Shama'il Muhammadiyah

About Shama'il Muhammadiyah

The Shamā'il Muhammadiyyah ("The Appearance of Muhammad"), often referred to as Shamā'il al-Tirmidhi or simply Shamā'il), is a collection of hadiths compiled by the 9th-century scholar Tirmidhi regarding the intricate details of the Islamic prophet Muhammad's appearance, belongings, manners and life. The book contains 399 narrations from the successors of the Prophet which are divided into 56 chapters.[1]

The best known and accepted of these hadith are attributed to his son-in-law and cousin Ali.[2] Another well-known description is attributed to a woman named Umm Ma'bad.[3] Other descriptions are attributed to Aisha, `Abd Allah ibn `Abbas, Abu Hurairah and Hasan ibn Ali. While shama'il lists the physical and spiritual characteristics of Muhammad in simple prose, in hilye these are written about in a literary style.[4] Among other descriptive Shama'il text are the Dala'il al-Nubuwwah of Al-Bayhaqi, Tarih-i Isfahan of Abu Naeem Isfahani, Al-Wafa bi Fadha’il al-Mustafa of Abu'l-Faraj ibn al-Jawzi and Al-Shifa of Qadi Ayyad are the main shemaa-il and hilya books.[4]

An Urdu translation and commentary, Khasa'il-i Nabawi was written by Muhammad Zakariya al-Kandahlawi.[year needed]