ABSTRACT
In the sı-ra and tafsı-r works of both al-T.abarı-and Ibn Kathı-r, the public announcement of Muh.ammad’s mission is of primary importance. Both authors relate more reports about this particular aspect of the overall event than they do of the private meeting with his extended family. And yet, there is no miracle associated with this part of the story. Instead, the importance of this event for both authors is whether there was a Qurʾa-nic impetus to Muh.ammad’s actions and the identity of exactly who was called. Nearly all of the reports related to this aspect of Muh. ammad’s first public preaching incorporate Qurʾa-nic speech into his warning, as well as provide the occasion of revelation for Su-rat al-Masad (alternatively known as Su-rat al-Lahab). And yet, the importance of this event and the details associated with it are very different for each author in each genre. For al-T.abarı-, Muh.ammad’s call was meant specifically for the Banu-ʿAbd al-Mut.t.alib, but this is only indicated in his Tafsı-r. In his sı-ra, the call is limited to groups of people rather than to individuals, while his exegesis allows for the inclusion of reports that indicate Muh.ammad singled out specific members of his own family. Ibn Kathı-r, in his sı-ra, relates only those reports that reveal that Muh. ammad’s call took place in response to a divine command – the revelation of Qurʾa-n 26:214 – whereas, in his Tafsı-r, he allows for a small number of reports that fail to mention this connection.1 Another concern for Ibn Kathı-r, here as elsewhere, has nothing to do with the event at all, but is instead connected to his broader effort to equate Ah.mad b. H. anbal’s Musnad with the Six Books of authoritative h.adı-th. The reports related about this event provide him with the perfect material for his effort, revealing strengths in the Musnad and weaknesses in certain of the Six Books.
