Sejarah Penulisan Ilmu Sirah: Analisis Perubahan Paten Dan Landskap Historiografi Islam

Abstract

Examining the complex nature of Islamic historiography, Robinson adduced the discourse in a tripartite typology of historical works namely as chronography, biography, and prosopography. The formative period of historical writings in the early Islamic era has been one of the interesting topics especially the development of Sirah literature. This paper aims to explore the nature of early Islamic historical writings, analyze the emergence of its literature, and examine the basic pattern of Sirah Nabawiyyah. The present study is qualitative in nature and is one in which the researcher will employ both descriptive and source-critical approaches. The study in its findings confirm that the earliest proponents of the Prophet were principally attempting biography, and were responsible, above all, for the transmission of tradition. They apparently took any narration or anecdote about the Prophet, even, on occasions, contradictory accounts. With its specific patterns, circumlocutions, and diverse emphases, in which no one part is given distinction or importance over another, the Sirah itself contains the totality of what the compilers could gather, as scrupulously as they found possible.