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Shadow of the Prophet ﷺ
Question:
Answer:
Although many authors of Sīra have mentioned under the miracles and specifications of the Prophet ﷺ that he would not have a shadow in neither sunlight nor moonlight, all of their statements are based on two narrations. One of Dhakwān, supposedly reported by al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī in his Nawādir al-Usūl, as mentioned by Shaykh ʿAbd al-Ḥaqq in Madārij al-Nubuwwa, Jalāl ad-Dīn al-Suyūṭī in al-Khaṣā’iṣ al-Kubrā and al-Mullā ʿAlī al-Qārī in Sharḥ al-Shifā.
The text of Madārij al-Nubuwwa is as follows:
ونبود مرآں حضرت صلى الله عليه وسلم را سایہ نہ در آفتاب و نہ در قمر
“My Respected One ﷺ did not have a shadow – not under the sun nor under the moon.”
The text of al-Khaṣā’iṣ al-Kubrā is as follows:
أخرج الحكيم الترمذي عن ذكوان ، أن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم لم يكن يرى له ظل في شمس ولا قمر .
“Al-Hakīm al-Tirmidhī narrated on the authority of Dhakwān that the Prophet ﷺ had a shadow visible in neither sunlight nor moonlight.”
The text of Sharḥ al-Shifā is as follows:
وهذا معنى ما في النوادر ، ولفظها : « لم يكن له ظل في شمس ولا قمر » .
“And this is the meaning of what is in al-Nawādir; its wording is ‘had a shadow visible in neither sunlight nor moonlight.’”
In this very book, al-Mullā ʿAlī al-Qārī quotes the chain of transmission to the ḥadīth of Dhakwān as such:
ذكره الحكيم الترمذي في نوادر الأصول عن عبد الرحمن بن قيس - وهو مطعون - عن عبد الملك بن عبد الله بن الوليد - وهو مجهول - عن ذكوان ، من أنه كان لا ظل لشحصه في شمس ولا قمر .
“Al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī mentioned it in Nawādir al-Usūl from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Ibn Qays, who is criticised; from ʿAbd al-Malik Ibn ʿAbdillāh Ibn al-Walīd, who is unknown; from Dhakwān, in that there was no shadow for his (ﷺ) being in sunlight nor moonlight.”
It is evident from this scrutiny that the ḥadīth of Dhakwān entails a criticised narrator and another unknown.
The second narration is of Ibn ʿAbbās, which al-Khafājī narrated in Sharḥ al-Shifā from Kitāb al-Wafā fī Faḍā’il al-Muṣṭafā. His text is as follows:
وهذا رواه صاحب الوفا عن ابن عباس رضي الله عنهما قال : لم يكن لرسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم ظل ، ولم يقم مع شمس إلا غلب ضوؤه ضوءها ، ولا مع سراج إلا غلب ضوؤه ضوءه .
“And this is what the author of al-Wafā narrated from Ibn ʿAbbās; he said: ‘The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ did not have a shadow. Whenever he would stand with the sun, his light would supersede its light; and whenever he would stand with a lantern, his light would supersede its light.’”
Al-Mullā ʿAlī al-Qārī also mentioned this in Sharḥ al-Shamā’il; its text is:
وفي حديث ابن عباس رضي الله عنهما قال : لم يكن لرسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم ظل ، ولم يقم مع شمس قط إلا غلب ضوؤه ضوءها ، ولم يقم مع سراج قط إلا غلب ضوؤه ضوءه . ذكره ابن الجوزي .
“And in the Ḥadīth of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: ‘The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ did not have a shadow. Whenever he would stand with the sun, his light would supersede its light; and whenever he would stand with a lantern, his light would supersede its light.’ It is narrated by Ibn al-Jawzī.”
The chain of transmission to this ḥadīth cannot be located, nor is Kitāb al-Wafā available. Aside from these two narrations, no other narration [anti-shadow] is known. Most books have sufficed on narrating only from Ibn Sabuʿ as-Subtī, as mentioned in Nuzhat al-Nāẓirīn:
ومن فضائله ما ذكره ابن سبع إلخ
“And among his virtues is what Ibn Sabuʿ has mentioned…”
In Anwār Muḥammadiyya, the text reads:
قال ابن سبع : كان صلى الله عليه وسلم نورا ، فكان إذا مشى بالشمس أو القمر ، لا يظهر له ظل .
“Ibn Sabuʿ said: ‘He ﷺ was light; therefore, when he would walk under the sun or moon, no shadow of his would be visible.’”
Regarding this, one must contemplate that if the Prophet ﷺ had no shadow in neither sunlight nor moonlight, there ought to be a large number of recordings, as night and day are regular occurrences. This should have been narrated in such large number that it reach Tawātur[1], and recorded in all the major books of ḥadīth as the most obvious and established of miracles.
Despite the above, this is stated only in the aforementioned, two narrations – the first chain containing a criticised narrator and an unknown one; and the second having no recorded chain of transmission – and nowhere else. Not a single mention of it is made in the major books of ḥadīth. This point in itself is sufficient to deem its validity doubtful.
(Muftī) Muḥammad Kifāyatullāh (kāna Allāhu lahū)
(Translated from Kifāyat al-Muftī, Maktaba Haqqāniyya edition (Karachi, Pakistan), vol. 1, pp. 75-76, by Shahin-ur Rahman, 16th Jumādā al-Ukhrā AH / 6th April 2015 CE)
[1] Mass transmitted: when something is reported in such large number that common sense rejects it being a coincidental lie; such reports are equivalent to an āya of the Qur’ān in authenticity. Translator.
