Muhammad A Portrait of Perfection

The Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace) is both the moral exemplar for mankind sent by Allah as a mercy to the worlds (Qur an 21:107) and the ultimate possessor of physical beauty. His Companion Hadhrat ‘Ali ibn Abi alib (may Allah be pleased with him) said as did many others that ‘Never have I seen the like of him; not before or since . Naturally, Muslims, beginning first and foremost with his contemporaries (i.e. the Companions), have meticulously conveyed the fine details of his beauty and character, including his physical form, seal of prophethood, clothing, and his manner of walking, reclining, eating, drinking, speaking and laughter, sleeping and devotion and so forth. The earliest and most famous work of this genre was the Shama il of the great Hadith master Imam al-Tirmidhi. This latter work was later abridged and annotated by Shaykh al-Sharnubi, of which this is the English translation.