Question:
Who is more handsome, Prophet Yusuf or Our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ?
Answer:
Our Prophet ﷺ is the most handsome of this ummah due to the statement of Al-Barā: “The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ was the most handsome of the people and the best of them in character not too tall not too short.” [Muslim (2337)]
And in a wording with Ahmed;
“I have not seen a man better looking that the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ in a red Hullah (two piece garment comprising of an izār and ridā).”
And Yusuf ﷺ is the most handsome of Prophets due to the hadith of Anas that the Prophet ﷺ said the night of I’rāj: “All of a sudden I was with Yusuf, and indeed he has been given half of the beauty.”
They interpreted that he was given half the beauty of our Prophet ﷺ, Al-‘Aīnī in ‘Umdatul-Qārī (17/26) said concerning this interpretation: “And in it is what is in it (of discrepancy).”
And they interpreted other than that from the interpretations as has come in Al-Fath ul-Bārī explaining this hadith: (3887) he said may Allāh have mercy on him:
“And in Hadith Abi Sa’īd with Al-Bayhaqi and Abi Hurairah with Ibn Ā’idh and At-Tabrāni: “All of sudden I was with a man the most handsome of what Allāh created, he has surpassed the people in beauty like the full moon in comparison to the rest of the stars,
And this is clear that Yusuf ﷺ was more handsome than all people but Tirmidhi narrated from Hadith Anas: “Allāh did not send a Prophet ﷺ except with a handsome face and handsome voice and your Prophet ﷺ was the most handsome of them in terms of face and voice,
So this is understood that the intent of the hadith of Al-Mi’rāj is concerning other than the Prophet ﷺ and what aids it is the statement of the one who said verily the one speaking does not enter into the generality of his speech, and as for the Hadith of this chapter then Ibn Munīr understood it that Yusuf ﷺ was given half of the beauty of our Prophet ﷺ and Allāh knows best.” [End of speech of Ibn Hajr]
I say: “The Hadith which Al-Hāfith (Ibn Hajr) mentioned was narrated by Abu Bakr Ash-Shāfi’ē in ‘Al-Ghaylānāt’ (329) and Ibn Adiyy in Al-Kāmil (3/326) via Al-‘Abbās bin Yazīd Al-Bahrānī: He said Nūh bin Qais narrated to us, he said Hissām bin Misak narrated to us, on the authority of Qatādah on the authority of Anas he said: “Allāh did not send a Prophet at all except with a handsome face and handsome voice and your Prophet ﷺ was the most handsome of them in terms of face and voice except that he will not return.”
Ibn ‘Adiyy said: “And this (Hadith) I do not know anyone who made its isnād jayyid or connected it other than ‘Abbās Al-Bahrānī and the rest made it Mursal.”
And Tirmidhi narrated it in Shamā’il (313) via Qutaibah bin Sa’īd Al-Balkhi on the authority of Nūh bin Qais with it (the Hadith) without mentioning Anas in it.
Dāraqutnī said in Al-‘Ilal (2570): Hussām bin Misak narrated it and there is dispute concerning him;
So Nūh bin Qais narrated it, on the authority of Qatādah, on the authority of Anas, Al-‘Abbās bin Yazīd Al-Bahrānī narrated it from him.
Muhammad bin Yazīd Al-Wāsitī apposed him, and other than him, so they narrated it from Hussām his statement.
And likewise Sa’īd bin Bashīr on the authority of Qatādah, his statement and it is the most correct.
And the Hadith is weak whether it is connected or disconnected for verily in it’s chain is Hussām bin Misak, Al-Hāfith in ‘Taqrīb’ said: “Weak, he was almost abandoned”, I said: “Rather he was abandoned”, “Ahmed said: “His Hadiths are put aside”, Abu Zur’ah said: “His Hadiths are weak and rejected”, An-Nasā’ē and other than him said: “Weak”, and Dāraqutnī said: “His Hadiths are abandoned.”
And there is not another authentic Hadith which opposed what is with Muslim, due to that the speech of Ibn Taymiyyah is significant that Yusuf ﷺ is the most handsome whereby he said in Minhāj us-Sunnah (5/317):
“And Yusuf As-Saddīq, even if he is more handsome than other than him from the Prophets, and in the Sahīh ‘that he was given half of beauty’, it doesn’t make him the best of them, rather other than him is better than him, like Ibrāhīm, Ismā’ēl, Ishāq, Ayyūb, Mūsā, Ēsā, Muhammad ﷺ, and even though Yusuf’s face is more handsome, for verily their Ēmān and good deeds were better than his Ēmān and good deeds.”
