Battle of The Trench - Historiography

Historiography

The main contemporary source of the battle is the Surah 33rd of Quran. Although Quran doesn't speak about the events, it reveals psychological and social situation of people of Medina and different approaches toward the battle among them. The most trustworthy source for reconstruction of the life of the historical Muhammad is the Quran. The Qur'an in its actual form is generally considered by non-Muslim academic scholars to record the words spoken by Muhammad because the search for variants in Western academia has not yielded any differences of great significance.

Next in importance are the historical works by writers of third and fourth century of the Muslim era. These include the traditional Muslim biographies of Muhammad and quotes attributed to him (the sira and hadith literature), which provide further information on Muhammad's life. The earliest surviving written sira (biographies of Muhammad and quotes attributed to him) is Ibn Ishaq's Life of God's Messenger written some 120 to 130 years after Muhammad's death. Although the original work is lost, portions of it survive in the recensions of Ibn Hisham and Al-Tabari. Another early source is the history of Muhammad's campaigns by al-Waqidi (d. 823).