A Little Experiment

I would like for readers who do not have "mixed" or "interracial" marriages in their families to perform a little experiment with me. First of all, take a good look at yourselves…your complexion, your hair texture, your hair color, your type of nose. Now think of your first cousin – your father's brother's son. Are you thinking of him? Are his complexion and hair texture basically like yours or are they drastically different from yours? Now think of your father's brother. Are his complexion and hair texture basically like that of his son or are they drastically different? Now think of your father. How similar are his complexion and hair texture to that of his brother? Now think of your mother's cousin. How similar are her complexion and hair texture to that of her cousin?

OK. You guys who are married… Picture your wives in your minds…Her complexion, her hair texture. Got it? Now picture her brother and her brother's son.. Does her brother have the same complexion and hair texture as his son (your wife's nephew) or are they entirely different? Now compare your wife's brother to your wife. Does he have basically the same complexion and hair texture that your wife has or are his complexion and hair texture drastically different from the complexion and hair texture of your wife? Do you and your wife have a daughter? Take a good look at her complexion and hair texture. Are they basically similar to the complexion and hair texture of your wife's brother or are they drastically different? Now look at your wife's brother's son and look at your daughter. Are their looks drastically different or do they have basically the same complexion and hair texture?

I'm sure that you have all seen that, in general, there are no drastic differences in the complexion and hair texture of the people I asked you to compare (please let me know the results). Let's now put all of this into perspective. I first asked you to look at your first cousin – your father's brother's son. Let's now look at the Prophet Mohamed's (SAWS) first cousin - Ali ibn Abu Talib – the son of the Prophet Mohamed's father's brother. His complexion is described as black-skinned. The Prophet Mohamed's (SAWS) other first cousin – Abdellah ibn Al-Abbas – the son of the Prophet Mohamed's (SAWS) father's other brother is also described as black-skinned.

I also asked you to look at your wives' brother and his son. Let's now look at the Prophet Mohamed's (SAWS) wife Khadija's (RAA) brother's son Hakim ibn Huzaam. He was described as black-skinned. The Prophet Mohamed's (SAWS) wife Khadija's (RAA) other brother's son Al-Zubair ibn Al-Awwam was described as dark-skinned and his son Abdellah ibn Al-Zubair was described as black-skinned.

Fatima (RAA) is the daughter of the Prophet Mohamed (SAWS) and Khadija (RAA). Hakim ibn Huzaam and Al-Zubair ibn Al-Awwam (RAA) are Fatima's first cousins – the sons of her mother's brother.

Think about all of this very carefully. I'm waiting for your comments.

The Arab Crows

The Arab Crows (أغربة العرب) are the famous Arab poets of the past who were so dark-skinned that their color resembled the color of a crow. Some of the Arab Crows lived in Pre-Islamic times and others lived during the period between Pre-Islamic times and Islamic times. Ibn Mandhour says in his book Lisan Al-Arab that the Arab Crows are Antarah, Khafaf ibn Nadba from the tribe of Sulaym, Abu Umair ibn Al-Hubaab from the tribe of Sulaym, Sulaik ibn Sulaka, Hisham ibn Uqba ibn Abi Mu'eet, Abdellah ibn Khaazim from the tribe of Sulaym, Umair ibn Abu Umair ibn Al-Hubaab from the tribe of Sulaym, Hammaam ibn Mutarraf from the tribe of Taghlib, Muntashir ibn Wahb Al-Baahili, Matar ibn Awfaa Al-Mazini, Taabbata Sharra, and Al-Shanfara. Many people today make the mistake of assuming that since these "Arab Crows" are so black-skinned, they must be descended from "Africans". For example, read what was said about Khaffaf ibn Nadba from the tribe of Sulaym:

قال خفاف بن ندبة - وهي أمه، وكانت حبشية..."
"...

"Khafaf the son of Nadba - and Nadba was an Ethiopian slave-girl - said..."

