About SeerahBook
Source & acknowledgment
SeerahBook is built on Sheikh Yasir Qadhi’s epic Seerah lecture series, made navigable here thanks to the tireless transcription work of Muhammad Abdul Rahman, who transcribed and published the full series at arqadhi.blogspot.com. Every event, person, and saying on this site traces back to that lecture series and the classical sources it draws on. May Allah reward them both immensely for this effort.
Every claim is backed by the classical source and the lecture that carries it. Tap the i next to an event, person, or saying to see the original wording and where it comes from.
Dates are often approximate and scholars sometimes disagree. Rather than force a false precision, SeerahBook marks estimates, and where the sources differ it says what is actually contested: the date, a detail inside the story, the strength of the chain, or how it is read. Spot something that looks wrong? Every page has a “Report inaccuracy” button so it can be reviewed.
How this site works
SeerahBook is a browsable knowledge graph of the Seerah, the life of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and his companions. It is not a social feed or a lecture transcript. You can read it two ways:
- Follow a story. Storylines lead you through events chapter by chapter, starting with The Life of the Prophet ﷺ. Their order comes from reading the sources, not from sorting by date, and SeerahBook remembers where you stopped.
- Or dip in anywhere. Browse events, people, tribes, cities, places and the Qur’an, and follow any name to everywhere else it appears.
Underneath, everything is connected:
- Events tell the whole story from beginning to end, with an “In brief” overview for the longest ones, and link to the events that led to them or followed from them.
- Sayings & Actions are the close-ups inside an event: what people said and did, written as if from that moment, and grouped into the stages of the event they belong to. They appear only on that event’s page.
- People are linked to one another (family, marriage, companionship, enmity) and to the events they took part in. Collections such as The People of Badr or the Mothers of the Believers gather them together.
Reading the marks
These small marks appear throughout the site next to names, events, and Sayings & Actions. Hover or tap any of them for the full note.
ﷺ, peace and blessings be upon him
Follows any reference to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, as a mark of respect.
RA, raḍiya llāhu ʿanhu/ʿanhā
“May Allah be pleased with him/her”, following the names of the Prophet ﷺ’s companions.
Approximate date
A “~” before a date means it is an estimate.
Date debated
Sits on the date line, never beside the title, because what the sources disagree about is when it happened, not whether it happened.
Details differ
The story is attested, but one element of it (a name, a number, an age, an order of events) differs across the sources. Events carry the label beside their type; a saying carries the small ?.
Weak chain
The report rests on a weak, thin or incomplete chain of narration. It is kept because the sources carry it, and marked so you know.
Readings differ
The report itself is sound, but scholars read its meaning or its implication differently.
Dramatized
The moment itself is attested, but this exact wording is a plausible reconstruction rather than a verbatim quote. The Prophet ﷺ’s own words are never dramatized, only ever his authentic, exact wording.
Sources & original text
Opens the classical source(s) and lecture(s) behind a claim, with the original quoted text, kept separate from the story around it.
Get in touch
Questions, suggestions, or a correction that doesn’t fit the report form? Email [email protected].