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

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He was a pure descendent of the Prophet himself through the latter’s daughter F§ãimah, wife of #AlÊ b. AbÊ •§lib, a fact in which he took great pride. 83 This point is clearly evident in a letter he sent to the #Abb§sid caliph Abå Ja#far al-Manßår (r. 136-158/754 – 775), against whom he rebelled in 145/762. Al-Nafs al-Zakiyya felt Abå Ja#far al-Manßår’s mixed lineage (his mother was a Berber), among other things, disqualified him for leadership over the community. He wrote to the caliph: You well know that no one has laid claim to this office who has a lineage, nobility, and status like ours. By the nobility of our fathers, we are not the sons of the accursed, the outcasts, or freedmen…I am at the very center of the Banå H§shim’s lines. My paternity is purest among them, undiluted with non-Arab blood, and no concubines dispute over me. 84 What did this pure Arab descendent of the Prophet look like? “MuÈammad (Al-Nafs al-Zakiyya) is described as tall and strong with very dark skin”. 85 According to al-•abarÊ: MuÈammad (Al-Nafs al-Zakiyya) was black, exceedingly black, jet black (§dam shadÊd aludma adlam) and huge. He was nicknamed “Tar Face” (al-q§rÊ) because of his black complexion (udmatihi), such that Abå Ja#far used to call him “Charcoal Face” (almuÈammam). 86 MuÈammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya, a QurayshÊ Arab whose pure lineage on both his paternal and maternal sides put him “at the center” of the genealogical lines of the Banå H§shim, the Prophet’s kinsfolk, was so black he was called ‘Tar face’ and ‘Charcoal face.’ This is undoubtedly of significance for our discussion of the ethnicity and appearance of the Prophet himself. If MuÈammad too was a pure QurayshÊ Arab of the Banå H§shim, equally noble on ‘both his father’s and his mother’s side,’ 87 how could he have looked much different than al-Nafs al- Zakiyya, or #AlÊ b. AbÊ •§lib, or his deep black father #Abd All§h b. #Abd al-Muããalib? Excursus: ‘Black and Bearded’: What Did the Arabs of the Conquests Look Like? In 638 the Persian ruler Yazdgird III pleaded to the T’ang emperor of China, T’ai-tsung, for assistance against the Arabs who had invaded his realm. This assistance was refused. In 651 an Arab embassy arrived in China bearing gifts. There are two extant notices of this embassy in Chinese literature: in the ninth-century administrative text, T’ung tien, which was presented to the 83 Muhammad Qasim Zaman, “The Nature of MuÈammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya’s Mahdiship: A Study of Some Reports in Ißbah§nÊ’s Maq§til,” Hamdard Islamicus 13 (1990): 60-61. 84 Quoted from al-•abarÊ, The History of al-•abarÊ, Vol. XXVIII: #Abb§sid Authority Affirmed, trans. annot. Jane Dammen McAuliffe (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1985) 167-68. 85 EI 2 7:389 s.v. MuÈammad b. #Abd Allāh by F. Buhl. 86 Al-•abarÊ, Ta"rÊkh al-rusul wa"l-mulåk, X:203. 87 According to Q§∙Ê #Iy§∙, al-Shif§, 92 (=al-Shifa, 43), MuÈammad “was from the best of the Banå H§shim, and the stock and core of the Quraysh. He was from the noblest and mightiest of the Arabs, both on his paternal and maternal side.” In fact, the Prophet could even claim to have been “the most Arab” of all his companions. Ibn Hish§m, SÊrat Rasål All§h, ed. F. Wüstenfeld (Göttingen, 1858-59) 101, 106 (=The Life of Muhammad, trans. A. Guillaume [London, 1955] 69, 72). See also Ibn KathÊr, al-SÊra al-Nabawiyya, trans. Dr. Trevor LeGassick, The Life of the Prophet MuÈammad 4 vols. (London: Center for Muslim Contributions to Civilization; Reading, UK: Garnet, 1998) I:130-141. 14