And he said may Allāh have mercy on him in Al-Istiqāmah (1/349): “Mere beauty does make (a person) more entitled to reward from Allāh or more deserving of punishment, had it been like that Yusuf ﷺ would have been better than the other Prophets for his mere beauty.”
And Ibn ul-Qayyim said in Badā’ al-Fawā’id (3/206): “What is apparent is that the meaning that Yusuf ﷺ was specified from amongst the people with half of beauty and the rest of the people shared the other half, so he was singled out with half by himself, and this is what is apparent from the wording, the Lām is for al-jins not for the specific one which belongs to the Prophet ﷺ, I don’t know what made then lean away from this to what they mentioned, and the Hadith of Anas does not negate this rather it points towards that the Prophet ﷺ is the most handsome of the Prophets and having the best voice, and it does not necessitate him being the most handsome and having the best voice that Yusuf ﷺ was distinguished from the people by being given half of beauty and they shared the other half, so the Prophet ﷺ would be sharing with Yusuf ﷺ in what he was distinguished from that half and having extra beauty from the other half and Allāh knows best.”
And San’ānī said in At-Tanwīr (2/496): “So the one saying that our Prophet ﷺ was given more beauty than Yusuf ﷺ is in need of proof.”
I said: And they have differed in regards to which of them is more handsome Ādam ﷺ or Yusuf ﷺ, and the speech of Shaykh Ul-Islām which preceded is that Yusuf ﷺ is more handsome than the other Prophets.”
And Ibn Kathīr opposed and said in Al-Bidāyah and An-Nihāyah (1/109): “And some scholars said concerning the statement of the Prophet ﷺ: “So I passed by Yusuf and he was given half of beauty.” They said it’s meaning is that he had half the beauty of Ādam ﷺ, and this is suitable; because verily Allāh created Ādam ﷺ with His glorious hand and blew into him his spirit, and He is not going to create except the best of forms.”
And he said in (1/236): “And it has come in the Hadith of Isrā: “So I passed by Yusuf and he was given half of beauty.”
Suhaylī and other than him from the Imāms said: The meaning is that he was upon half the beauty of Ādam ﷺ, because Allāh created Ādam with his hand and blew his spirit into him so he was at the epitome of human beauty, and for this reason the people of Jennah will enter Jennah upon the height of Ādam ﷺ and beauty, and Yusuf ﷺ was upon half the beauty of Ādam ﷺ.
And there was not between them better than them, just like there was no female after Hawā more in resemblance to her than Sārah the wife of Ibrāhim ﷺ.
And Al-Muqri’ said in Haqā’iq wa Raqā’iq as Tilmasāni relayed it from him in Nafkh ut-Tayyib (5/320): “Yusuf ﷺ was given half of the beauty ya’nī the beauty of Ādam because if it is not possible for him (Yusuf) to be more innovative (in creation) than Ādam ﷺ because Allāh Az wa Jall created him with His hand in the best of fashion then blew into him his spirit to complete the reason for prostration to him as a greeting of respect so as the One who sent the Furqān said Allāh created Ādam in the form of Ar-Rahmān, so Ādam ﷺ therefore is the most complete of beauty for this is the intent because half necessitates confinement and half is taken from the description (of full) and Muhammad ﷺ was given full beauty so none saw him except they had awe and complete beauty, so none knew him except they loved him along with the protruding light amongst his ancestors and him being the leader of the highbred children as Ārif ‘Umar said:
“And even if I am a son of Ādam in form***There is in me a striking resemblance to my father.”
And the ones who said Ādam ﷺ was more beautiful than all his offspring use as proof the Hadith which is agreed upon with Al-Bukhāri (3326) and Muslim (2841): And in it ‘Everyone who enters Jennah is upon the form of Ādam ﷺ, and the creation has not ceased to diminish until now.’
Al-Irāqī said in Tarh ut-Tathrīb: “I.e upon his description and this points towards that the deficient attributes that are amongst the children of Ādam ﷺ in the Dunyā like blackness and other than it will be removed from them upon entering Jennah so they will not be except upon the best of conditions and forms.”
And Al-Manāwi said in Faidh ul-Qadīr (3/466): “I.e. upon his description in beauty and stature.”
