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

More documents

Recommendations

Info

our own – the former being more concerned with brightness, intensity, and shade than with hue – Lewis suggests that the Arab self-description as ‘black’ is only relative and does not mean blackskinned; such terms as aswad, sumra, §dam and akh∙ar, all indicating a dark brown or black color, really signifies ‘swarthy’ when used by the Arabs of themselves in the Classical Arabic literature. Normal for the Arabs of the peninsula was a light brown or olive complexion. 115 They were certainly less dark than Africans. 116 Indeed, the conquered natives of Spain, Greece and other Mediterranean peoples were only “of somewhat lighter skin than the Arabs.” 117 These ‘black’ Arabs and ‘red’ Persians were in fact so similar in complexion, Lewis proposes, that the son of an Arab father and Persian mother would not look much different from the son of two Arab parents. 118 A closer look at the relevant references in the Arabic literature indicates that the above is a misreading. #Ub§da b. al-‘§mit, whom Lewis describes as swarthy, was in fact so black he struck terror in the heart of his poor Byzantine negotiating partner. 119 There can be no question of #Ub§da’s appearance being that of a nicely tanned white; on the contrary, his black-skin was (terrifyingly) real. Similarly, #Abd al-Muããalib’s ten sons – including MuÈammad’s father #Abd All§h and his important uncles Abå •§lib, Hamza and al-#Abb§s – were not swarthy, according to al-JaÈií, but a deep black, dalham. #AlÊ b. AbÊ •§lib was intensely black, §dam shadÊd al-udma, 120 not swarthy. 121 In fact, #AlÊ would have been about the same complexion as Bil§l, often said to be the first ‘black Muslim’; he too was §dam shadÊd al-udma. 122 Lewis’s proposition is thus turned on its head: the son of two Arabs (i.e. #AlÊ) looks little different from the son of an Arab and an African (i.e. Bil§l), rather than an Arab and a Persian. This myth of Arabian swarthy whites has informed some translations of the literature, sometimes with strange results. Notable in this regard is Jane Dammen McAuliffe’s translation of al-•abarÊ’s description of MuÈammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya. While al-•abarÊ describes the Imam as so excessively black (§dam shadÊd al-udma adlam) that he was called “Tar Face” (al-q§rÊ) and “Charcoal Face” (al-muÈammam), 123 McAuliffe renders this passage thusly: “MuÈammad was very swarthy-his complexion almost black”. 124 The distance between al-•abarÊ’s “excessively black” and McAuliffe’s “almost black” is significant and should be noted. Puzzling too is David Powers’ description of Zayd b. \§ritha (d. 8/629), the Prophet’s adopted son. According to Powers, “Zayd was short, his nose was flat and wide, and his skin was white or tawny colored.” 125 Yet, the 115 Lewis, Race and Slavery, 22. 116 Bernard Lewis, “The Crows of the Arabs,” Critical Inquiry 12 (1985) 88. 117 Lewis, Race and Slavery, 22. 118 Lewis, Race and Slavery, 40. 119 Ibn #Abd al-\aham, FutåÈ mißr (Torrey), 66; Lewis, Race and Slavery, 26, 27; Butler, Arab Invasion, 257. 120 Lane, Arabic-English Lexicon, I:37 s.v. ﻡﺩﺍ suggests that §dam means primarily ‘tawny’, and secondarily darkcomplexioned. However, according to Ibn Maníår’s entry, when used of human complexions (rather than that of camels, for instance) §dam/udma signifies an excessively dark brown, al-sumra al-shadÊd and it contains a “dose of blackness (shurbatun min saw§d): Lis§n al-#arab, s.v. ﻡﺩﺍ XII:11. Linguist al-Tha#labÊ (d. 1036), Fiqh al-lugha (Beirut and London: D§r al-Kit§b al-ArabÊ, 2006) 82 likewise notes that §dam’s blackness exceeds that of sumra. See further Lammens Études, 44. 121 Philip K. Hitti’s description: History of the Arabs, 10th edition (London: Macmillan Education Ltd, 1970) 183. 122 Bal§dhurÊ, Ans§b al-ashr§f, ed. MuÈammad \amÊd All§h (Cairo: D§r al-Ma#§rif, 1987) I:193. On Bil§l see further EI2 I:1215 s.v. Bil§l b. Rab§È by W. #Arafat. 123 Al-•abarÊ, Ta"rÊkh al-rusul wa"l-mulåk, X:203. 124 History of al-•abarÊ, XXVIII:160. 125 Powers, MuÈammad is Not the Father, 25. 18
