Brief description about the best of all creations

[Ismail Dalbani]

The Messenger of Allah was great and revered by the people. He was not exaggeratedly tall, nor was he short like he whose organs are merging in on each other; rather, he was of average height, but leaning towards being tall. He was not purely white, nor was he dark-skinned, he was white with a tint of redness. His head was big, which signals the strength of his brain. His hair was not excessively curly, nor was it completely straight, rather, he had locks that were in between. When it was easy to do so, he would part his hair down the middle, and he was seen with four braids. His hair would come to his earlobes and sometimes touch his shoulders. At 60 years old, he only had about 20 white hairs in all of his head and beard. He used to comb both of them, but not always. Some of those hairs were at his temples, and some showed when he parted his hair, and they would disappear when he oiled his hair. His face was not long, nor very round; rather it was round, but with some length in it, and it was not chubby. It was radiant, like the full moon- as opposed to the sun, for one cannot bear to look directly into the sun. His cheeks were not high. His nose was not completely straight, though one may mistakenly think it was, rather, there was slight elevation in it, and there was light upon it. He had a wide mouth, and nice space between his two upper front teeth and between his two lower front teeth. When he would talk, it would be as if light was coming from his mouth. The black of his eyes was intense, and the white of his eyes had red lines. His eyelashes were long and plentiful. His eyebrows were not bushy, nor were they connected, though one may mistakenly think they were. Anger would cause a vein to appear between them- and he would only become angry for the sake of Allah. His beard was thick. It was as if he had the neck of a doll. He had a nice physique, and he was radiant. His body was thick- not fat, and not skinny- and firm (mutamassik); not flabby. His chest and stomach were even. His shoulders and chest were broad. His body was not hairy, but he had a long strip of thin hair from his chest to his navel, hair on his upper chest, his shoulders, forearms and shins. Between his shoulder blades, closer to the left, was the "Ring of Prophethood"- named as such because the Jews and Christians of old knew that the last Prophet would have such a mark on his back- a protruding red birthmark with hair, about the area of a pigeon egg. The tips of his bones were big, and that appeared in his elbows and knees. His preferred attire was a qamis (long shirt), because it is the best for covering the body. His sleeves stopped at his wrist and his qamis would stop mid-shin, and then the shine of his honorable shins would be seen. His hands and feet were thick. His feet were arched and smooth, water would trickle off of them and not become trapped. His heels did not have much flesh. He would wear khuffs and he would wear sandals. He would lean into his steps when walking, lifting his feet from the ground with energy, and walk swiftly as if he were going downhill, not like the arrogant nor like the lazy. He walked humbly, looking towards the ground more than towards the sky, and that was also due to him frequent thinking and pondering. He would not only turn his head towards one, but his body, and this is a sign of humility, and when he would encounter someone, he would be the first to give the Salam. He had the most generous heart, most honest tongue, he was the most easy-going person, and someone whom one would like to be in his company. If someone were to suddenly or unexpectedly see him, he would be awestruck, and if one were to get to know him he would love him. Every good attribute he had was as perfect as such an attribute could be. Whoever described him said, "I never before saw someone like him, nor ever again."