Book Review: Alexander B. Kudelin. The Life of Muhammad by Ibn Isḥāq — Ibn Hishām as a Monument of Medieval Arabic Literature. Moscow, IWL RAS, 2022, 320 p.

Abstract

The book by the leading Russian scholar in Oriental and Literary studies academician A.B. Kudelin “The Life of the Prophet as a monument of medieval Arabic literature” sums up the author’s long-term involvement with one of the most famous literary achievements in Arab-Muslim culture. The book introduces the reader to this work, the history of its writing and editing, its content, composition and poetics. The narrative, which is a fusion of hagiography, historical writing and poetry, has always been a subject of interest to Islamic scholars, historians and, to a lesser extent, literary critics. The book by A.B. Kudelin combines all these approaches to the text, but the main emphasis is placed on the literary side of this masterpiece. This is the novelty of the reviewed book. The new approach allowed the author to make a number of observations and conclusions. This is, firstly, the formation of a long prose narrative in historical and adab works, arising on the basis of a mosaic of isolated brief testimonies and stories, and secondly, the growth of elements of fiction within functional prose. Thirdly, the chosen angle of view allowed the author to re-evaluate the role of poetry in the structure of “Biography”, which was previously often perceived as a purely decorative, ornamental element, to see in it a continuation of pre-Islamic oral literature, which was characterized by prosimetry. The conclusions drawn by A.B. Kudelin go beyond the scope of the topic and highlights a number of important theoretical and methodological issues. The book is useful to anyone interested in Arab-Muslim culture and literature, students of Oriental studies, not to mention researchers on a wide range of issues.