Sirah Module 1 Exam Prep

Sirah 101

100

What are the different branches of sirah study?

Sīrah / Maghāzī, Shamā’il, Dalā’il al-Nubuwwah,Khaṣā’is, Mawlid

200

What is the ruling on celebrating the Mawlid?

Celebrating the mawlid is permissible and even recommended, because it is an expression of thanksgiving for the Prophet ﷺ (supported by the fasting of Ashura, the Prophet’s own Monday fasting, and statements from scholars like Ibn Hajar, al-Suyuti, al-Iraqi, and Ibn Taymiyya), as long as it consists of praiseworthy acts such as reciting, feeding people, giving charity, and sending blessings, while avoiding anything prohibited.

300

Who are the early Sirah authors who documented the prophets life?

The First Generation (Early Tābi‘ūn):

‘Urwah ibn al-Zubayr (d. 94 AH)

Abān ibn ‘Uthmān ibn ‘Affān (d. 105 AH)

Wahb ibn Munabbih (d. 110, 114, or 115 AH)

Shurahbīl ibn Sa‘d al-Madanī (d. 123 AH)

The Second Generation:

‘Āṣim ibn ‘Umar ibn Qatādah (d. 120 AH)

Muḥammad ibn Shihāb al-Zuhrī (d. 124 AH)

Ibn Ḥazm al-Anṣārī al-Madanī (d. 135 AH)

Mūsā ibn ‘Uqbah (d. 141 AH)

The Third Generation:

Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq (d. 151 AH)

The foundational compiler of comprehensive Sīrah.

400

What is the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)'s lineage through Qusayy?

Muḥammad son of ‘Abdullāh → ‘Abd al-Muṭṭalib → Hāshim → ‘Abd Manāf → Quṣayy → Kilāb → Murrah → Ka‘b → Lu’ayy → Ghālib → Fihr (Quraysh)

500

Put the significant events of the Sīrah in chronological order.

1. Hāshim establishes the summer and winter trade routes.
2. ʿAbdullāh marries Āminah, then dies in Yathrib while she is pregnant.
3. Year of the Elephant: Abraha’s attack on the Kaʿbah fails, and the Prophet ﷺ is born on a Monday, 12 Rabīʿ al-Awwal.
4. Nursed by Ḥalīmah al-Saʿdiyyah (about 2 months to 4 years), including the splitting of the chest.
5. Āminah dies at al-Abwāʼ (age 6), and he goes to ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib.
6. ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib dies (age 8), and he goes to Abū Ṭālib.
7. Meets Baḥīrā in Syria, takes part in the Fijār wars, and witnesses the Ḥilf al-Fuḍūl.
8. Marries Khadījah (595 CE).
9. Helps rebuild the Kaʿbah (age 35).
10. Retreats to Ḥirāʼ for tahannuth.
11. Year 1: First revelation (Iqraʼ, 96:1–5) at age 40. Khadījah comforts him, and Waraqah confirms it.
12. Years 1–3: Private da’wah, with early converts and Dār al-Arqam.
13. Year 4: Public call at Ṣafā. Abū Lahab opposes him, and Sumayyah becomes the first martyr.
14. Year 5: Migration to Abyssinia, with Jaʿfar’s speech to the Negus.
15. Year 6: Ḥamzah and ʿUmar accept Islam.
16. Years 7–9: The boycott in Shiʿb Abī Ṭālib.
17. Year 10: The Year of Sorrow. Abū Ṭālib and Khadījah die, and he is rejected at Ṭāʼif.
18. Year 11: Isrāʼ and Miʿrāj, and the five daily prayers are prescribed.
19. Year 12: First ʿAqabah pledge, and Musʿab ibn ʿUmayr is sent to Yathrib.
20. Year 13: Second ʿAqabah pledge, then the Hijrah (Cave Thawr, Qubāʼ, the Prophet’s Mosque, and the Muʼākhāh).
21. Year 14: Caravan raids, and the change of the qiblah.
22. Year 15: Battle of Badr.
23. Year 16: Battle of Uḥud, then Biʼr Maʿūnah and the expulsion of Banū Naḍīr.
24. Year 17: The second Badr, where the Quraysh didn’t show up.
25. Year 18: Battle of Khandaq (the Trench), then the Banū Qurayẓah affair.
26. Year 19: Treaty of Ḥudaybiyyah, then Khaybar and the letters to the kings.
27. Year 20: Muʼtah, then the Conquest of Mecca, Ḥunayn and Ṭāʼif.
28. Year 21: Expedition to Tabūk.
29. Year 22: Year of Delegations, and the first official Hajj led by Abū Bakr.
30. Year 23: Farewell Hajj and Sermon at ʿArafāt, then his final illness and passing on 12 Rabīʿ al-Awwal. Abū Bakr’s speech follows, and he becomes the first caliph.

Before the Message

100

What is the term for the practice of retreating from immoral environments before revelation?

