Muhammad_Article.349.. - Dr. Wesley Muhammad
Muhammad_Article.349.. - Dr. Wesley Muhammad
Muhammad_Article.349.. - Dr. Wesley Muhammad
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But An§s is also the reported source of a more widely known description of the Prophet which, at<br />
first sight, seems to completely contradict all of the above.<br />
While we were sitting with the Prophet in the mosque, a man came riding on a camel. He<br />
made his camel kneel down in the mosque, tied its foreleg and then said: “Who amongst<br />
you is MuÈammad?” At that time the Prophet was sitting amongst us (his companions)<br />
leaning on his arm. We replied, “This white man (hadh§ l-rajul l-abya∙) reclining on his<br />
arm.” 151<br />
This description of MuÈammad as abya∙, white, is frequently encountered in the Arabic<br />
literature. 152 What are the implications of this description and how does it relate, if at all, to<br />
An§s’s other description of the Prophet as brown-skinned? In his study of Classical Arabic color<br />
terminology Arabist Jeham Allam makes a relevant observation:<br />
color terms often acquire, in certain fixed allocations, a range that goes beyond what they<br />
normally possess, e.g., “white” in the expression “white coffee” refers to a deep shade of<br />
brown…when referring to skin, an Arabic speaker may use [abya∙] (“white”) as a<br />
euphemism for [aswad] (“black”). 153<br />
Allam’s point is confirmed by the appropriate Classical Arabic/Islamic sources. Al-Dhahabī<br />
affirmed:<br />
When Arabs say, ‘so-and-so is white (abya∙),’ they mean a golden brown complexion with a<br />
black appearance (al-hinãÊ al-lawn bi-Èilya sud§"). And if they are speaking of the color of<br />
the people of India, they say: more or less dark brown (asmar wa ādam). And regarding the<br />
blackness of the people of Takrur they say aswad, intensely black, and similarly all those<br />
whose complexion is overwhelmingly black are called aswad or shadīd al-udma..” 154<br />
Abya∙ thus does not suggest a white complexion. Ibn Maníår affirmed the same:<br />
The Arabs don’t say a man is white [or: “white man,” rajul abya∙] due to a white<br />
complexion. Rather, whiteness [al-abya∙] with them means an external appearance that is<br />
free from blemish [al-í§hir al-naqÊ min al-#uqåb]; when they mean a white complexion<br />
they say ‘red’ (aÈmar)… when the Arabs say, ‘so-and-so is white (abya∙ - bay∙§#), they [only]<br />
mean a noble character (al-karam fÊ l-akhl§q), not skin color. It is when they say ‘so-and-so is<br />
red’ (aÈmar - Èamr§#) that they mean white skin. And the Arabs attribute white skin to the<br />
slaves. 155<br />
151 al-Bukh§rÊ, ‘aÈÊÈ, kit§b #alim, b§b fa∙l #alim, # 63.<br />
152 See above n. 9.<br />
153 Jehan Allam, “A Sociolinguistic Study on the Use of Color Terminology in Egyptian Colloquial and Classical<br />
Arabic,” in Zeinab Ibrahim, Nagwa Kassabgy and Sabiha Aydelott (edd.), Diversity in Language: Contrastive<br />
Studies in English and Arabic Theoretical and Applied Linguistics (Cairo and New York: The American<br />
University on Cairo Press, 2000) 78; Lewis, Race and Slavery, 22.<br />
154 Al-DhahabÊ, Siyar, II:168.<br />
155 Ibn Maníår, Lis§n al-#arab, s.v. رمح IV: 209, 210.<br />
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