§1/24. `Alī bin Hujr narrated to us; Ismā`īl bin Ibrāhīm informed us; from Humayd; from Anas bin Mālik (RA) who said,
| The hair of the Prophet (sallAllāhu `alayhi wa sallam) reached half way down his ears. [1 ] |
"The hair of the Prophet (sallAllāhu `alayhi wa sallam) reached half way down his ears," (Q) meaning the majority of his hair or on some occasions, as such there is no discrepancy between this and the description that his (sallAllāhu `alayhi wa sallam) hair reached his shoulders or just above them.
(AD) Ibn al-Hanzaliyya (RA) reports that the Prophet (sallAllāhu `alayhi wa sallam) said, "A fine man, Khuraym al-Asadi were it not for the length of his hair and the dragging of his waist-wrap." News of this reached Khuraym, whereupon he immediately took a blade and cut his hair to his ears, then he raised his waist-wrap to his mid-calves. Wā“il bin Hujr (RA) reports that he came to the Prophet (sallAllāhu `alayhi wa sallam) when he had long hair. When the Prophet saw him, he said, "Misfortune, misfortune!" and so he returned and clipped it. When he came back to see him (sallAllāhu `alayhi wa sallam) the next day he said, "I truly did not mean you, but this is better."
| I and the Messenger of Allāh (sallAllāhu `alayhi wa sallam) used to take a bath from one and the same vessel, his hair was above his shoulders and beyond the lobes of his ears. [2] |
"I and the Messenger of Allāh (sallAllāhu `alayhi wa sallam) used to take a bath from one and the same vessel," (M) thereby proving the permissibility of a man and woman washing from one vessel, and also proving that the water left over by a woman after purification is pure and purifying (ţahūr); this because the version of Bukhārī has, ' from one vessel because of janābah.' "His hair was above his shoulders and beyond the lobes of his ears," (M) al-Hāfidh Abū al-Fadl al-`Irāqī said, 'His hair has been depicted in three fashions: jumma, which is hair reaching the shoulders; wafra, which is hair reaching the lobes of the ears; and limma, which is hair going beyond the lobes of the ears [but not reaching the shoulders].' (Q) Hence the clear sense of this hadīth shows that his hair was between a jumma and wafra, (M) i.e. a limma. (Q) The author also recorded this hadīth in his Jāmi` and said that it was hasan gharīb sahīh; the narration of Abū Dāwūd has seemingly the opposite wording, 'The hair of the Prophet (sallAllāhu `alayhi wa sallam) was above [or: more than] a wafra and beyond [or: less than] a jumma.' al-`Irāqī in his commentary to at-Tirmidhī reconciled the two by saying that the first narration talked about the length of the hair and the second about the quantity. So 'above the jumma' means that its length was above this and 'beyond a jumma' means less than it in quantity; and so too for the wafra. (H) [3]This is an excellent reconciliation but for the fact that the source of the hadīth is one and the same.
§3/26. Ahmad bin Manī“ narrated to us; Abū Qaţan informed us; Shu`bah informed us; from Abū Ishāq; from al-Barā“a bin `Āzib (RA) who said,
| The Messenger of Allāh (sallAllāhu `alayhi wa sallam) was of medium stature having broad shoulders; his hair would just reach the lobes of his ears. [4] |
(SB) Another wording of the same hadīth has, " his hair would almost reach his shoulders." (H) [5]ibn Baţţāl reconciled these two different wordings by saying that they were describing him (sallAllāhu `alayhi wa sallam) on two separate occasions but this reconciliation only holds if one were discussing two separate hadīth, however here the hadīth is one and has the same source, for both variations are from the narration of Abū Ishāq on the authority of al-Barā“a. Therefore the better reconciliation between the two variations is that they were only depicting an approximation. The same holds for the hadīth of Anas to be mentioned shortly. (SB) Qatadah narrated to us; that Anas narrated to us that the hair of the Prophet (sallAllāhu `alayhi wa sallam) would reach his shoulders. Qatadah reports that he asked Anas ibn Mālik about the hair of the Messenger of Allāh (sallAllāhu `alayhi wa sallam) to which he replied, 'The hair of the Messenger of Allāh (sallAllāhu `alayhi wa sallam) was neither very curly nor completely straight, it hung between his ears and shoulders.'
§4/27. Muhammad bin Bashshār narrated to us; Wahb bin Jarīr bin Hāzim informed us; my father narrated to me; from Qatādah (RH) who said,
| I asked Anas, 'How was the hair of the Messenger of Allāh (sallAllāhu `alayhi wa sallam)?' He replied, 'It was neither curly nor completely straight, it used to reach his earlobes.' [6 ] |
§5/28. Muhammad bin Yahyā bin Abū `Umar narrated to us; Sufyān bin `Uyaynah informed us; from ibn Abū Najih; from Mujāhid; from Umm Hāni“, the daughter of Abū Ţālib (RAH) who said,
| The Messenger of Allāh (sallAllāhu `alayhi wa sallam) arrived at Makkah once and he had four braids. [7] |
"The Messenger of Allāh (sallAllāhu `alayhi wa sallam) arrived at Makkah once," (Q) all in all the Messenger of Allāh (sallAllāhu `alayhi wa sallam) visited Makkah on four occasions: for `Umratu-l-Qadā“; the conquest of Makkah; `Umratu-l-Ja`rānah; and the Farewell Hajj. Some of the narrations of this hadīth show that this occasion was the conquest of Makkah. "And he had four braids," a discussion on this follows. [8]
2. at-Tirmidhī [al-Libās] and Abū Dāwūd [at-Tarajjul]. The part concerning the bath it is to be found in the Two Ŝaĥīĥs from her via a number of different routes.
3. Fatĥ [10/439]
4. Ĥadīth #3
5. Fatĥ [10/438]
6. Bukhārī [al-Libās] and Muslim [al-Fadā“il]
7. at-Tirmidhī [al-Libās] and Abū Dāwūd [at-Tarajjul]
8. Ĥadīth #31.