What did the Prophet actually look like?

Ald continuing in the chapters of we had discussed the characters characteristics the character of the Prophet s. wasam how he behaved the things that he would say things that he wouldn't and this is something that we've discussed at length throughout this series and this is really the the foundation the Crux of the book is a book about the prophet s and it's a book about the Sunnah of the Prophet s. wasam and at the beginning of Z there are in-depth chapters regarding his character regarding the way that he spoke the way that he sat and so forth and also extensive chapters regarding his physical characteristics last week we concluded the chapters regarding his etiquette and character this week inshallah we're going to discuss his physical featur and then transition into his a meaning his miracles that were performed during his lifetime and.

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After.

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For he tells us that regarding the prophet sallallah alam's descriptions he was very medium very average in the majority of his descriptions there were no Extremes in any of his physical characteristics he tells us that the prophet sallai wasam could neither be described as abnormally tall nor abnormally short he's average in height and this description of his height how tall he was this is contrasted and relative to his time people's bodies were much bigger 1500 years ago but for his time based on their their characteristics the prophet s. wasam could neither be described as being very tall nor very short yet in spite of this he was also described that in a gathering with other people around him with other people of average height around him he would seem to be taller than everyone but he is neither extremely tall nor extremely short nor was he very pale nor was he dark skinned or tanned it was between that neither very pale nor dark skinned and his hair as well was very medium very average meaning that his hair was neither very curly and coarse nor was his hair extremely fine and straight tells us that when the prophet sallallah alai wasallam passed away he passed away not having more than about 20 white hairs in his beard and in his hair collectively so it's not that he in his older age his hair turned white or his beard turned white there were just a few white hairs in his beard and in his hair collectively and his body was very very well proportioned and very well suited he's described as being broad shouldered very Broad in his shoulders his hair was usually to his shoulders this is the menb here right so his hair was either to his shoulders or to his earlobes or sometimes as short as the middle of his ears but never shorter than that usually the only time that he was recorded to have shortened his hair was during the rights of Hajj and om this is when he would cut his hair at that time in that place the culture was that men would keep their hair long usually and usually men would keep their beards long as well some upper class and elitists might shave their beard but usually the beard and the hair were long and people took care and took pride in their hair men and women and so his hair was no different it was at its longest to his shoulders and at its shortest to the tips of his ears or the middle of his ears and he would not comb his hair out and keep it combed out he would always have his hair braided his hair was in usually three or four braids now does this mean that it is the Sunnah for a man to keep long hair this is an issue that goes back to the intention of the Prophet sallallah wasam right this is an issue that should be referred to his intention because when we follow and adhere to the ways of the Prophet Muhammad Sall we don't just adhere to the things that he did but we adhere to the things that he did with the intentions that he had right and this is an important point so for instance in order for us to say a person should grow a man should grow his hair and should keep his hair long in following the Sunnah of the Prophet sallai wasam we would have to couple that with the custom of the time and place place that he was living so for instance with regards to the beard his beard was long and he kept his beard he never shaved his beard and he also commanded that others not shave their beards as well so if we look at this and examine this Sunnah this trait of the Prophet sallallahu alai am we can come to a conclusion that no matter what time or place he would have lived in he would have always had a beard right because he mentions that the beard is part of the F it's part of the way a man should keep his himself it's part of the Natural Way Allah created a man likewise he commanded that people keep their beards and that this is kind of a a trait of a Muslim is that the men would keep beards so we know that this is the Sunnah and this is something that regardless of time or place he would have always kept a beard so when we grow our beards out in following the prophet Sall Al wasam this is following the Sunnah now when we look at that issue of him growing his hair and his hair being long can we use the same formula to arrive to the same conclusion meaning if he had lived in a time or place where men kept their hair short would he have still kept his hair long in spite of the custom of men in that time and place and the answer is most likely no the most likely answer is that he kept his hair long not because it's necessarily a worship of Allah waala rather he kept his hair long because that was the custom of men in the time and place he lived and in the era that he lived for a person wishes to keep his hair long a man wishes to grow out his hair in following the prophet s. wasam that is fine only the condition is that it not be something out of the order ordinary amongst his Muslim Community his local Muslim Community so if a person were to if a man were to grow his hair long and put it in braids and say that this is the Sunnah this is the Sunnah only in a time and place amongst the Muslim Community that keep their hair long the men keep their hair long if everyone and it's only women that grow their hair long usually in that time and place or in that Muslim Community in which the person resides then it would not be the sunna for him to grow his hair either way his hair was usually long and his hair was always covered he always covered his head with a turban or something was always on his head except except in one case and that is in and that is in the rights of Haj and these are the only recorded times when his head was uncovered so and if we were to look at this in a more practical sense for our community here for instance is it the custom of men to keep their hair long or short you say short it's very un un unusual for a man in in general amongst us to have long hair and I'm speaking about the Muslim Community amongst the non-muslim community that's a different situation but amongst the Muslims the average Muslim male amongst us his hair would not go past a certain length past that it's what would be referred to as it's something that would draw attention something that would draw attention the person be known by it and this is contrary to the essence of community the essence of a Muslim in his community is the prophet sallam says that Allah indeed loves the servant who is wealthy at heart who is observant and revering of Allah and who is unnoticed amongst his Muslim brothers and sisters somebody who fits in also we have we also have a.