This is what they say about Khafaf's mother, but the reality is his mother was a pure Arab from the tribe of Bani Al-Harith ibn Ka'ab. Ibn Sa'ad says in his book Al-Tabaqaat:

خفاف بن عمير

ابن الحارث بن شريد واسمه عمرو بن رباح بن يقظة بن عصية بن خفاف بن امرئ القيس بن بهثة بن سليم وكان شاعرا وهو الذي يقال له خفاف بن ندبة وهي أمة بها يعرف وهى ابنة الشيطان بن قنان سبية من بني الحارث بن كعب ويقال إن ندية كانت سوداء وشهد خفاف فتح مكة مع رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم وكان معه لواء بني سليم الأخر‏.‏

"Khafaf the son of Umair the son of Al-Harith the son of Amru (Shuraid) the son of Rabbah the son of Yaqidha the son of Asiyya the son of Khafaf the son of Imr Al-Qais the son of Bahtha the son of Sulaym. He was a poet and was called Khafaf the son of Nadba and Nadba is a slave-girl and Khafaf was known by her. She (Nadba) is the daughter of Al-Shaytan the son of Qanan and she was captured from the tribe of Bani Al-Harith ibn Ka'ab. It is said that Nadba was black-skinned. Khafaf was present with the Prophet (SAWS) during the conquest of Mecca and he carried the flag of the tribe of Sulaym."

Ibn Hajar says in his book Al-Isaaba Fi Tamyeez Al-Sahaaba:

خفاف بن عمير بن الحارث بن الشريد

بن رياح بن يقظة بن عصية بن خفاف بن امرئ القيس بن بهثة بن سليم وهو المعروف بابن ندبة بنون وهي أمه قال بن الكلبي شهد الفتح وكان معه لواء بني سليم وكان شاعرًا مشهورا وقال الأصمعي شهد حنينًا وثبت على إسلامه في الردة وبقي إلى زمن عمر وقال أبو عبيدة أغار الحارث بن الشريد يعني جد خفاف هذا على بني الحارث بن كعب فسبي ندبة فوهبها لابنه عمير فولدت له خفافا فنسب إليها قال المرزباني هي ندبة بنت أبان بن شيطان بن قنان بن سلمة.

Khafaf the son of Umair the son of Al-Harith the son of Shuraid the son of Rabbah the son of Yaqidha the son of Asiyya the son of Khafaf the
son of Imr Al-Qais the son of Bahtha the son of Sulaym. He was a famous poet. Al-Asma'ee said that he was present at the battle of Hunain and that he remained a Muslim during period of apostasy and he was still alive during the reign of Umar. Abu Ubayda said that Al-Harith the son of Shuraid - the grandfather of Khafaf - raided the tribe of Bani Al-Harith ibn Ka'ab and captured Nadba and gave her to his son Umair and she gave birth to Khafaf through Umair and Khafaf was called the son of Nadba. Al-Mirzbaani says that she is Nadba the daughter of Abaan the son of Al-Shaytan the son of Qanan the son of Salama. Bani Al-Harith ibn Ka'ab is a large Arab tribe and Al-Harith ibn Ka'ab is the son of Amru the son of 'Illa the son of Khalid the son of Midhhaj.

Read what is said about another Arab Crow - Shanfara:

ويعني اسمه (غليظ الشفاه ) ، ويدل أن دماء حبشية كانت تجري فيه

"And his name means 'thick-lipped', which shows that Ethiopian blood ran through his veins."

Read what another person said is a reason that he hopes that Al-Shanfara is not from the Arab tribe of Shihr:

انه كان اسودا ونحن جميعا لآدم ولا فضل لاحد على احد الا بالتقوى ولكنه كان كافرا وفوق هذا من اصول افريقية اما من ناحية الاب او الام والعرب ليس فيهم السواد الوارد في الشنفرى

"...Because he (Al-Shanfara) was black-skinned - we are all from Adam and no one is any better than the next except according to piety - but he was an unbeliever and to make matters worse, he was of African origin either from his father or from his mother and the Arabs are not black-skinned like Al-Shanfara was described".

