Mahmoud Saif AL-Deen Al-Erani: Autobiography and Works

Abstract

Autobiography, Sira is an experience record of the person concerned on a temporal distance either long or short. The word Sira is mentioned in the Arabic literary heritage and in the glorious Quran, God almighty says: “Take hold of it, we shall return it to its initial state” (Taha:21) this word also appears in the biographies of prophet Mohammad, Abu Baker and Omar.

The concept of Sira is closely associated with recording activity aspects and setting, good examples in the life of others with imagination which depends on the historical approach as a sort of Epic (Encyclopedia of Islam, p. 450). Then the professional narrators have played a vital role in promulgating stories about the life of prophet Mohammad classified analogously with those in the Torah (Old Testament), the Bible and tales of Iranian origin which were told to people. Subsequently a new genre was born from composition belonging to historical Iranian tales, rather than to history. (Ibid, p.499)