*S?ra* literature forms the principle source on the life of Prophet Mu?ammad and the particular history of the emergence of Islam that predominated our understanding of the early history of Islam from the mid-eighth century to present time. Particularly important in this regard is the presence in the s?ra literature of the sort of material that is typically expected of works of historical nature. In this paper I suggest that the extensive use of documents, treaties, letters, speeches, lists and genealogical trees endows *s?ra* with a special significance within the Muslim literary and historical tradition. They all play essentially similar role in the narrative and also act as a means by which discourse on history is generated. This discourse, or the assumption of it, is what distinguishes *s?ra* from other genres of Muslim literary and historical tradition such as *tafs?r* and *?ad?th* collections. It is also what the works of *t??r?kh* and *?abaq?t* then continue and elaborate further. This paper also examines the interplay and interdependence of literary and historical features in the *s?ra*. In particular, I argue that the use of such historicising techniques as documents, treaties, letters, speeches, lists and genealogical trees in the *s?ra* appears partly as carefully designed, partly as merely accumulative result of the information in the hands of the authors. In order to highlight my arguments, I employ a number of widely used as well as less known works of *s?ra* for the purposes of comparative analysis. These include the *al?S?ra al?nabawiyya* of Ibn Is??q (d. 150/767) in the recension of Ibn Hish?m (d. 218/833), the *Kit?b al??abaq?t* of Ibn Sa?d (d. 230/845), the *Ans?b al?ashr?f* of al-Bal?dhur? (d. ca 890s), the *Ta?r?kh al?kham?s* of al?Diy?rbakr? (d. ca 960s/1550s) and the *Ins?n al-?uy?n* of al-?alab? (d. 1044/1635).