Muhammad_Article.349.. - Dr. Wesley Muhammad

310/923). 185 Rounding out this quartet al-Bal§dhurÊ (d. 297/892) reports that the Prophet had a
shinning face (tala"lu") and a luminous complexion (azhar) or a white one (abya∙ al-lawn mushrab
Èumra), but he cites neither of the reports attributing a dark complexion. 186 In contrast, it is the
fair-complexioned MuÈammad that is conspicuously absent from the two ‘aÈÊÈ hadith
collections: in the chapter on the ‘Description of the Prophet’ the famed Persian traditionist al-
Bukh§rÊ (d. 256/870) cites only those reports describing MuÈammad as abya∙ and azhar, 187 as
does Muslim. 188 Without the qualifier mushrab bi-Èumra, these descriptions could refer to an Arab
prophet with a blemish-free and radiant black-complexion. 189
While no portraits of the Prophet dating to this period have been found, the mention of
such portraits in the literature is relevant. There is for example the famous story of the Meccan
Arabs (from the Banå Umayya!) who travel to the Byzantine emperor Heraclius (r. 610-641) in
an attempt to covert him to Islam. While there, the emperor is said to have pulled out for his
Meccan guests a cubed object with compartments, in each of which was a silk portrait of one of
the prophets from Adam to MuÈammad. When Heraclius pulls out a black silk cloth on which is
a white figure, the Arabs weep, for they recognize the portrait as that of MuÈammad, the
Messenger of God. 190 While the setting of this tale is the Byzantine realm during the lifetime of
the Prophet, the earliest version is found in al-DÊnawarÊ’s al-Akhb§r al-ãiw§l, completed
around 895. 191 By the tenth century this tale circulated among writers of every major literary
185 Al-•abarÊ doesn’t mention any of these reports, e.g., in his The History of al-•abarÊ, VI: MuÈammad at
Mecca (trans. W. Montgomery Watt and M.V. McDonald: Albany: State University of New York Press, 1988).
186 Al-Bal§dhurÊ, Ans§b, I:386-3396.
187 ‘aÈÊÈ BukharÊ, b§b ßifat al-nabÊ, nos. 744, 747.
188 ‘aÈÊÈ Muslim, b§b: k§na al-nabÊ (s) abya∙, malÊÈ al-wajh, apud al-NawawÊ, Minhaj sharÈ ‘aÈÊÈ Muslim,
XV: 92-97 nos. 6025, 6026, 6033-6035.
189 The absence of the ruddy (aÈmar)-complexioned MuÈammad from the top three of the Six Books is worth
emphasizing further, an absence the most popular translations of these collections conceal. Thus in these the Prophet
is an abya∙ rajul, not a ‘white(-skinned) man’ (‘aÈÊÈ BukharÊ, III/1, no. 63 (=Translation, I:54); he was luminous
(azhar/abya∙), not ‘rosy’ or ‘white-complexioned’ (‘aÈÊÈ BukharÊ, LVI/22 nos. 744, 747 (=Translation, IV:486,
487); Muslim, ‘aÈÊÈ Muslim, apud al-NawawÊ, Minhaj XV, nos. 6026, 6035 and translation IV: 1250-1251 nos.
5778, 5786; Abå D§wåd, Sunan, V/xxxv, no. 4864 and translation). These collections report on the Prophet’s
exposed bay§∙, not white (aÈmar), leg, forearm, armpits, abdomen, and face (‘aÈÊÈ BukharÊ, LVI/22, no. 767
(=Translation, IV:493); VIII/12, no. 367 (=Translation, I:224); LXXXVI/15, no. 108 (=Translation, IX:89);
LXXXIX/41, no. 305 (=Translation, IX: 234-235), etc; XC/7, no. 342 (=Translation, IX: 259); LII/34, no. 90
(=Translation, IV:65; Muslim, ‘aÈÊÈ Muslim, apud al-NawawÊ, Minhaj V, no. 84; VI, no. 120 and translation
II/viii, no. 3325; III/xvii no. 4437; Abå D§wåd, Sunan, I/ii, nos. 899, 996; IV/xx, no. 3206 and translation). This
is quite remarkable. The only deviation from this clear privileging of azhar/abya∙ as the only legitimate descriptors of
MuÈammad’s complexion is a number of reports that describe the #ufra of his armpits (‘aÈÊÈ BukharÊ, XLVII/17,
no. 769 [=Translation, III:464]; LXXVIII/3, no. 631 [=Translation, VIII:411-412]; LXXXIX/24, no. 286
[=Translation, IX: 217-218]). Dr. MuÈammad MuÈsin Kh§n translates ‘the whiteness of his armpits’. But #ufra
has a different connotation than a white-complexion. The verb #afara means ‘to cover with dust’ and #afar/#ufar is
dust. #ufra is therefore dust-colored inclining to a dull white (see Lane, Lexicon, II:2090 s.v. رفع), but probably dustcovered
as well. The possibility that #ufra ibãayhi means here ‘his dusty armpits’ rather than ‘his white(-complexioned)
armpits’ is reinforced by a report on the authority of al-Bara’ b. ‘Azib who, as the Prophet was carrying earth on the
day of the battle of al-AÈz§b, saw dust (al-turab) covering the bay§∙ of MuÈammd’s abdomen ((‘aÈÊÈ BukharÊ,….).
White dust on a white complexion would not have been easily noticeable. However, dull white dust on a bay§∙ or
blemish-free black complexion would have been noticible when MuÈammad raised his hands high.
190 On this tradition and its appearance in Muslim literature see Oleg Grabar and Mika Naif, “The Story of Portraits
of the Prophet Muhammad,” Studia Islamica 96 (2003): 19-38+VI-IX.
191 AÈmad b. D§"åd al-DÊnawarÊ, al-Akhb§r al-ãiw§l, ed. #Abd al-Mu"nim AmÊn (Tehran, 1960) 18-19; Grabar
and Naif, “Story of Portraits of the Prophet,” 23-24.
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