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In he was also described his beard was described as and what this means is that his beard was neither very straight the hair of his beard nor was it very intertwined and very thick his hair his beard was similar to his hair texture in that it was medium it was it could neither be described as being very as being very thick and nor could it be described as being very thin and straight between that and his beard was neither described as being fine the hair texture nor coarse just the hair of his head nor was it extremely long his beard was not extremely long his beard was described as that his his beard was rich it was Lush it would fill his chest but it wasn't considered to be extremely long it wasn't down to his Naval or something of that sort.

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So his fingers were described as being very thick and very masculine he had big big hands and likewise his fingers were considered to be girthy this is something which was a a positive trait and considered a trait of Elegance in a man that he would have very strong hands.

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As well he was considered to have a sizable head and his bone structure he was kind of big boned he was big bone meaning that he had a large.

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Frame.

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This is a narration which some of the scholars have disputed but when it comes to characteristics of the Prophet sallallah alai wasam these are usually things which are well known and well documented one of the descriptions of his face and his head is that his face was more round you know some people kind of usually have two facial types either a round face or a long face right and some some people add a third type as well well but usually people are somewhere between that either a very round face or a very long face and straight his face was not very round right rather it was more round than it was straight so.

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Likewise he was described as meaning that the Circle the area between the White and the dark part of his Iris was very black very deep so his eyes were very defined very white with very black eyes he was as well described as being the he was also described as having hair on his chest and hair between his chest and his navl right and this is the hair that is continuous from the chest on a man and is continuous all the way to the naval he had this but it wasn't he wasn't very hairy extremely hairy nor was he completely hairless on his torso rather the hair on his chest was there and he had a defined hairline that reached from his chest to his Naval.

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For he's also described as his walking when he would walk he'd be very authoritative in the way that he would walk it it would almost be a March and he would walk very intensely he was never described as being someone who would kind of wander when he walks or walk with his body loose and you know having a lot of movement between his his upper and lower body rather his body would be closer to that of a marching body when he would walk and he would walk very intensely he wouldn't be looking around all over the place as if he wasn't sure where he was going or you know he just has time to kill this kind of walking rather he would walk very intensely Subhan Allah.

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For when mentioning this feature or this description of how the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would walk he would walk with intention he would walk very intently authoritatively more of a March than it was a walk and he connected this and took this as some one of the things that signify the depth of his mind meaning that when he would walk he would not be walking and looking around all over the place and he describes this in as being the Walk of someone who has somewhere to go someone who is a person of depth and intellect and he describes the Walk of a person who is kind of wandering very loose looking around as this being a sign especially amongst the Arabs at that time a sign of simpleness in the mind he says his face would almost light up and almost glisten that of the full moon and many descriptions of the companions his face was described and likened to that of the full bright moon H he had a very beautiful voice his cheeks were very smooth so he was described as well as having a sizable mouth it wasn't very small nor was it freakishly big but it was sizable very masculine features and likewise his body was very average in the sense that he didn't have a belly that protruded past his chest nor a chest which pursu which came past his stomach his chest and stomach were all.

