1856.] Alfred von Krerner's edition of Waqidy. 203 



the first century the biography of the prophet had assumed a stereo- 

 type form, and that the earliest works which we have on it are 

 copies of this stereotype biography. To suppose that a written 

 record (beyond memoranda), has reached the authors whom we have 

 just mentioned would be an assertion which cannot be proved. The 

 similarity of the earliest accounts can be sufficiently accounted for 

 by assuming that they all come from the same place, and from the 

 same school, and that some eminent persons took the lead in that 

 school. 



During the first century of the Hijrah, the principal seat of learn- 

 ing was Madynah. Even during the second century, it was superior 

 to any other city, though many learned men emigrated to Babylonia, 

 which rose rapidly to importance. 



About the year 100 of the Hijrah, there flourished a man at 

 Madynah of the name of Shora^byl b. Sa'd, who attained to great 

 celebrity for his knowledge of the campaigns and life of the prophet 

 in which, it was thought he surpassed all his contemporaries. He 

 was a client of the Ho^amah, an Ancar family, and like other learned 

 men, he was daily to be found in the great mosque of Madynah, 

 ready to relate traditions of the prophet to any one who liked to 

 listen to them. At the same time he was himself anxious to obtain 

 new ones from his elders . Among those from whom he collected his 

 information in his youth were the best informed contemporaries of 

 the prophet, as Zayd b. Thabit who used to write down the reve- 

 lations for the prophet and d. in 48 or after 50 ; Jabir b. 'Abd Allah, 

 d. at Madynah after A. H. 70, aged 94 ; 'Abd Allah, a son of the 

 Khalif 'Omar, d. 73 ; 'Abd Allah b. 'Abbas, d. at Tayif in 68, aged 

 71 years ; Abu Sa'yd Khodry, d. 74, and Abu Horayrah, joined the 

 prophet three years before his death and d. in A. H. 59. Though 

 these men are mentioned among his shaykhs, on comparing dates 

 we find that he was too young when they died, for him to have 

 derived much information from them ; the bulk of his historical 

 knowledge he must have obtained from later authorities. He was 

 unfortunately very poor, and tried to turn his celebrity to account. 

 If a man made him a handsome present, he would assure him that 

 his father or grandfather or some other member of his family fought 

 in every campaign of the prophet and held a high place in his favour ; 



