This Critical Edition:
One of the factors that further enhances the worth of this precious book and elevates its rank among other works is that Allah, exalted be He, enabled it to appear in a splendid scholarly form—finely prepared and genuinely beneficial—bringing joy to every lover of, and guardian over, the Islamic heritage.

Such a magnificent scholarly effort in the most demanding branch of historical studies—namely, biography—did not come about by chance. Allah gathered every element of success for the editing and publication of this book, granting it an excellent publisher, Professor Ridwan Da‘bul, who truly regarded himself as a man entrusted with the mission of disseminating useful knowledge drawn from the finest treasures of the Arabic-Islamic legacy.

I have seen this man spend his own wealth and harness all his abilities for that noble purpose, embracing both the difficult and the easy. He undertook a project that, at the very least, had confounded the Arab League, which had set out to publish this book thirty years ago yet produced only a scant portion, marred by misprints and distortions. Repeated omissions further reduced its value and benefit until the work became virtually useless, after which the League abandoned it altogether, unable to complete the task.

When this noble man resolved to prepare a critical edition of al-Siyar, he secured every possible means of success: he commissioned a number of skilled and capable editors, rewarded them generously, protected all their rights, and supplied them with everything required for meticulous scholarship—reliable manuscripts, shelves of reference works within arm’s reach, and ample funds for accurate, elegant typesetting, high-quality paper, and first-rate production.

Finally, he crowned his endeavor and blazed a new trail by appointing a distinguished scholar to review the book, supervise its editing, and correct any errors that might arise, a scholar renowned