What are the books on the Prophet's biography that your Eminence recommends?
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The questioner : What are the books on the biography that your Eminence recommends acquiring and reading?
The Shaykh : By Allah, the reality is that the Prophet's biography contains some weak reports among what has been transmitted, and it contains some authentic ones. The best I have seen is *Zad al-Ma'ad* by Ibn al-Qayyim, although he (may Allah have mercy on him) sometimes brings reports that are not authentic, but it is among the best of what I have seen. Also, after that, *al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya* by Ibn Kathir is good. However, if a person were to take each issue individually, review the words of the scholars on it, and then summarize it in a book of his own or publish it to be general, that would be good.
And I hope that a student of knowledge will strive for this matter and purify the Prophet's biography and the biography of the Rightly Guided Caliphs from the weak or fabricated reports that have mixed with them. Yes.
The Shaykh : By Allah, the reality is that the Prophet's biography contains some weak reports among what has been transmitted, and it contains some authentic ones. The best I have seen is *Zad al-Ma'ad* by Ibn al-Qayyim, although he (may Allah have mercy on him) sometimes brings reports that are not authentic, but it is among the best of what I have seen. Also, after that, *al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya* by Ibn Kathir is good. However, if a person were to take each issue individually, review the words of the scholars on it, and then summarize it in a book of his own or publish it to be general, that would be good.
And I hope that a student of knowledge will strive for this matter and purify the Prophet's biography and the biography of the Rightly Guided Caliphs from the weak or fabricated reports that have mixed with them. Yes.