Recent studies on the Sirah are usually focusing on the reliability of its sources by applying critical analysis of its material. There is obviously a lack of study on its hagiographic elements and its patterns. This is precisely where the lacuna occurs in which the present study aims to fill by clarification and analysis. It has been confirmed by the preliminary study of the present researcher that there is an obvious hagiographical element in the narrative of Battle of Uhud. Therefore, this study aims (1) to explore the nature and element of hagiography by focusing on the hadith of al-Maghazi in the Battle of Uhud, (2) and identify these elements based on the narrative delivered in the early Sirah literature. The study is qualitative in nature in which the researcher employed critical textual analysis as a main method of study. The study in its finding argues that there is some addition and deduction in the storyline conveyed by the early Sirah compilers. Secondly, there is difference facts among the biographer of Sirah about particular issue in the Battle of Uhud. Thirdly, the study traced elements that implied that particular author apparently prone to Shi’ite doctrine.

Sīrah Nabawiyyah has been the most widely used name for the traditional account of life and background of Prophet Muḥammad (PBUH). In the period of ninth century, Islamic literatures and biographies of the Prophet Muḥammad (PBUH) were actively developed as a reflection on the needs of Muslim community. Among the famous of the extant texts composed in the medieval Islamic genre is Sīrah Nabawiyyah by Ibn Hishām (d. 218/833 or 213/828) who rests mainly on his selection from the work of Ibn Isḥāq, and Kitāb al-Ṭabaqāt al-Kubrā by Ibn Saʿd (d.230/845) who compiled it from the works of his predecessors, specially al-Wāqidī and al-Kalbī. There are some studies conducted by Muslim and western scholars on the background of Ibn Hishām and Ibn Saʿd‘s works, however, the differences in the approach of writing Sīrah Nabawiyyah between them are hardly found. Thus, the present study aims to explore the style or pattern of historical approach applied by these two scholars on the biography of the Prophet Muḥammad (PBUH). The study is qualitative in nature, in which the researcher employed descriptive, comparative and source-critical approaches where it analyses and extract the approach used by the authors in writing Sīrah Nabawiyyah. The study in its finding infers that there are two opposing patterns of historical approach employed by Ibn Hishām and Ibn Saʿd in writing Sīrah Nabawiyyah.