narrations of Ibn Is’hāq that have been passed on by many reliable recorders of the seera like ‘Aāsim and Zuhri have reached us[^27]. It can be said that Ibn Is’hāq is from those scholars who recorded the accounts of the expeditions based on old methods.

One day this point was raised in front of him, he said: ‘I am only a safe keeper and recorder of the knowledge of expeditions[^28].’ The Merits of Ibn Is’hāq’s Seera: He is the only person who has narrated the expeditions of the Holy Prophet (S) in its totality[^29], because the other Seera recorders have narrated the expeditions in an incomplete and disjointed fashion.

Maybe their lifetimes were not enough for them to complete the work and their students did not expound on the details of their expedition accounts and sufficed with mentioning only a number of battles and wars. The Seera of Ibn Is’hāq is detailed and contains numerous long narrations and includes mention of dates[^30].

Shāfi’i says: ‘Anyone who wishes to gain expertise about the expeditions needs (to study) Ibn Is’hāq[^31].’ Through lengthy odes, he has highlighted the narratives of what transpired on the battlefields[^32]. All this points to the vastness of the Seera of Ibn Is’hāq. These odes have immortalized the victories and give important information about works, situations and personalities.

Even though it is not possible to give exact details about what takes place on the battlefield, all the military strategies and skills employed, some of the particulars about the battles of the Prophet (S) have been directly reported. Abu Abdillah Muhammad Ibn Umar al-Wāqidi (130-207 A.H.) Wāqidi was born in Madina and died in Baghdād[^33]. He is buried in the Khayzarān graveyard.

He was an author and used to pay special attention in writing [about] the seerah and expeditions (of the Prophet (S)), to such an extent that he became one of the foremost authorities in this field.