Reconciling the Ahaadeeth about ‘Eesa having brown or reddish skin Fatwa No: 298744
- Fatwa Date:20-7-2015
AslamualakaumI heard that there were two diffrent hadiths about Isa (as) skin colour, one says red one says tan. I read your fatwa on Isa hair, that was a good way to look at the hadithHow do we relate those two hadith.
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Al-Haafith Ibn Hajar reconciled between the two descriptions in his book Fat-h Al-Baari. He said,
“… this difference is similar to the difference in whether he was Aadam (of brown complexion) or red-skinned. Red in the speech of the Arabs means fair-complexioned with a reddish undertone, and the term Aadam denotes brown complexion. The two descriptions may be reconciled by saying that he had reddish skin for a reason such as fatigue, but he was normally brown-skinned.” [Fat-h Al-Baari]
Az-Zarqaani cited another attempt to reconcile between the two descriptions from Al-Qurtubi in his commentary on the Muwatta’,
“Al-Qurtubi said, "Perhaps the dark complexion turned a brownish color close to red, as was the prevalent color among the Arabs. The two versions of the report can thereby be reconciled."”
As-Saffaareeni said,
“There is no contradiction between reddish and dark skin because his brownish color could have been unmixed as stated earlier … The term Aadam denotes slight brownness, and having an unmixed complexion does not prevent reddishness. Ibn Hajar said, "This is because many people with dark complexion may have reddish cheeks."” [Lawaami‘ Al-Anwaar]
Allaah Knows best.