…The first book about the Prophet’s sublime qualities is the Qur’an. It is the first and most excellent Shama’il. The beautiful moral, physical and spiritual qualities of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) are embedded in the Book of Allah. The Qur’an-the pre-eternal divine speech-is the supreme character reference. Some scholars have said, ‘If you want to see the Prophet Muhammad (SAW), then look into the Qur’an.’ This is undoubtedly true, as Imam al-Tirmidhi recorded in the Shama’il (hadith 385) from Anas ibn Malik (RA), ‘I gazed at his blessed face, and it looked like a page from the Qur’an (mushaf)…’ The Prophet Muhammad (SAW), therefore, reflects the Qur’an just as the Qur’an reflects him.

The Shama’il presents descriptions of the moral, physical and spiritual perfections of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW). These perfections that Allah bestowed upon him (SAW) encompass every aspect of his blessed being: his outward form, his senses and his internal form. The Prophet Muhammad (SAW) is the most perfect form of created beauty. He possesses the most august, most splendid and most beautiful face, hair, neck, torso, arms, hands, feet, fingers, toes and all other physical aspects of creation. His senses are also perfected: his hearing is absolutely perfect, his sight is absolutely perfect, his smell is absolutely perfect, his taste is absolutely perfect and his touch is absolutely perfect. Likewise, his voice and elocution are absolutely perfect.

The Prophet Muhammad (SAW) is bestowed absolute perfection in his internal form: his blessed heart has been endowed with the most splendid shape, and his blessed liver, heart, spleen, kidneys, lungs and all other organs have the most perfect contours. His blessed blood vessels are in a complete state of balance, and every muscle, tendon, and tissue is flawless. There is no one in creation besides the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) who has complete equilibrium in temperament (mizaj).

He has also been given perfection in his inner beauty, such that he carries out divine injunctions sweetly, and perceives Allah’s Oneness clearly. His intelligence and sagacity are also absolutely perfect.

The Prophet Muhammad’s (SAW) beauties and perfections are unsurpassable. None can rival or outstrip him in any laudable quality or trait. He knows Allah as He should be known. He fears Allah as He should be feared. He loves Allah as He should be loved.

The beautiful character and inward traits of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) encompass his whole body and everything about him. His shyness, modesty, kindness, bravery, temperance, fear of Allah, reliance, certainty, contentment, love, devotion, compassion, and many other qualities all pervade his entire body and inward and outward reality.

All of this constitutes the spiritual lens through which the Shama’il must be viewed.

To understand many of the hadith in the Shama’il that describe the Prophet’s human qualities (bashariyya), it is essential to know that his sanctified soul has settled within his blessed and pure body in contentment, love and submission. Any veil between soul and body is removed. This means that the ‘taste’ of the Prophet’s noble soul is firmly rooted in his pure, earth body and penetrates the world as such. His blessed soul is eternally pure, and all his senses diffuse through it. His is the greatest and strongest soul. It was his celestial soul that Allah strengthened to carry the divine speech, concerning which Allah says Had we revealed this Qur’an upon a mountain, you would have seen it humbled and rent asunder by the fear of Allah. (Qur’an 59:21).

All of this should give us pause to reflect: we are not by any means reading about an ordinary man. We must be careful not to understand the descriptions of the Prophet (SAW) through the interpretive lenses of our own flawed human experience. If anything, the descriptions of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) are always just approximations that attempt to describe utterly sublime beauty through the limited aperture of human language. The companions of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) did not have an easy time describing him, because there is nothing within creation to which he may be compared. All creation pales in comparison. The Companions resorted to expressions of transcendence (tanzih), saying he was ‘neither extremely tall nor short’; when comparing him to objects in creation (tashbih), they resorted to approximations, metaphors and signs that point to a higher reality. Imam al-Bajuri said, ‘The one who describes him (SAW)…

From Al-Shama’il Muhammadiyya of Imam Tirmizi

A Book Reading

Moderation in Legislation

Allah the Most High said: “If you carry out punishment, punish with the like of what you were afflicted. But if you patiently endure, verily that is a blessing for the patient.” Qur’ân 16:126. We thus find moderation in the imposition of the sacred law (sharî’a). The Prophet (PBUH) prohibited his companions from exaggeration in worship lest they should experience suffering. He said to his companions who wanted to deny themselves the good things of the world thinking that would bring them greater proximity to Allah: “By Allah, I am the most God-fearing and pious among you, but I fast, and then break my fast. I pray and then I rest. I marry women. So whoever has a distaste for my example (sunna), he is not from me”.And the Most High said, “Allah does not burden a soul beyond what it can bear. It gets every good that it earns andsuffers every ill that it earns.” Qur’ân 2:286

And He, exalted is His word, said: “So be reverently conscious of Allah as much as you can. Listen and obey. And spend in Allah’s cause for the benefit of your own self. Whoever is saved from the miserliness of his own self, he is the successful one.” Qur’ân 64:16.

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…Will continue in shaa Allah

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