Tahannuth

200

What are key places and concepts in early life?

• Banū Hāshim: The Prophet’s ﷺ clan, founded by Hāshim ibn ʿAbd Manāf, who set up the summer and winter trade routes to Syria and Yemen (Surah Quraysh). It was one of the clans of ʿAbd Manāf’s sons (Hāshim, ʿAbd Shams, Nawfal, al-Muṭṭalib). Its protection ended with Abū Ṭālib’s death, and it was boycotted for three years in Shiʿb Abī Ṭālib.
• Banū Qurayẓah: Your sources don’t place this tribe in the Prophet’s early life. It was a Jewish tribe of Madinah that broke its treaty during the Battle of the Trench. Sa’d ibn Muʿādh judged them by their own scripture, and the men were executed for treason. Your study guide may have meant a Qurayshi clan, so check this with your teacher.
• Quraysh: The tribe descended from Fihr. Quṣayy unified its clans in Mecca and held the Kaʿbah’s custody, water supply and feeding of pilgrims. The slides split the clans into “Quraysh of the Hollow” and “of the Outskirts” (slides 143–144).
• Year of the Elephant: The year of the Prophet’s ﷺ birth. Abraha, the Yemeni viceroy, marched with elephants to destroy the Kaʿbah and was destroyed by birds (Surah al-Fīl). ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib negotiated with him.
• Mecca: Important for the Kaʿbah and the trade routes, home of Zamzam.
• Yathrib: Later Madinah. It was agriculturally stronger, ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib was raised there, ʿAbdullāh died there, and the Syria trade route passed through it.
• Ḥijāz: The western region of Arabia that contains Mecca and Yathrib. The slides list it with Najd, Yemen and the northern frontiers.
• Jāhiliyyah (tribal ignorance): idolatry, inequality, tribalism and prejudice. Jaʿfar’s speech to the Negus describes it: idols, dead meat, shameful deeds, broken kinship, the strong exploiting the weak.
• ʿAṣabiyyah (social solidarity): tribal loyalty built on blood ties, kinship, religion and tradition. Lineage acted like nationality and protected people. In Madinah, the Prophet ﷺ built a new “principled” ʿaṣabiyyah through the brotherhood pact.
• Murūʼah (code of virtue): The slide gives only this label (slide 44), so the exact definition is thin. The related slide (50) lists the strengths of pre-Islamic Arabia: courage, eloquence, loyalty and hospitality. Islam “preserved what was noble and corrected what was corrupt.”

300

Who are the key figures in early life?

• Ḥalīmah al-Saʿdiyyah: Bedouin foster mother from Banū Saʿd. She nursed him from about 2 months to 4 years. Her household saw great barakah. The splitting of the chest happened at age 4.
• Āminah bint Wahb: His mother, from Banū Zuhrah. She died at al-Abwāʼ returning from Yathrib when he was 6.
• Umm Ayman (Barakah bint Thaʿlabah): She cared for him after Āminah died. He called her “my mother after my mother.” She married Zayd and was the mother of Usāmah.
• ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib: His grandfather. He rediscovered Zamzam and negotiated with Abraha. He took the Prophet ﷺ in after Āminah died and died when the Prophet ﷺ was 8.
• Bahīrā: A Christian monk at Buṣrā, Syria, who recognized the seal of prophethood and warned Abū Ṭālib to protect the boy.
• Hāshim: His great-grandfather, who built the trade caravans and fed pilgrims tharīd.
• Abū Ṭālib: His uncle, who took custody at 8. He protected him politically through the persecution and the boycott and died in Year 10.
• Zayd ibn Ḥārithah: His adopted son, the first freed slave to accept Islam, and the only companion named in the Qurʼan (33:37). He was martyred at Muʼtah.
• Abū Lahab: His uncle, who cursed him (“Tabban laka”) at Ṣafā. He is condemned in Surah al-Masad and died shortly after Badr.

400

What were the themes of early revelation and dawah?

Oneness of God (Tawhid), Resurrection/Day of Judgement, Being Just, Caring for the Poor/Oppressed

500

What are key figures and places in the revelation period?

• Waraqah ibn Nawfal: Khadījah’s Christian cousin. He identified Jibrīl as the Nāmūs sent to Mūsā and predicted the Prophet’s ﷺ people would expel him.
• ʿAlī: The first youth or child to accept Islam. Later he slept in the Prophet’s bed during the Hijrah.
• Khadījah: The first person to accept Islam. She comforted him after the first revelation: “God would never put you to shame…”
• Abū Bakr: The first free adult man to accept Islam. He earned the title al-Ṣiddīq after the Isrāʼ and Miʿrāj.
• Sumayyah bint Khayyāṭ: The first martyr of Islam, killed by Abū Jahl after refusing to renounce her faith.
• Jibrīl: He brought the first revelation (Iqraʼ, 96:1–5) at Ḥirāʼ. During the pause in revelation he reassured the Prophet ﷺ, “You are indeed Allah’s Messenger in truth.”
• Mount Ṣafā: The site of the public call in Year 4 (“If I told you cavalry was behind this mountain…”). Dār al-Arqam, the private headquarters, was also on Ṣafā.
• Mount Marwah: Not covered in your sources.
• Bilāl ibn Rabāḥ: An Abyssinian slave tortured by Umayyah ibn Khalaf, freed by Abū Bakr, and later the first muʼadhdhin.
• Abū Sufyān: A chief of Quraysh who led the campaigns against Madinah (Uhud, Khandaq). He accepted Islam just before the Conquest of Mecca, and the Prophet ﷺ granted sanctuary to anyone in his house.

