THEM_on_Prophet_Muha.. - Dr. Wesley Muhammad

complexion; only some Africans or ‘children of Ham’ were
given a black, clear and luminous complexion. 44 The fact
that the sources use the language black and white when
referring to two different black complexions is of paramount
importance. The Qur’an [3:106] says:
The day will come when some faces will be illumined (tabya∙∙u)
while other faces will be darkened (taswaddu). As for those whose
faces are darkened, they will be asked, ‘Did you not disbelieve
after believing?’ Therefore, suffer the retribution for your
disbelief.
In this day – the Day of Judgment – some people’s faces
will be illuminated. The word used here is from the same
root as abyad, the term used to describe the Prophet’s
‘whiteness’ or clear, brown complexion with luminance.
Other faces – the disbelievers – will be darkened. What
does this mean? Whose faces will be ‘illuminated’ on that
day? Ibn Abbas reports:
An Abyssinian man came to the Prophet (s) [wanting] to ask
him [something]. The Prophet (s) said to him, ‘Ask whatever you
wish.’ So he said: ‘O Apostle of God, you (pl.) surpass us in
appearance (al-sura) and complexion (al-alwan) and in
prophethood. If I were to believe just as you believe, and if I
were to do just as you do, would I enter Paradise with you?’ He
said, ‘Yes.’ Then the Prophet (s) said: ‘I swear by the One who
owns my heart, that the radiance of the Black person (bayad alaswad)
will be seen over the stretch of a thousand years.’ 45
44 On al-bay§∙ as ‘luminous’ see below.
45 Ibn al-Jawzī, Kitāb tanwīr al-ghabash, 140 [Eng], 307 [Arb].
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