Sahl ibn Sad as-Saidi (rtam) narrated that a man passed by the Messenger of Allah (sa), and he asked: “What do you say about this man?” They said: “We agree with your opinion concerning him. We say: He is one of the noblest of people. If he proposes marriage, his proposal deserves to be accepted; if he intercedes, his intercession deserves to be accepted; if he speaks, he deserves to be listened to.”
The Prophet (sa) remained silent, and another man passed by. The Prophet (sa) asked: “What do you think about this man?” The Sahabah said: “By Allah, O Messenger of Allah, this is one of the poor Muslims. If he proposes marriage, he does not deserve to get married; if he intercedes, his intercession does not deserve to be accepted; if he speaks, he does not deserve to be listened to.”
The Prophet (sa) wanted to make a point. He said: “This one is better than an earthful of (men like) the other man.” (Bukhari and Ibn Majah)
Ibn Masood (rtam)
With this example, the Prophet (sa) was redefining our idea of beauty and he did so on numerous occasions. For example, Ibn Masood (rtam) was so short that he was a dwarf. One day, when Ibn Masood (rtam) was going up into a tree, the Prophet (sa) grabbed him from the Arak tree – the wind actually blew him to the tree and the Sahabah laughed because his legs were exposed. So the Prophet (sa) asked: “Why are you laughing?” They said: “Ya Rasulullah! His legs are skinny; they are like two small twigs.” The Prophet (sa) said: “But you do not understand that these two legs on the Day of Judgement will be the weight and size of Uhud.” (Ahmad)
Can you imagine? On the Meezan (the scale of good deeds) – the scale of Allah (swt) that counts most – these two legs will be the size and weight of Uhud!
Julaybeeb (rtam)
You may wonder: isn’t it blasphemous to say ‘ugly’? There were two companions of the Prophet (sa) who were referred to as Dameem – being repulsive or ugly in physical appearance. The first of those companions is Zahir (rtam).
There was another who was even more than that – he was not only known for his repulsive appearance but actually named after it. This was the Sahabi by the name of Julaybeeb (rtam). The name Julaybeeb means ‘deformed’, so he was known for his deformity. Subhan’Allah, the way he is described is as extremely short, very poor, and physically repulsive. His case was so heartbreaking that no one knew his lineage – in a society, where it is all about the tribe, he had no tribe to stand on his side, and that was a very tough situation indeed.
Hammad ibn Salamah (rtam) described what Julaybeeb (rtam) used to go through. He said that before the Ayat of Hijab were revealed, Julaybeeb (rtam) was bullied so much that he only used to sit with and speak to women because they were the only ones who were sensitive towards him. Subhan’Allah! Just think about that – he had such a rough time being among the men that he used to sit with women. The Prophet (sa) recognized that this young man goes through a lot, so he constantly wanted to show to him and to the Sahabah that beauty is not in your outer beauty; rather, it is your internal beauty that counts.
Rasoolullah (sa) went on behalf of Julaybeeb (rtam) for marriage to a man from Ansar and said: “I want to get your daughter married.” The man understood that Rasoolullah (sa) is coming to ask for his daughter’s hand in marriage. Since his daughter had status and beauty, it was expected that she would be proposed by someone of great physical attraction and status. He said that it would be his honour and pleasure to marry his daughter to the Prophet (sa).
Rasoolullah (sa) said: “I am not asking for your daugher’s hand in marriage for myself.” On hearing this, the man became disappointed. Then he asked: “For whom are you proposing? Abu Bakr? Umar? Uthman? Ali? Who is it going to be?” Rasoolullah (sa) said:
“I want her for Julaybeeb.”
As Julaybeeb was known for his physical ugliness, the man did not say ‘no’ to the Prophet (sa), but he said that he needed to talk to the girl’s mother first. When the mother got to know that it was Julaybeeb, she started to scream and repeated his name thrice: “Julaybeeb? Julaybeeb? Julaybeeb?” She began saying something inappropriate and then declared: “By the years of Allah (she swore by the life of Allah, which was Haram to do), we are not going to marry our daughter to him!”
Allah (swt) placed something special in the heart of their daughter, and when she heard her mother scream, she asked about the situation. Her mother said: “Rasoolullah (sa) wants you to marry Julaybeeb (rtam), but we will never marry Julaybeeb to you.” Their daughter replied: “Are you going to turn down the request and order of Rasoolullah (sa)? Marry me to him, because he will not be a loss for me.” Since she was a righteous woman, she understood that Rasoolullah (sa) wanted the best for her and that Julaybeeb (rtam) would be the best for her. Since Julaybeeb (rtam) was poor, Uthman (rtam) came forward to pay her Mehr. (Ibn Katheer)
The Prophet (sa) consistently wanted Julaybeeb (rtam) to feel appreciated for his internal beauty. On the day of Uhud, after the battle was over, Rasoolullah (sa) asked every group and tribe: “Are you missing anyone?” He repeated it multiple times, and all of them replied with the names of the dead people from their families and tribes. Then the Prophet (sa) said: “I am missing Julaybeeb.” It was as if he was from his family. Subhan’Allah!
Then the Prophet (sa) started looking through the dead bodies to find Julaybeeb (rtam), and when he found him and saw around Julaybeeb (rtam) seven of the enemies (meaning he killed seven before he was killed), he became emotional and said: “He killed seven before they killed him.” What could make a person more beautiful than Rasoolullah (sa) saying over him: “This one is from me, and I am from him.”
The Prophet (sa) picked up Julaybeeb (rtam) in his own two hands. The narration says that he had no other coffin to carry him, except the hands of the Prophet (sa) because of his small figure. The Prophet (sa) dug the grave of Julaybeeb (rtam) and put his body down in the grave alone by himself. (Muslim)
What do you want more than that, brothers and sisters? What is greater beauty? What is greater value than to be seen by Allah (swt) and His Messenger (sa)?
This teaches us a profound lesson: Those of us who are actually suffering from physical deformity should not try to find beauty in the eyes of people – find your beauty in the sight of Allah (swt) because that’s the only sight that will matter on the Day of Judgement. When you recognize that someone has low self-esteem, make it a point to raise that person’s self-esteem, and make him feel special and appreciated – that is the Sadaqah to your brother.
We ask Allah (swt) to grant us true beauty and to forgive us our shortcomings. Ameen.
Transcribed by Hira Naqi Khan
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