Muhammad_Article.349.. - Dr. Wesley Muhammad
Muhammad_Article.349.. - Dr. Wesley Muhammad
Muhammad_Article.349.. - Dr. Wesley Muhammad
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VI. MuÈammad the Black Arab?<br />
We have every a priori reason to expect MuÈammad, as an Arab, to have been darkcomplexioned.<br />
A fair-skinned MuÈammad in seventh-century Hejaz would have invoked<br />
criticisms and charges of being a non-Arab. When we examine the Classical Arabic literature,<br />
our expectations of a dark-skinned MuÈammad are in fact not disappointed. Al-TirmidhÊ (d.<br />
279/892) in his J§mi# al-‘aÈÊÈ reports on the authority of the famous Companion of the<br />
Prophet, An§s b. M§lik:<br />
The Messenger of Allah was of medium stature, neither tall nor short, [with] a beautiful,<br />
dark brown-complexioned body (Èasan al-jism asmar al-lawn). His hair was neither curly nor<br />
completely straight and when he walked he leant forward. 135<br />
Ibn Sa#d (d. 230/845) reports this and a similar description of MuÈammad on the authority of<br />
Ibn #Abbās:<br />
YazÊd al-F§risi said: I saw the Messenger of God (s) in a dream during the time Ibn #Abbās<br />
[was governor] over Basra. I said to Ibn #Abbās: “I saw the Messenger of Allah (s) in a<br />
dream.” Ibn #Abbās said: “Verily, the Messenger used to say, ‘Satan cannot assume my<br />
form, so he who saw me in a dream, surely had a vision of me.’ Can you describe to me<br />
what you saw?” [YazÊd] said: “Yes, I [will] describe [him]. He was a man between two<br />
men. His body and flesh were brown and blemish-free with a sheen (asmar il§ al-bay§∙), 136<br />
smiling, eyes with collyrium, features of his face beautiful. His beard was thick from this<br />
end to that, and (the man) pointed to his two temples with his hands. It was so thick that it<br />
covered his neck….” Thereupon Ibn #Abbās said: “Had you seen him while awake, you<br />
could not have described him better than this.” 137<br />
Like the report on the authority of An§s, MuÈammad is here described as brown-skinned, asmar.<br />
The normal connotation of this term is a pretty standard dark brown, 138 as evidenced by other<br />
formations from the same root: samar “darkness, night”; al-g§rra al-samr§ “the black continent<br />
(Africa)” 139 . In the context of human complexions sumra /asmar has been associated with khu∙ra,<br />
§dam, aswad, i.e. black. 140 However, ‘black’ too has various connotations. There were several<br />
135 Sunan al-TirmidhÊ (Hims: Maktabat D§r al-Da#wah, 1965-) VI:69 no. 1754; Al-TirmidhÊ, al-Sham§"il al-<br />
NabÊ, no. 2. This or a related report is found as well in Ibn Sa#d, Kit§b al-ãabaq§t al-kabÊr, I/i, 123 (Ar.); 488<br />
(Eng); AÈmad b. \anbal, Musnad (Riyad: Bayt al-Afk§r al-DawlÊyah, 1998) III: 969 no. 13854; al-BayhaqÊ,<br />
Dal§"il al-nubuwwah, I:203; Ibn KathÊr, al-Bid§yah wa-"l-Nih§yah, VI: 13.<br />
136 On al-bay§∙ see below.<br />
137 Ibn Sa#d, Kit§b al-ãabaq§t al-kabÊr, I/i,125 (Ar.); 492 (Eng).<br />
138 Vollers, “Rassenfarben,” 88.<br />
139 J M. Cowan (ed.), Hans Wehr Arabic-English Dictionary 4 th edition (Ithica: Spoken Language Services,<br />
Inc., 1994) 500 s.v. رمس.<br />
140 Ibn Maníår, Lis§n al-#arab, s.v. رضخ IV: 245; s.v. رمس IV:376: “al-udma is al-sumra, and al-§dam among people<br />
in al-asmar.” See also Ibn AbÊ al-\adÊd, SharÈ nahj al-bal§ghah, V:56. Lane’s note, Lexicon, I: 1425 s.v. رمس :<br />
“tawny…like the various hues of wheat” does not accurately capture the chromatic implications of this term. See<br />
also Hidayet Hosain’s translation of Anas b. M§lik’s report as found in TirmidhÊ’s al-Sham§"il (#2): “his<br />
complexion was tawny”: Hidayet Hosain, “Translation of Ash-Shama’il of Tirmizi,” Islamic Culture 7 (1933):<br />
397. Vollers’ “dunkle Bräune” is more accurate: “Rassenfarben,” 88.<br />
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