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Straight he was described as having hair on the upper part of his chest and starting from his shoulders.

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Down.

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For he was likewise described as having hair on his upper torso above his chest likewise the hair on his arms would start from his upper arms and go down and he was described as having thick or noticeable bold hair on his arms and this is in his time sallallah alaihi wasallam the Arabs at that time at that place they appreciated a man and his descriptions the more contrasted a man's descriptions were from that of a woman's descriptions this was considered to be more favorable so a man who was epitom izing masculinity in his features this was considered very attractive likewise a woman who was epitomizing femininity in her in her features this was considered to be something very beautiful they were the furthest people from androgynous taste right blurring the lines between male and female this is something that was considered to be very lowly in the prophet Sall alam's time not just amongst the Muslims but amongst the non-muslims as well and it was hence a moral obligation amongst upon men and women Muslim men and women to Define themselves from the opposite gender right there's a narration in that the prophet sallallah Al wasam was accepting the allegiance of a woman that was accepting Islam and he would accept man's Allegiance if a man came to become Muslim and pledge allegiance to Allah and his messenger he would take his hand in his hand and repeat after him whatever the prophet Sall alai wasallam would tell him I pledge to command the good and forbid the evil I pledge to defend the weak whatever it is that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam found appropriate for this person to say and one time a woman wished to pledge allegiance and when it would be a woman he wouldn't take her hand he would take own hand and she would take her put clasp her hands together and repeat after.

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Him meaning that this woman she had done this and to pledge allegiance to the prophet sallallah alai wasam from behind a curtain and when she poked out her arm he asked is this the arm of a man or a woman meaning that her arm was very masculine it was under defined and she said I am a woman he said meaning use and do h on your hands and on your arms in order to further Define yourself from the opposite gender.

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For this reason the prophet sallallah alai wasam gave us a clear principle with regards to defining the gender defining the genders clearly defining the difference between a man and a woman he said s. wasam the curse of Allah is upon a man who imitates women and a woman who imitates men there's a line of difference between men and women the further away the two genders are from this line the more the more praiseworthy they are and the closer people are to this defining line the less praiseworthy they are so clear definitions must be had between men and women.

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Likewise he was described as having very defined and longer forearms likewise he was considered to be very.

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Giving the prophet sallallah alai wasam was further described here in bukari and Muslim was further described as being someone with wide eyes his eyes were big and wide and very white usually the size of a person's eyes would also articulate the amount of white that there would be in their eyes so in some narrations he's described as having very a lot of white in his eyes other descriptions will come in the form of very large eye sockets all these descriptions are saying the same thing essentially and that is that he had big eyes likewise he.

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Was.

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He was not not described as having huge heels or huge feet rather he was described as having thinner heels and feet B also he had the Seal of the prophets the Seal of prophethood between his shoulder blades this seal of prophethood what is this this was described by Salman it was described by an it was described by Abdullah Mas different descriptions when people would send a letter especially an important letter or from one king to another they would have a seal right what is this seal they would take wax and heat it up and they would Heat this wax on this letter or this paper and then they would take their stamp and their seal and they would print it and it would print onto the wax this is called a seal right and the point of a seal is to articulate that this is official only one person has that seal right the prophet sallallah alaihi wasallam had a seal it was his ring so when he started sending letters to inviting the leaders of different nations to Islam and different kingdoms to Islam he was advised to have have a blacksmith or a jeweler make him a seal and his seal said Muhammed you could see pictures of it it's very well known and so this seal he would wear it on his ring and usually you know a king or someone of of of authority if they have a seal they would usually keep it on a ring or keep it in a place that was safe that nobody could access it and plagi your something in his name and so the Seal of prophethood was similar in the way that it looked it didn't have actual writing on it letters but it looked a little bit like that melted wax and some of the companions described it as to look about the size of a pigeon's egg or bird's egg between his shoulder.

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Blades.

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E next week we will continue finish up these physical descriptions and move on to a collection regarding the prophet sallallah Miracles this is enough for tonight.