Muhammad_Article.349.. - Dr. Wesley Muhammad
Muhammad_Article.349.. - Dr. Wesley Muhammad
Muhammad_Article.349.. - Dr. Wesley Muhammad
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He was a pure descendent of the Prophet himself through the latter’s daughter F§ãimah, wife of<br />
#AlÊ b. AbÊ •§lib, a fact in which he took great pride. 83 This point is clearly evident in a letter he<br />
sent to the #Abb§sid caliph Abå Ja#far al-Manßår (r. 136-158/754 – 775), against whom he<br />
rebelled in 145/762. Al-Nafs al-Zakiyya felt Abå Ja#far al-Manßår’s mixed lineage (his mother<br />
was a Berber), among other things, disqualified him for leadership over the community. He<br />
wrote to the caliph:<br />
You well know that no one has laid claim to this office who has a lineage, nobility, and<br />
status like ours. By the nobility of our fathers, we are not the sons of the accursed, the<br />
outcasts, or freedmen…I am at the very center of the Banå H§shim’s lines. My paternity is<br />
purest among them, undiluted with non-Arab blood, and no concubines dispute over me. 84<br />
What did this pure Arab descendent of the Prophet look like? “MuÈammad (Al-Nafs al-Zakiyya)<br />
is described as tall and strong with very dark skin”. 85 According to al-•abarÊ:<br />
MuÈammad (Al-Nafs al-Zakiyya) was black, exceedingly black, jet black (§dam shadÊd aludma<br />
adlam) and huge. He was nicknamed “Tar Face” (al-q§rÊ) because of his black<br />
complexion (udmatihi), such that Abå Ja#far used to call him “Charcoal Face” (almuÈammam).<br />
86<br />
MuÈammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya, a QurayshÊ Arab whose pure lineage on both his paternal and<br />
maternal sides put him “at the center” of the genealogical lines of the Banå H§shim, the<br />
Prophet’s kinsfolk, was so black he was called ‘Tar face’ and ‘Charcoal face.’ This is undoubtedly<br />
of significance for our discussion of the ethnicity and appearance of the Prophet himself. If<br />
MuÈammad too was a pure QurayshÊ Arab of the Banå H§shim, equally noble on ‘both his<br />
father’s and his mother’s side,’ 87 how could he have looked much different than al-Nafs al-<br />
Zakiyya, or #AlÊ b. AbÊ •§lib, or his deep black father #Abd All§h b. #Abd al-Muããalib?<br />
Excursus: ‘Black and Bearded’: What Did the Arabs of the Conquests Look Like?<br />
In 638 the Persian ruler Yazdgird III pleaded to the T’ang emperor of China, T’ai-tsung,<br />
for assistance against the Arabs who had invaded his realm. This assistance was refused. In 651<br />
an Arab embassy arrived in China bearing gifts. There are two extant notices of this embassy in<br />
Chinese literature: in the ninth-century administrative text, T’ung tien, which was presented to the<br />
83 <strong>Muhammad</strong> Qasim Zaman, “The Nature of MuÈammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya’s Mahdiship: A Study of Some<br />
Reports in Ißbah§nÊ’s Maq§til,” Hamdard Islamicus 13 (1990): 60-61.<br />
84 Quoted from al-•abarÊ, The History of al-•abarÊ, Vol. XXVIII: #Abb§sid Authority Affirmed, trans.<br />
annot. Jane Dammen McAuliffe (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1985) 167-68.<br />
85 EI 2 7:389 s.v. MuÈammad b. #Abd Allāh by F. Buhl.<br />
86 Al-•abarÊ, Ta"rÊkh al-rusul wa"l-mulåk, X:203.<br />
87 According to Q§∙Ê #Iy§∙, al-Shif§, 92 (=al-Shifa, 43), MuÈammad “was from the best of the Banå H§shim,<br />
and the stock and core of the Quraysh. He was from the noblest and mightiest of the Arabs, both on his paternal and<br />
maternal side.” In fact, the Prophet could even claim to have been “the most Arab” of all his companions. Ibn<br />
Hish§m, SÊrat Rasål All§h, ed. F. Wüstenfeld (Göttingen, 1858-59) 101, 106 (=The Life of <strong>Muhammad</strong>, trans.<br />
A. Guillaume [London, 1955] 69, 72). See also Ibn KathÊr, al-SÊra al-Nabawiyya, trans. <strong>Dr</strong>. Trevor LeGassick,<br />
The Life of the Prophet MuÈammad 4 vols. (London: Center for Muslim Contributions to Civilization;<br />
Reading, UK: Garnet, 1998) I:130-141.<br />
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