“Anyone who says that the Prophet is black should be killed”: The ...

complexions. 96 Leading the troops into Egypt was the Arab general #Amr b. al-#Aß (d. 45/664)
who had previously commanded the Muslim forces in southern Palestine. He too had an
Ethiopian mother and QurashÊ father. 97 #Amr was sent 4000 reinforcements divided into four
detachments of 1000, each led by one of four commanders: al-Miqd§d b. al-Aswad, who was
black-skinned (§dam) and tall98 ; the black (aswad) and tall MuÈammad b. Maslama, an Arab from
the Banå Aws99 ; al-Zubayr b. al-Awwan, the cousin of the Prophet and nephew of KhadÊjah,
who was dark brown-skinned (asmar al-lawn) 100 ; and the famously black (aswad) #Ub§da b. al-
Ԥmit (d. 34/654). 101
A famous incident involving #Ub§da likely illustrates the overall complexion of the
Muslim conquest of Egypt. When Cyrus, the Byzantine governor of Egypt, sought negotiations
with #Amr b. al-#Aß in October 640, the latter deputed ten of his officers to negotiate. They were
led by #Ub§da. When the tall and black Ub§da was ushered into Cyrus’ presence, the governor
was terrified and exclaimed: “Take away that black man: I can have no discussion with him!”
The party insisted that #Ub§da was the wisest, best, and noblest among them and their appointed
leader, declaring that “though he is black he is the foremost among us in position, in precedence,
in intelligence and in wisdom, for blackness is not despised among us.” 102 #Ub§da himself then
replied to Cyrus: “There are a thousand blacks, as black as myself, among our companions. I and
they would be ready each to meet and fight a hundred enemies together.” 103 Benard Lewis
makes an important observation here: “#Ub§da is not African nor even of African descent but (as
the chroniclers are careful to point out) a pure and noble Arab on both sides.” 104 #Ub§da was an
eminent AnߧrÊ from the tribe Awf b. al-Khazraj, 105 in particular the clan Banå Ghanm b. Awf
96 Almut Nebel et al, “Genetic evidence for the Expansion of Arabian Tribes into the Southern Levant and North
Africa,” American Journal of Human Genetics 70 (2002): 1595; Kennedy, Great Arab Conquests, 147. On
the dark-complexion of southern Arabs see above n. 45 and Baron von Maltzan’s description of the southern Arab,
“Geography of Southern Arabia,” Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London 16 [1872]: 121:
“Their complexion is almost as black as that of the Abyssinians; their bodies are very finely formed, and with
slender, yet strong limbs; their faces are Semitic, noses generally aquiline, eyes full of fire, lips small, and mouths of
very diminutive proportions. They are generally thin, and never fat; they have little or no beard, their hair is long,
but curly, not woolly.”
97 Ibn Habib, Kit§b al-Muhabbar, 306; Bernard Lewis, “The Crows of the Arabs,” Critical Inquiry 12 (1985):
89 [art.=88-97].
98 Al-•abarÊ, Ta"rÊkh al-rusul wa"l-mulåk, XIII, 2312; Y.A. Talib, “The African Diaspora in Asia,” in I. Hrbek,
General History of Africa, III: Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century (Abridged Edition) (Paris:
UNESCO, 1992) 338.
99 Ibn ‘a#d, al-•abaqat al-kubr§, III/ii, 19; al-DhahabÊ, Siyar, II:371.
100 Al-•abarÊ, Ta"rÊkh al-rusul wa"l-mulåk, XIII, 2313. Contra Kennedy, Great Arab Conquests, 151 who
reports that he was pale-skinned. This latter claim is apparently based on the notice in Ibn #Abd al-\akam’s FutåÈ
Mißr, where al-Zubayr is described as abya∙. FutåÈ Mißr wa-l-Maghrib (Cairo: Maktabat al-Thaq§fah al-
DÊnåyah, 1995) 86. However, as demonstrated below, abya∙ as used of human complexions in the literature of this
period does not normally indicate ‘pale-skinned’; Èumra, ‘red’ does.
101 Ibn #Abd al-\akam, FutåÈ Mißr, ed. Charles C. Torrey (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1922) 66;
MuÈammad b. #Abd All§h al-HimyarÊ, al-Raw∙ al-mu#aããar fÊ khabar al-aqã§r (Beirut: Maktabat Lubn§n,
1975) 553; Hitti, History of the Arabs, 163.
102 Ibn #Abd al-\akam, FutåÈ Mißr (Torrey) 66; Bernard Lewis, Race and Color in Islam (New York: Harper &
Row, 1979)10; Alfred Butler, The Arab Invasion of Egypt and the Last Years of Roman Domination (New
York: A&B Publishers, 1992 [1902]) 257.
103 Ibn #Abd al-\akam, FutåÈ Mißr (Torrey) 66.
104 Lewis, Race and Color, 10; idem, Race and Slavery in the Middle East: An Historical Enquiry (New
York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990) 26.
105 Ibn Hibb§n, Mash§hÊr #ulam§" al-amߧr (Beirut: D§r al-Kutub al-#Ilmiyah, 1995) 66.
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