IBN ISHAQ (Mohammed ibn Ishaq Abu `Abdallah) (d. 768), Arabic historian, lived in Medina, where he interested himself to such an extent in the details of the Prophet's life that he was accused of rationalism. He consequently left Medina in 733, and went to Alexandria, then to Kufa and Hira, and finally to Baghdad, where he wrote the Life of the Apostle of God, which is now lost and is known to us only in the recension of Ibn Hisham (q.v.). The work has been attacked by Arabian writers (as in the Fihrist) as untrustworthy, and it seems clear that he introduced forged verses (cf. Journal of the German Oriental Society, xiv.). It remains, however, one of the most important works of the age.