Makkah Vibes & Midnight Miracles

100

Where was the gathering place for learning among early Muslims?

 Dar-al-Arqam on Mount Ṣafā.

200

What is the definition of Al-Isrā’?

Night journey from Al-Masjid al-Ḥarām (Mecca) to Al-Masjid al-Aqṣā (Jerusalem) aboard Al-Burāq, where he led all previous Prophets in prayer.

300

What is the definition of Al-Mi‘rāj?

Ascension through the seven heavens accompanied by Jibrīl.

400

What was the outcome of Al-Isrā’ wa-l-Mi‘rāj?

The establishment of the 5 daily prayers reduced from 50 per Musa (A.S)'s advice. 

500

What did Ja'far Ibn Abi Talib say in his speech to the king of Abyssinia? 

He compared Jahiliyyah (moral corruption, idol worship, injustice) with Islam's message of truth, charity, chastity, and monotheism. He recited Surah Maryam and the King wept and rejected the Quraysh's demands.

It's Giving....Munuwarrah Energy

100

Where was the first mosque built?

Quba, a village/town in Madinah

200

What are the first teachings the Prophet ﷺ gave the people of Medina about entering Paradise in peace?

Narrated by ʿAbdullāh ibn Salām (Bukhārī/Aḥmad): “O people, spread peace, feed people, maintain kinship, and pray at night while others sleep, and you will enter Paradise in peace.”

300

What are the roles of the Ansar and the Muhajirun?

• Anṣār (Helpers): The locals of Madinah. They sacrificed their privilege and made room for the newcomers so a community of faith could be built.

• Muhājirūn (Emigrants): The people who made hijrah from Mecca. The lesson is intentional living: leave what distracts from God.

• The pairing: The Muʼākhāh paired each Muhājir with an Anṣārī in shared housing and resources. This formed a new ʿaṣabiyyah “akin to blood ties.” The Prophet ﷺ did it with ʿAlī.

• Result: a communal culture and a model community (slide 186).

400

What are the activities housed under the Prophet (PBUH)'s  masjid?

Prayer, knowledge, suhbah (social gathering), a meeting place, a hospital, a place of remembrance, and a residence for the homeless and students.

500

What were the foundational aspects of building Madinah? 

Building the Mosque: Center of spiritual, social, political, and judicial life.

Institutional Brotherhood (Al-Mu’ākhāh): Paired Muhājirūn (Emigrants) with Anṣār (Helpers) in shared housing and resources.

Constitution of Medina (Al-Waṯīqah): Established civic governance, mutual defense, and freedom of worship between Muslims, Jewish tribes, and pagan clans.

Battles & The Final Chapter

100

What was the Battle of Badr and its significance? 

The Muslims left Madinah to intercept Abu Sufyan’s Qurayshi caravan and reclaim seized property, but ended up facing about 1,000 fully armed Quraysh led by Abu Jahl. Despite having only 313 ill-equipped men, they won the battle with Allah (SWT)'s help.

200

What was the Battle of Uhud and it's significance?

The Battle of Uhud (3 AH) saw about 3,000 Quraysh fight roughly 700 Muslims near Madinah, and early Muslim success turned into defeat when the archers abandoned their post for worldly gain, leaving 70 martyred. Its lesson is that disobeying the Prophet’s ﷺ command and desiring worldly gain turned an early victory into a setback.

300

What was the Battle of Khandaq and its significance?

A month-long siege of Madinah by about 10,000 confederates, defeated by Salman’s trench and Allah’s wind, ending the Quraysh’s ability to attack Madinah and shifting the initiative to the Muslims.

400

How did the close companions react to the Prophet (PBUH)'s passing?

The companions reacted with shock and grief, and then with steadiness once Abu Bakr gave his speech.

500

What were the main themes of the Prophet (PBUH)'s Farwell Sermon?

Sanctity of human life, property, and honor established as inviolable

Abolition of all tribal racism and blood feuds from Jahiliyyah: "An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab, nor a non-Arab over an Arab... except by God-consciousness (Taqwā)."

Rights of women affirmed and protected.

Ending interest (Ribā), starting with his uncle Al-‘Abbās’s interest debts.

Trust left behind: "I have left among you that which if you hold fast to, you will never go astray: The Book of Allah and my Sunnah."