AI Summary & Key Takeaways
AI InsightAs a result of the study, it has been concluded that Hawwā removed Sīrah literature from being a merely chronological historical narrative or archival material.
📌 3 Key Takeaways
Abstract
The primary objective of this study is to reveal the Sīrah methodology and the conception of the Prophet of Sa’īd Hawwā (1935-1989), one of the prominent thinkers of 20th-century Islamic thought and the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood movement, which has not been sufficiently addressed in an independent and systematic manner in the academic literature. In this regard, within the context of the author’s work al-Asās fi’s-Sunnah wa Fiqhihā, it is aimed to determine how he synthesized the traditional heritage with the needs of the modern period. Additionally, the study seeks to identify how he reconstructed the four fundamental principles inherited from Sulaiman al-Nadwi -namely “historicity, perfection, inclusiveness and practice”- on the ground of usūl al-fiqh, and to analyse the socio-political dimensions of his activist-ideologue identity reflected in his Sīrah narrative. Adopting a qualitative research model, this study utilizes textual analysis, historical analysis, and comparative methodology. To establish an objective framework, the research is limited to the al-Sīrat al-Nabawiyyah section, which constitutes the first part of the al-Asās fi’s-Sunnah wa Fiqhihā corpus. Hawwā’s Sīrah approach and theoretical framework have been analysed inductively through texts and compared with the methodology of al-Nadwi, which serves as his source material. The Sufi and political aspects of the author’s intellectual world were included in the analysis only to the extent that they clarify his understanding of Sīrah, while the general historical processes of the Muslim Brotherhood movement were excluded from the scope. The research has found that while Hawwā maintained al-Nadwi’s four principles exactly as they were in his Sīrah writing, he blended them with the perspective of usūl al-fiqh, thereby elevating Sīrah to the same epistemic plane as Qur’ānic exegesis and Hadīth methodology. While al-Nadwi developed a defensiveexternal discourse against non-Muslim criticisms around the question “Why is Sīrah reliable?”, Hawwā focused on the question “How should Sīrah be used correctly?”, aiming to remedy internal methodological errors. His transmission of irhāsāt, bashā’ir, and miracle narrations as authentic historical information without any textual criticism reveals his conservative aspect that “follows the line of tradition”. On the other hand, his conceptualization of Mecca as Dār al-Harb and Medina as Dār al-Salām, particularly when discussing the Hijrah and Medinan periods, along with his emphasis on the political/military leadership of the Prophet Muhammad, indicates that he explicitly introduced ideological and sociological dimensions to the Sīrah narrative. This situation is directly related to the author’s dissident-activist struggle carried out against the Syrian Ba’ath regime. As a result of the study, it has been concluded that Hawwā removed Sīrah literature from being a merely chronological historical narrative or archival material. Although the author strictly adhered to the classical Sīrah tradition, he succeeded in merging the prophetic heritage with the contemporary, political, and social needs of 19th and 20th-century Islamic movements. This didactic historiography, which reconstructs Sīrah as a practical “movement and education manual” in every respect for contemporary Muslims and Islamic movements, points to a unique and original position within modern Sīrah studies.
Özet
Bu çalışmada, 20. yüzyıl İslâm düşüncesinin ve Suriye İhvân-ı Müslimîn hareketinin önde gelen mütefekkirlerinden Saîd Havvâ’nın (1935-1989) el-Esâs fi’s-sünne ve fıkhihâ adlı eseri bağlamında siyer yazıcılığı ve Hz. Muhammed (sas) tasavvuru incelenmektedir. Araştırmanın temel amacı, Havvâ’nın literatürde yeterince ele alınmamış siyer metodolojisini ortaya koymaktır. Bu doğrultuda, müellifin Süleyman en-Nedvî’den tevarüs ettiği “tarihsellik, kemâlât, kapsayıcılık ve tatbikat” ilkelerini nasıl yeniden kurguladığı ve aksiyoner kimliğinin anlatıya yansıyan sosyo-politik boyutları tahlil edilmektedir. Nitel araştırma modelinin benimsendiği çalışmada; metin çözümleme, tarihsel analiz ve karşılaştırmalı metodoloji kullanılmıştır. Havvâ’nın irhâsât rivayetlerine yaklaşımı, Medine dönemine dair siyasî-hukukî okumaları ve klasik kaynakları çağdaş İslâmî hareket düşüncesiyle ilişkilendirme biçimi analizin eksenini oluşturmaktadır. Araştırma, eserin es-Sîretü’n-Nebeviyye kısmıyla sınırlandırılmıştır.