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

shades or degrees of ‘black’ in Classical Arabic: Èumma, aswad, akh∙ar, §dam (deep black), asÈam,
jawn, f§Èim (coal black), ȧlik (pitch black), and more. 141 Linguistic scholar Abå Manßår al-
Tha#labÊ (d. 427/1036), enumerating the different “classifications of human blackness (fÊ tartÊb
saw§d al-ins§n),” explains:
When his maximum [blackness] (al§hu) is less than sawad (black), then he is asmar (brown). If
his blackness is greater with yellow enhancing it then he is aßham. If his blackness exceeds
al-sumra then he is §dam. If it exceeds that, then it is asÈam. If his blackness is intense, then
he is adlam. 142
This suggests a hierarchy of intensifying blackness: asmar / sumra → sawad/§dam →
aßham → asÈam → adlam. It also implies that, while at the bottom of the hierarchy, asmar / sumra
still falls within the category ‘black’. Ibn Maníår reports that “al-sumra [is] a degree between
white (al-bay§∙) and black (al-aswad), and it is that in the context of human complexions, camels,
etc.” 143 According to Ibn AthÊr, al-sumra’s ‘blackness’ predominates over its ‘whiteness’ (al-sumra
alladhÊ yaghlibu saw§duhu #al§ bay§∙ihi ), 144 and al-Taft§z§nÊ (d. 792/1390) reports in his al-
TahdhÊd: ‘al-sumra…is a color inclining to a faint blackness (sawadin khafiyin ), as in the description
of the Prophet: he was brown complexioned (k§na asmar al-lawn)…” 145 Asmar/sumra is therefore a
(dark) brown complexion.
Al-TirmidhÊ also reports from An§s b. M§lik:
The Messenger of Allah (s) was neither tall, such that he would stand out, nor was he short.
He was not albino-white (al-abya∙ al-amhaq), nor was he deep black (§dam). His hair was
neither very curly nor completely straight. Allah commissioned him towards the end of his
fortieth year. He remained in Mecca for ten years and in Medina for ten years. Allah
caused him to pass away at the turn of his sixtieth year and there was not found on his
head and beard [as much as] twenty white hairs. 146
This report does not necessarily stand in contradiction to An§s’ report according to which the
Prophet was brown-skinned, 147 because asmar is not necessarily §dam. 148 According to al-
Tha#labÊ’s classification, §dam is a more excessive blackness than asmar. 149 What would be denied
here is that MuÈammad was one of the excessively black Arabs, like the Banå Sulaym maybe. 150
141 For more ‘blacks’ see al-Tha#labÊ, Fiqh al-lugha, 81.
142 al-Tha#labÊ, Fiqh al-lugha, 82.
143 Ibn Maníår, Lis§n al-#arab, s.v. ﺮﻤﺳ IV:376.
144 Ibn Maníår, Lis§n al-#arab, s.v. ﺮﻤﺳ IV:376.
145 Ibn Maníår, Lis§n al-#arab, s.v. ﺮﻤﺳ IV:376.
146 Sunan al-TirmidhÊ, IX:244 no. 3627; Al-TirmidhÊ, al-Sham§"il al-NabÊ, no. 1; al-Bukh§rÊ, ‘aÈÊÈ, b§b ßifat alnabÊ,
no. 747, 748; Ibn Sa#d, Kit§b al-ãabaq§t al-kabÊr, I/i, 123 (Ar.); 488 (Eng).
147 Q§wÊ al-HarawÊ, Kit§b jam# al-was§"il, 14.
148 Contra M§hir Y§sin Fahl and Bashsh§r #Aww§d Ma#råf, comments in al-TirmidhÊ, al-Sham§"il al-NabÊ, 33 n. 4;
#Abd al-Ra#åf b. T§j al-#$rifÊn al-Munawi, al-Raw∙ al-b§sim fÊ Sham§"il al-Mußtaf§ AbÊ al-Q§sim
(Damascus: D§r al-Bash§"ir, 2000) 23, n. 2.
149 Ibn Maníår, Lis§n al-#arab, s.v. ﻡﺩﺍ XII:11: §dam/udma signifies an excessively dark brown, al-sumra al-shadÊd.
150 As pointed out by al-B§jårÊ (d. 1276/1860), Maw§hib al-ladunÊyah #al§ al-Sham§"il al-MuÈammadÊyah,
apud al-TirmidhÊ, al-Sham§"il al-MuÈammadÊyah, ed. MuÈammad #Aww§mah (Medina, 2001) 22 (al-manfÊy
innam§ huwa shiddat al-sumra). However, al-B§jårÊ’s claim that the intent of the affirmed al-sumra is really al-aÈmar is
unlikely. See below. On the Sulaym see above n. 94.
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