This is what they say about Al-Shanfara, but the truth of the matter is that his father was from the pure Arab tribe of Al-Azd and his mother was from the pure Arab tribe of Fahm. Read what Al-Shanfara said about himself:

"انا من خيار الحجر بيتاً ومنصباً ** وامي ابنة الاحرار لو تعرفينها"

"I am from the best of the clan of Hujr (a clan of the tribe of Al-Azd) in origin and status. And my mother is the daughter of the freemen - if you only knew her!"

There is also the Arab Crow Taabbata Sharra. His real name is Thaabi the son of Jaabir the son of Sufyan the son of 'Umaythil the son of 'Udayy the son of Ka'ab the son of Hazin the son of Tamim the son of Sa'ad the son of Fahm the son of Amru the son of Qais 'Ailan the son of Mudar the son of Nizaar. His mother - Umayma - was from the Bani Qain branch of the Arab tribe of Fahm the son of Amru the son of Qais 'Ailan the son of Mudar the son of Nizaar.

As you can see, Taabbata Sharra, too, was a pure Arab from the pure Arab tribe of Fahm.

Mohamed Al-Nafs Al-Zakia - The Pure-Blooded Quraishi

To get a better idea of what the Arabs of the past looked like, let's take a close and careful look at the Prophet Mohamed's (SAWS) descendant Mohamed Al-Nafs Al-Zakia the son of Abdellah the son of Al-Hasan the son of Al-Hasan the son of Ali the son of Abu Talib.

It is a known fact that Mohamed Al-Nafs Al-Zakia was a pure-blooded Arab from his father's side and his mother's side. This is why he was nick-named The Pure-Blooded Quraishi. This is why he said the following about himself:

"You know that no one has as close relations to or relations to anyone better than he whom I am very closely related to (meaning the Prophet Mohamed (SAWS))".

What color would most people today expect a person who says such a thing to be? ِAl-Hafidh Al-Dhahabi says:

Mohamed Al-Nafs Al-Zakia was "black-skinned and huge".

Al-Tabari says:

"Mohamed Al-Nafs Al-Zakia was tall, jet-black-skinned and huge. He was nick-named The Bituminous because of his blackness and Abu Ja'afar Al-Mansour used to call him Charcoal".

Bear in mind that the person called The Bituminous and Charcoal was a pure-blooded Arab closely related to the Prophet Mohamed (SAWS). Remember that this person called The Bituminous and Charcoal said:

"You know that no one has as close relations to or relations to anyone better than he whom I am very closely related to (meaning the Prophet Mohamed (SAWS))".

Bituminous means like bitumen. Take a look at the color of bitumen:

Bitumen

Mohamed Al-Nafs Al-Zakia was also called Charcoal. Here is the color of charcoal:

Charcoal

I believe that this should give readers a very clear picture of how dark-skinned Mohamed Al-Nafs Al-Zakia - the pure-blooded Arab direct descendant of the Prophet Mohamed (SAWS) was. Mohamed Al-Nafs Al-Zakia had a son named Al-Hasan. Ibn Hazim says:

"Al-Hasan (the son of Mohamed Al-Nafs Al-Zakia) was so black-skinned that he was nick-named The Father of the Tar. We all know how dark tar is.

That is the description of Mohamed Al-Nafs Al-Zakia the son of Abdellah the son of Al-Hasan the son of Al-Hasan the son of Ali the son of Abu Talib. That is the blackness of Mohamed Al-Nafs Al-Zakia, who said about himself:

"I am descended from the Prophet (SAWS) from my mother's side AND my father's side. I am the purest of Bani Hashim (the branch of Quraish that the Prophet Mohamed (SAWS) is from) in genealogy and the noblest of them both paternally AND maternally. NO NON-ARAB BLOOD RUNS THROUGH MY VEINS!

Doesn't this say it all? I believe that this is the proof of all proofs that the original Arabs were a dark-skinned people.