Muhammad_Article.349.. - Dr. Wesley Muhammad
Muhammad_Article.349.. - Dr. Wesley Muhammad
Muhammad_Article.349.. - Dr. Wesley Muhammad
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al-lawn). 168 Yet, he too was azhar, luminous, except, we are told, in the high summer. The heat in<br />
his region seems to have robbed him of his bodily sheen and luster, leaving him completely black<br />
(tamÊm akh∙ar) and pitch black (ȧlik). 169 Al-JaÈií thus clarified the Arab use of such<br />
descriptions:<br />
The Arabs boast of (their) black color. If it is said, ‘How can this be so, seeing that the<br />
Arabs speak of someone as luminous (azhar), white (abya∙), and blazing white (agharr)?’ we<br />
would answer: ‘They are not referring in this context to whiteness of skin (bay§∙ al-jilda),<br />
but rather to nobility and purity of character. 170<br />
These two descriptions of MuÈammad as (dark) brown (asmar) and as white (abya∙), are<br />
therefore not in conflict: the latter would have the sense of sheen (al-ßaf§") and luster (al-lama#§n)<br />
on the blemish-free asmar skin under the light of the sun. 171 An§s b. M§lik thus reportedly<br />
affirmed that the Messenger of God “was luminous (azhar), not albino-white,” 172 and specified<br />
further that “his (s) whiteness was related to (dark) brown, k§na abya∙ bay§∙ahu il§ al-asmar,” 173<br />
thus not related to aÈmar, white-complexioned. This means that, when not specifically qualified<br />
by the phrase mushrab bi-Èumra, descriptions of MuÈammad’s complexion as abya∙ should<br />
probably be read as ‘blemish-free and luminous black complexion.’<br />
Excursus: Black Semites vs. Black Hamites<br />
This tradition of black-skinned Arabs with a blemish-free and luminous complexion<br />
throws some light (no pun intended) on a number of passages within the literature relating to<br />
black Africans. Above we quoted a report found in al-•abarÊ’s Ta"rÊkh al-rusul wa"l-mulåk,<br />
according to which God gave the Semites a dark complexion, luminous and free of blemish (aludma<br />
wa l-bay§∙), while to the Hamites (i.e. Africans) he gave only a dark complexion. For most<br />
Hamites their dark complexion was not luminous and blemish-free. The distinguishing<br />
characteristic between Arabs and Africans according to this formulation is not chromatic but<br />
quality of complexion and absence or presence of a luster. A poet’s satirical reproach against the<br />
black-skinned #Ubayd All§h, son of the Ethiopian Companion Abå Bakra, could claim regarding<br />
Nubian blacks: “God put no light in their complexions!” 174 This is no doubt the context for this<br />
much quoted hadith on the authority of Ibn Abb§s<br />
An Abyssinian man came to the Prophet (s) [wanting] to ask him [something]. The<br />
Prophet (s) said to him, ‘Ask whatever you wish.’ So he said: ‘O Apostle of God, you (pl.)<br />
168 Ibn al-‘abb§gh, Al-Fusål, 213; AÈmad b. #AlÊ b. #Inabah, Kit§b #umdat al-ã§lib fÊ ans§b $l AbÊ •§lib<br />
(Cairo: Maktabat al-Thaq§fah al-DÊnÊyah, 2001) 156.<br />
169 Ibn Sharhr§shåb, Man§qib, IV:323.<br />
170 Al-JaÈií, Fakhr al-såd§n #al§ al-bidan, 207 (Ar.); 17 (Eng.)<br />
171 Q§wÊ al-HarawÊ, Kit§b jam# al-was§"il,17.<br />
172 Quoted by al-Tha#labÊ, Fiqh al-lugha, 77.<br />
173 al-BayhaqÊ, Dal§"il al-nubuwwah, I:204; Ibn KathÊr, al-Bid§yah wa-"l-nih§yah, VI: 13; Munawi, al-<br />
Raw∙ al-b§sim, 25. This is also the context in which we must understand the similar statement found in the Ibn<br />
#Abb§s report cited above, that MuÈammad was asmar il§ al-bay§∙, “brown related to white,” which I translated<br />
above as “brown and blemish-free with a sheen”. Contra al-B§jårÊ, Maw§hib al-ladunÊyah #al§ al-Sham§"il al-<br />
MuÈammadÊyah, apud al-TirmidhÊ, al-Sham§"il al-MuÈammadÊyah, 22.<br />
174 Bal§dhurÊ, Ans§b, I: 505.<br />
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