The Narrative Change in Muslim Historiography within the Context of the Expedition to al-Kharrār

Abstract

The first written classical sources of Islamic history which scholars of various fields within the Arabic and Islamic studies, including but not limited to Arabic literature, Islamic law, and Ḥadīth studies, rely on for inquiry into historical events as well as (auto)biographies of historical figures is generally accepted to date back to the third century of the Hijra. Although the crux of the matter as to historical events described in the texts of these Arabic historical writings is transmitted from one to the other often unchanged, the narrative structure of these events shows variations across texts. The present work analyzes the expedition to al-Kharrār led by Saʿd b. Abū Waqqāṣ in classical sources in an effort to make sense of the changes and overlaps that occur in the descriptions of the same event found in these texts. It provides a comparative analysis of the expedition as it is described in al-Wāqidī’s al-Maghāzī, Ibn Saʿd’s al-Ṭabaqāt, and Ibn Hishām’s al-Sīra. This paper argues that the changes in the narrative structure of the expedition seen in these three sources should be attributed to especially Ibn Saʿd’s efforts to provide a more cohesive narrative of the event rather than a disingenuous effort to twist history. It also provides valuable insights into the nature of these texts and how to read and what to look for in them using the expedition to al-Kharrār as a case study.