throne in 801 by Tu Yu; and in the T’ang History, the official dynastic history of the T’ang completed in 945. In these notices the Arabs (called there Ta-shih) encountered during the Yunghui period (650-656) are described: “The Arab country was originally part of Persia. The men have high noses, are black and bearded.” 88 Descriptions of the Arab conquerors of the West are similar. In the French epic poem Song of Roland (wr. ca. 1100), Sir Roland’s Saracen enemies at the Battle of Roncevaux (778) are described as “hordes blacker than the blackest ink – no shred of white on them except their teeth.” 89 Roland further describes the Saracen commander: at their head rides the Saracen…no worse criminal rides in their company, stained with the marks of his crimes and great treasons, lacking faith in God, Saint Mary’s son. And he is black, black as melted pitch…90 In a miniature from Charles V’s Grandes chroniques de Franch (ca. 1370s) Roland’s Saracen enemies are depicted black-skinned – though handsome – in contrast to the white faces of Roland and his charging Christian knights. 91 While it is certainly true that these depictions employ a symbolic convention that seeks to contrast the dark (sinful) from the (white) virtuous, 92 they no doubt reflect a historical reality as well. This is confirmed by details relating to the Arab conquest of Egypt. The conquest of Egypt by the Arab Muslims in 641 was in the main carried out by darkskinned Arabs. 93 The second caliph who authorized the conquest, #Umar b. al-Khaãã§b (d. 23/644), was a QurayshÊ Arab with African ancestry. Not only was his mother from the exceptionally dark Banå "l-MughÊra, but his paternal grandmother was an enslaved Ethiopian. 94 The caliph himself has been described as a bald, black-skinned man (rajul §dam) as if he were from the Banå Sadås. 95 The troops were mainly Yemeni Arabs, who are noted for their dark 88 Robert G. Hoyland, Seeing Islam As Others Saw It: A Survey and Evaluation of Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian Writings on Early Islam (Princeton, NJ: The Darwin Press, INC., 1997): 245, 250. 89 The Song of Roland, trans. Frederick Goldin (New York: W.W. Norton, 1978) 99. 90 Song of Roland, 107. 91 See Rita Lejeune and Jacques Stiennon, The Legend of Roland in the Middle Ages 2 vols. (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1971), I: 288 and plate 41B; Strickland, Saracens, demons, & Jews, 179-180. 92 Strickland, Saracens, demons, & Jews, 169. 93 This seems also to be the case with regard to the conquest of Syria. The famous Khālid b. al-Walīd (d. 21/642), who led the Syrian expedition, was from the exceptionally black Banå l- MughÊra (EI 2 VI:138 s.v. Makhzåm by M. Hinds). Many leaders at the decisive Battle of Yarmåk (14/636), besides Kh§lid, were black-skinned Arabs, like #Amr b. al-#$ß and Abå l-A#war b. Sufy§n from the exceptionally black Banå Sulaym. Many SulaymÊs participated. On Abå l-A#war and the black Sulaym see Michael Lecker, The Banå Sulaym: A Contribution to the Study of Early Islam (Jerusalem: Hebrew University, 1989) 140, 242-245; EI 2 IX:818 s.v. Sulaym by M. Lecker; al-JaÈií, Fakhr al-såd§n #al§ al-bidan, 219 (Ar.), 23 (Eng). 94 MuÈammad b. HabÊb, Kit§b al-Muhabbar, ed. E. Lichtenstädler (Hyderabad, 1361/1942) 306. 95 Ibn Sa#d’s entry on this caliph, al-•abaqāt al-kubrā III/i, 234-235, presents disagreement over #Umar’s appearance. It is reported on the authority of both Zirr b. \ubaysh and Hil§l b. #Abd All§h that he was blackskinned. On the other hand, #Abd All§h b. #$mir and, surprisingly, the caliph’s famous son #Abd All§h reportedly claimed that he was extremely white-complexioned (abya∙ amhaq ta#låhu Èumra). But #Abd All§h b. #Umar is himself described as black-skinned (§dam; al-DhahabÊ, Siyar, III:209). According to his own black-skinned son (the caliph’s black-skinned grandson) S§lim b. #Abd All§h, Ibn #Umar said regarding this family blackness: “We inherited our black complexion (al-udma) from our maternal uncles.” Ibn Sa#d, al-•abaqāt al-kubrā III/i, 235. Ibn #Umar’s mother was Zaynab b. Maí#ån from the Jumah clan of the Quraysh. On the blackness of this clan see al-DhahabÊ, Siyar, I:160. 15
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: One of these ‘deep black and tall
Page 17 and 18: Awf b. al-Khazraj, 106 thus a pure,
Page 19 and 20: Yet, the sources Powers cites are u
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Page 23 and 24: To speak of someone as white comple
Page 25 and 26: surpass us in appearance (al-ßåra
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

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