Was freedom from all bodily and mental defects an essential of
Prophethood?
One of the attributes of Prophethood, unanimously agreed upon by Muslim
theologians, is that the Prophets were free from all kinds of bodily and
mental defects. As they were extraordinarily attractive in personality and
conduct, they were also graceful and charming in outward appearance. They
had nothing in their bodies, from head to foot, that could disturb people.
They were perfect in bodily structure, handsome and well-built.
Anas says that God�s Messenger was the most handsome of people. In
describing his beauty, Jabir ibn Samura remarks:
It was a full moon when we were sitting in the mosque. God�s Messenger
came in. I looked first at the shining moon, and then at the face of God�s
Messenger. I swear by God that the face of God�s Messenger was brighter than
the moon.23
Prophets must be free from all bodily defects as they should not repel by
their appearance. In explaining the Divine wisdom of God�s Messenger living
to sixty-three years, Said Nursi writes:
Believers are religiously obliged to love and respect
God�s Messenger to the utmost degree, and follow every command of his,
without feeling any dislike for any aspect of him. For this reason, God did
not allow him to live to the troublesome and often humiliating period of old
age, and sent him to the �highest abode� when he was sixty-three. This was
the average life-span of the members of his community, thus making him the
example in this respect also.24
Despite this phenomenon being common to all the Prophets, some false
stories about Job and Moses, either borrowed from Israelite sources or
misunderstandings of some Qur�anic verses, have found their way into some
commentaries on the Qur�an.
In a hadith, God�s Messenger says: The Prophets undergo the most severe
of trials; the greatest of misfortunes strike them. Then come other
believers; the firmer one is in belief, the bigger his misfortune is. The
Prophet Job is praised in the Qur�an as a steadfast, excellent servant of
God, one ever-turning to his Lord (Sa�d, 38:44). As can be deduced from the
Qur�anic verses, and mentioned in the Bible, he was afflicted with a kind of
skin disease, with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of
his head (Job, 2.7). Influenced by Israelite stories, some commentators of
the Qur�an have, unfortunately, made additions that worms were produced on
his sores or abscesses and, because of the bad smell emitting from those
abscesses, people left him.
These additions are completely groundless. If people left the Prophet
Job, this might have been due to his later poverty. For he was, in the
beginning, a rich, thankful servant of God, but later lost all his wealth
and children. As a Prophet, he can neither have had a repelling or
disgusting appearance, with, at least, his face exempt from sores, nor have
emitted bad smell. Contrary to what is written in the Bible that he cursed
the day of his birth (Job, 3.1), and God openly (Job, 7.20,21), and
justified himself rather than God (Job, 32.2), Job bore his afflictions for
years without any objection to God. He prayed: Affliction has visited me,
and You are the Most Merciful of the Merciful (the Qur�an, al-Anbiya�,
21:83). God answered his prayer and removed the affliction that was upon
him, and He gave him his household (that he had lost) and the like thereof
along with them (al-Anbiya�, 21:84).
As for Moses, on receiving the order to go to Pharaoh, he supplicated:
My Lord, open my breast (relieve my mind and make me so
persevering as to tolerate every impudence and bear every hardship), and
ease for me my task. Make loose a knot upon my tongue so that they may
understand my words. (Ta Ha, 20.25�8)
Some commentators, influenced by Israelite sources, have misunderstood
Moses� supplication, Make loose a knot from my tongue, and asserted that he
suffered difficulty in speaking. According to the story they narrate, Moses
once pulled Pharaoh�s beard while being brought up in his palace. Angered at
what the child did, Pharaoh wanted to have him killed, but his wife, in
order to save the child, offered Pharaoh to test him whether he was fit to
judge or decide in his favor. They put a piece of gold in one of the scales
of a balance and embers in the other. The child took the embers and put them
in his mouth. This made him a stammerer. So, by supplicating Make loose a
knot from my tongue, Moses petitioned God to restore him the ability of
articulation.
An invented story can be no basis for the interpretation of any Qur�anic
verses. If Moses had had a speech impediment due to the burning of his
tongue, he should have said, �Make loose the knot�, not �a knot, from my
tongue�. What Moses meant by Make loose a knot from my tongue, was that he
was not as eloquent as his brother Aaron (the Qur�an, al-Qasas, 28:34; the
Bible, Exodus, 4:10), and therefore desired to be more articulate in
delivering God�s Message in Pharaoh�s palace.
In conclusion, all the Prophets were perfect both mentally and
physically, with nothing to suggest any defect. However, some of them may,
in some respects, have been superior to others: And those Messengers, some
We have preferred above others; some there are to whom God spoke [directly],
and some He raised in rank (al-Baqara, 2.253). However, the Prophet
Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, enjoys, in general terms,
superiority over all the others by virtue of being the last of them who was
sent to all of humankind and jinn and whose mission was not restricted to a
limited people and time, but was inclusive of all people and has validity
until the end of time.
23. Suyuti, al-Khasa�is al-Kubra�, 1.123; Hindi,
Kanz al-�Ummal, 7.168.
24. The Letters, 2.84�5.
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