Abd al-Malik ibn Hisham was born in Basra in the late eighth century and grew up well versed in language, grammar, and genealogy, before settling in Egypt, where he died in 833 CE.
He is best known for reworking Muhammad ibn Ishaq's 'al-Maghazi wa'l-Sirah', reorganizing it, removing poetry and reports he judged unreliable, and adding precise linguistic and genealogical notes explaining rare words and tribal lineages.
Legacy
His refined edition became known as 'The Sira of Ibn Hisham' and remains, to this day, the most widely used and relied-upon source for studying the biography of the Prophet across the Islamic world.