sources Powers cites are unanimous in describing Zayd as intensely black-skinned, §dam shadÊd aludma: 126 he too would have looked like Bil§l in complexion. Neither Bil§l nor Zayd were ‘tawny’: the Arabic indicates that they were intensely dark. It is the case that one of Powers’ sources, Ibn #As§kir (d. 571/1175), reports an unattributed alternative view according to which Zayd was intensely white (shadÊd al-bay§∙), while it was his son Us§ma who was black (aswad), born as he was to an Ethiopian mother. 127 But this “alternative view” is clearly secondary; neither Ibn Sa#d, al- •abarÊ or Bal§dhurÊ report it. Because of his short stature, black skin and flat nose Zayd has occasionally been described as “a negro,” 128 but he was a true Arab Bedouin (a#r§bÊ) from the Banå Kalb. 129 Two reports found in the Arabic literature clarify the Arab self-description. The first concerns the Arab linguist and genealogist al-\asan b. AÈmad (d. 436/1044-45), better known as al-Aswad al-Ghandaj§nÊ, “the black-skinned man from Ghandaj§n.” He was also known as al- A#r§bÊ, the Arab, and it is said that he was excessively proud of his Arab heritage, particularly the dark skin (al-sumra) of the Arabs. 130 The latter was so important to al-\asan, in fact, that he would not only apply tar to his skin and frequently sit in the very hot sun of Ghandaj§n to blacken his own complexion, but would also throw his son in oil and have him sit in the sun so that his complexion would be dark brown like the Arabs. The poor boy died from this. 131 It is certainly a stretch to imagine that the goal of such extreme measures was a soft olive-toned tan! Secondly, Abå’l-Faraj al-Ißfah§nÊ reports the story of the pitch-black (adlam) Arab poet al- Sayyid al-\imyarÊ (d. 173/789). We are told that al-Sayyid used to carouse with the young men of the camp, one of whom was as dark as he. This one, with his thick nose and lips, had a general Negroid appearance (muzannaj). Al-Sayyid had foul-smelling armpits and as the two pitch-black Arabs were jesting together one day, al-Sayyid said: “You are a ZanjÊ in your nose and lips!” to which the youth replied: “And you are a ZanjÊ in your color and armpits!” 132 Notice that it is the youth with the Negroid appearance that points out the Negroid complexion of al-Sayyid. This anecdote challenges Lewis’s assumption of a chromatic difference between ‘black’ Arabs and black Africans. 133 As we shall see, the difference between the two highlighted in the Arabic literature is frequently one of luminosity, not chromaticity. 134 126 Ibn ‘a#d, al-•abaqat al-kubr§, III/i, 30; Bal§dhurÊ, Ans§b al-ashr§f, I:470; Al-•abarÊ, Ta"rÊkh al-rusul wa"l-mulåk, XIII: 2301 (=The History of al-•abarÊ, Volume XXXIX: Biographies of the Prophet’s Companions and Their Successors, trans. and annot. Ella Landau-Tasseron [Albany: State University of New York Press, 1985] 10); Ibn #As§kir, Ta"rÊkh madÊnat Dimashq, ed. #Umar Ghar§mah #AmrawÊ (Beirut: D§r al- Fikr, 1995) XIV:351. See also Ibn al-Jawzī, Kitāb tanwīr al-ghabash fī fa∙l ‘l-sūdān wa’l-Èabash, ed. and trns. by Imran Hamza Alawiye, “Ibn al-Jawzī’s Apologia on Behalf of the Black People and their status in Islam: A Critical Editon and Translation of Kitāb tanwīr al-ghabash fī fa∙l ‘l-sūdān wa’l-Èabash,” (PhD. Dissertation, University of London, 1985) 298 [Ar.]; 132 [Eng.]; Khalid Muhammad Khalid, Men Around the Messenger (New Revised Edition; Kuala Lumpur, 2005) 232. 127 Ibn #As§kir, Ta"rÊkh madÊnat Dimashq, XIV:351. 128 E.g. J.A. Rogers, World’s Great Men of Color 2 vols. (New York: Collier Books, 1996 [1973]) II: 539-40; idem, Sex and Race: Negro-Caucasian Mixing in All Ages and All Lands (St. Petersburg, Fl: Helga M. Rogers, 1967; 9th edition) 96; Vasudeo B. Mehto, “If Europe had been Muslimised,” Islamic Review 2 (1932): 220. 129 Ibn #As§kir, Ta"rÊkh madÊnat Dimashq, XIV:349-50. 130 #AlÊ b. Yåsuf al-QifãÊ, Inbah al-ruw§h #al§ anb§h al-nuÈ§h (Cairo, 1973) 168-169. 131 Al-QifãÊ, Inbah al-ruw§h, 169; Y§qåt b. #Abd All§h al-HamawÊ, Kit§b irsh§d al-arÊb il§ ma#rifat al-adÊb, ed. D.S. Margoliouth (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1910) III/i, 22-23. 132 Abå’l-Faraj al-Ißfah§nÊ, Kit§b al-Agh§nÊ, 20 vols. (Bål§q, 1285/1868-69) VII:20. 133 Lewis in fact cites this anecdote in his study of race in Islam: Lewis, Race and Slavery, 92. 134 See below. 19
Page 1 and 2: “Anyone who says that the Prophet
Page 3 and 4: likeness of the Prophet could easil
Page 5 and 6: Semites, probably all genealogicall
Page 7 and 8: centuries BCE, 34 though the Africo
Page 9 and 10: Veddoid-Dravidoid racial type of In
Page 11 and 12: Arabs is white [al-baya∙ wa l-Èu
Page 13 and 14: One of these ‘deep black and tall
Page 15 and 16: completed in 945. In these notices
Page 17: . al-Khazraj, 106 thus a pure, very
Page 21 and 22: shades or degrees of ‘black’ in
Page 23 and 24: To speak of someone as white comple
Page 25 and 26: to believe just as you believe, and
Page 27 and 28: genre. 192 It featured prominently
Page 29 and 30: Ottoman culture on Islamic traditio
Page 31 and 32: epresentation of MuÈammad therein
Page 33 and 34: VII.2. Hellenizing the Prophet It w
Page 35 and 36: pen-boxes, necklaces, and posters.
Page 37: This study has a number of implicat

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

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?