§1/24. `Alî bin Hujr narrated to us; Ismâ`îl bin Ibrâhîm informed us; from Humayd; from Anas bin Mâlik (RA) who said,
The hair of the Prophet (sallAllâhu `alayhi wa sallam) reached half way down his ears. [1]"The hair of the Prophet (sallAllâhu `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 (sallAllâhu `alayhi wa sallam) hair reached his shoulders or just above them.
(AD) Ibn al-Hanzaliyya (RA) reports that the Prophet (sallAllâhu `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. Wâ´il bin Hujr (RA) reports that he came to the Prophet (sallAllâhu `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 (sallAllâhu `alayhi wa sallam) the next day he said, "I truly did not mean you, but this is better."
§2/25. Hannâd bin as-Sarrî narrated to us; `Abdur-Rahmân bin Abû az-Zinâd informed us; from Hishâm bin `Urwah; from his father; from `آ´ishah (RAH) that she said,
I and the Messenger of Allâh (sallAllâhu `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 Allâh (sallAllâhu `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 (ţahûr); this because the version of Bukhârî has, '…from one vessel because of janâbah.' "His hair was above his shoulders and beyond the lobes of his ears," (M) al-Hâfidh Abû al-Fadl al-`Irâqî 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 hadîth shows that his hair was between a jumma and wafra, (M) i.e. a limma. (Q) The author also recorded this hadîth in his Jâmi` and said that it was hasan gharîb sahîh; the narration of Abû Dâwûd has seemingly the opposite wording, 'The hair of the Prophet (sallAllâhu `alayhi wa sallam) was above [or: more than] a wafra and beyond [or: less than] a jumma.' al-`Irâqî in his commentary to at-Tirmidhî 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 hadîth is one and the same.
§3/26. Ahmad bin Manî´ narrated to us; Abû Qaţan informed us; Shu`bah informed us; from Abû Ishâq; from al-Barâ´a bin `آzib (RA) who said,
The Messenger of Allâh (sallAllâhu `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 hadîth has, "…his hair would almost reach his shoulders." (H) [5]ibn Baţţâl reconciled these two different wordings by saying that they were describing him (sallAllâhu `alayhi wa sallam) on two separate occasions…but this reconciliation only holds if one were discussing two separate hadîth, however here the hadîth is one and has the same source, for both variations are from the narration of Abû Ishâq on the authority of al-Barâ´a. Therefore the better reconciliation between the two variations is that they were only depicting an approximation. The same holds for the hadîth of Anas to be mentioned shortly. (SB) Qatadah narrated to us; that Anas narrated to us that the hair of the Prophet (sallAllâhu `alayhi wa sallam) would reach his shoulders. Qatadah reports that he asked Anas ibn Mâlik about the hair of the Messenger of Allâh (sallAllâhu `alayhi wa sallam) to which he replied, 'The hair of the Messenger of Allâh (sallAllâhu `alayhi wa sallam) was neither very curly nor completely straight, it hung between his ears and shoulders.'
§4/27. Muhammad bin Bashshâr narrated to us; Wahb bin Jarîr bin Hâzim informed us; my father narrated to me; from Qatâdah (RH) who said,
I asked Anas, 'How was the hair of the Messenger of Allâh (sallAllâhu `alayhi wa sallam)?' He replied, 'It was neither curly nor completely straight, it used to reach his earlobes.' [6]§5/28. Muhammad bin Yahyâ bin Abû `Umar narrated to us; Sufyân bin `Uyaynah informed us; from ibn Abû Najih; from Mujâhid; from Umm Hâni´, the daughter of Abû Ţâlib (RAH) who said,
The Messenger of Allâh (sallAllâhu `alayhi wa sallam) arrived at Makkah once and he had four braids. [7]"The Messenger of Allâh (sallAllâhu `alayhi wa sallam) arrived at Makkah once," (Q) all in all the Messenger of Allâh (sallAllâhu `alayhi wa sallam) visited Makkah on four occasions: for `Umratu-l-Qadâ´; the conquest of Makkah; `Umratu-l-Ja`rânah; and the Farewell Hajj. Some of the narrations of this hadîth show that this occasion was the conquest of Makkah. "And he had four braids," a discussion on this follows. [8]
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1. Abū Dāwūd [at-Tarajjul] and an-Nasā´ī [az-Zīnah]. Muslim [al-Fadā´il] with wordings close in meaning to that quoted. 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.
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