The Ancient Arabs’ Description of the Pure ArabsThe best way to get a true picture of what the original Arabs of the past looked like is to ask the original Arabs of the past themselves. So let’s take a look at what the original, pure Arabs of 1400 years ago said about the appearance of the pure Arabs.
Let’s begin with Miskeen Al Darimi the well-known, pure-blooded Arab poet of the 7th century AD. Miskeen is his nickname, but his real name is Rabee’ the son of ‘Aamir the son of Unaif the son of Shaarih the son of ‘Amru the son of Zaid the son of Abdellah the son of ‘Uds the son of Darim the son of Malik the son of Handhala the son of Zaid Manah the son of Tamim the son of Murr the son of Udd the son of Taabikha the son of Yaas the son of Mudar the son of Nizar the son Ma’add the son of Adnan.
It’s a known fact that Miskeen was black-skinned. He once proposed to a girl and she rejected him because of his blackness and his poorness. The girl later married a rich man who was from a tribe not as pure Arab as Miskeen’s tribe. Miskeen one day saw the the girl who rejected him because of his blackness and poorness sitting with her husband, who was from a tribe not as pure as Miskeen’s tribe.
Miskeen stopped and said to them:”I am Miskeen, for those who know me. My color is dark, the color of the Arabs.”Need I say more? Didn’t Miskeen, the famous, 7th century, pure-blooded, black-skinned Arab from the famous Arab tribes of Banu Darim and Banu Tamim, say enough when he said that his black complexion is the color of the Arabs? Aren’t Miskeen’s revealing words enough proof that the original, pure Arabs were black-skinned? Would black-skinned Miskeen, who was a pure Arab from a pure Arab tribe, say that his black complexion was the color of the Arabs if his tribe (Banu Darim and Banu Tamim) and the Arabs he lived amongst weren’t a black-skinned people?
Read the following words of Al Fadl ibn Al Abbas Al Lahabi, the famous 7th century Arab poet who was from the tribe of Quraish from his father’s side of the family and his mother’s side of the family. Quraish is the same tribe that the Prophet Mohamed (PBUH) is from. His mother was Amina the daughter of Abbas, who was the uncle of the Prophet Mohamed (PBUH).
So his mother was the Prophet’s cousin. His great grandfather, Abi Lahab of course was the Prophet Mohamed’s uncle. Al Fadl the son of Abbas the son of ‘Utba the son of Abi Lahab the son of Abdel Muttalib the son of Haashim said:”I am the black-skinned one (green). I am well-known. My complexion is black (green). I am from the noble house of the Arabs.
Whoever crosses swords with me will cross swords with one who is noble and strong.”Verily the children of Abd Manaf (one of the ancestor’s of the Prophet Mohamed’s branch of Quraish) are jewels and the children of Abdel Muttalib (the grandfather of the Prophet Mohamed) embellished the jewels. “We are a people whom Allah has built nobility for–above the noble houses of the Arabs.
Through His Prophet and the Prophet’s cousin (Ali ibn Abi Talib) and the Prophet’s uncle Abbas the son of Abdel Muttalib.”Concerning these words of Al Fadl ibn Al Abbas ibn ‘Utba ibn Abi Lahab, Ibn Mandour, of the 13th century AD, says in his well-known Arabic lexicon Lisan Al Arab, “He (Al Fadl ibn Al Abbas) says ‘I am pure’ because the color of the Arabs is dark”. Ibn Mandour further says,
“It is said that he (Al Fadl) meant that he is from the purest of the Arabs because most Arabs are black-skinned”.Ibn Berry, the well-known Arab grammarian of the 12th century AD, explains Al Fadl ibn Al Abbas’s words by saying, “…He means by this that his genealogy is pure and that he is a pure Arab because the Arabs describe their color as black and they describe the color of the non-Arab Persians as red”. Click below for original in Arabic. Al-Mubarrad says, “What he means by ‘I am the green one’ is that he is the dark-skinned one – the black-skinned one.
The Arabs used to take pride in dark skin – black skin and they used to despise light skin and they said that light skin is the color of the Persians.”Ibn Mandour further describes the pure Arabs by saying, “Lank hair is the kind of hair that most non-Arab Persians and Romans have while kinky hair is the kind of hair that most Arabs have”. Click below for original in Arabic.There you have it–testimony from the original Arabs themselves.
They have told us that the pure Arabs are black-skinned with kinky hair. They have proven beyond a shadow of doubt that the true appearance of the pure Arabs is entirely different from what people today think that a pure Arab looks like. Does it make any sense to disregard what the original, pure Arabs said about the appearance of the pure Arabs?