And what is apparent is that the intent with description is in length and what aids this is what was reported by Al-Bukhāri (3327) and Muslim (2834) and the wording with him is ‘Their stature is the stature of one man the length of their father Ādam ﷺ sixty cubits.”
Ibn Ul-Qayyim said in Hādī Al-Arwāh (104): “And Akhlāq is the plural of Khuluq with dhammah and it is also the plural of Khalq with a fatha and the intent is equalness in length and width and age even if they differ in beauty and for this reason he explained with his statement in the form of their father Ādam ﷺ sixty cubits in the sky.”
And a hadith has come that they will enter Jennah upon the form of Yusuf ﷺ reported by Tabarāni in Al-Kabīr (20/280) no. (663) and Musnad ush-Shāmīyīn (1839) and Al-Baihaqi in Al-Ba’th and An-Nushūr (1/437) and Ibn Bishrān in Al-Amālī (1431) via Ishāq bin Ibrāhīm bin Zibrīq Al-Himsī, he said Amr bin Al-Hārith narrated to us, on the authority of Abdillāh bin Sālim, on the authority of Az-Zubaidī, he said Salīm bin Āmir narrated to us that Miqdād bin Ma’dī Karib with the wording: “There is none that dies a sudden death or by old age – and what is between that – except they will be resurrected as a thirty year old man, so if he is from the people of Jennah he will be upon the stature of Ādam ﷺ and the have the face of Yusuf ﷺ, and the heart of Ayyūb ﷺ, and whoever is from the people of the Fire will be made to be big and enlarged like a mountain.”
And it has fallen from some copies ‘The extracting (from the graves and resurrecting’ from the chain of Salīm bin Āmir, and Ishāq bin Ibrāhīm bin Al-Alā bin Zibrīq, Al-Hāfidh said in Taqrīb: “Sadūq, he makes mistakes a lot and he Muhammad bin Auf professed that he lies,
And Amr bin Al-Hārith Al-Himsī said Adh-Dhahabī in Al-Mīzān on the authority of Abdillāh bin Sālim Al-Ash’arī only,
And he has a copy where he is singled out with a narration
from him Ishāq bin Ibrāhīm Zibrīq, and his Mawlā who’s name is ‘Ulwah, so his trustworthiness is unknown.”
And he mentioned him in Ath-Thiqāt and said: “He narrates from Abdillāh bin Sālim Al-Ash’arī from Az-Zabīdī and Ishāq bin Ibrāhīm bin Al-Alā bin Zibrīq narrated from him and the people of his town, Mustaqīm ul-Hadith. This appraisal is accepted from Ibn Hibbān as Al-Mu’allamī clarified in At-Tankīl whereby he stated concerning the likes of this wording: “It doesn’t fall short from the appraisal of the rest of the Imāms rather perhaps it is more stronger in praise than many of them, so the defect of the Hadith remains Ishāq bin Ibrāhīm.
And it has another route reported by Abu Ya’lā as is in Al-Matālib Al-Āliyyah (4626) and Ibn Qāni’ in Al-Mu’jam As-Sahābah (1925) and Abu Nuaym in the description of Al-Jennah (268) via Yazīd bin Sinān, Abu Yahyā Al-Kulā’ī narrated to me, he said: “I came to Al-Miqdām bin Ma’dī Karib, and in its chain Yazīd bin Sinān Ar-Rahāwi and he is weak.
And it has come from the Hadith of Anas may Allāh be pleased with him reported by Ibn Asākir in his Takhrīj (22/223) and in it are Majāhīl (unknown narrators).
And it has another route reported by Ibn Abī Dunyā in ‘Sifat ul-Jennah’ (220) and in it is Rawād bin Al-Jarrāh Ash-Shāmī (who is) weak.
And the Hadith is in As-Sahīhah of Al-Allāmah Al-Albānī may Allāh have mercy on him (2512), and that which is deemed most correct to me is the weakness of the wording that they will enter Jennah upon the beauty of Yusuf ﷺ in that which preceded in those routes.
And success is with Allāh.
Answered by: Shaykh, the Allamah, the Trustworthy Advisor, Abu Abdirrahman Yahya bin Ali Al-Hajuri – may Allah preserve him
Source: https://t.me/sh_yahia_duroos/7323, https://t.me/sh_yahia_duroos/7324, https://t.me/sh_yahia_duroos/7325
Translated by: Abū ‘Abdillāh ‘Omar bin Yahya Al-‘Akawi