There is not a civilization that has loved and
celebrated its leader as Islamic civilization
has loved and celebrated its Prophet, our master
Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace).
Love is the strongest of all human attachments,
and is the greatest thing that distinguishes the
relationship of Muslims with their Prophet
(Allah bless him and give him peace), who said,
“None of you [truly] believes until I am more
beloved to him than his very self, wealth, and
all people.”
Motivated by this love, as well as by an
understanding of the immense importance of the
personal example of the Prophet (Allah bless him
and give him peace), the Muslim community
recorded and preserved his entire life in the
most exacting detail. The Islamic scholars did
not limit their attention to the moral and legal
example of the Prophet alone (Allah bless him
and give him peace). Rather, they also focused
on his daily life, like his habits of eating,
drinking, and sleeping, as well as other matters
that do not have immediate legal implications.
From that time, until this present day, Muslims
have sought to imitate the example of their
Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) in
all its details, unless they were of the
particular matters that Allah Most High chose
only for him.
The Prophet’s (Allah bless him and give him
peace) external, physical appearance was also
among the matters that Muslims paid great
attention to, as were his habits of dress. Among
the matters of external appearance, the
Prophet’s noble sandals received particular
attention, perhaps because of what his followers
felt of utmost love and humility for the person
of their beloved Prophet (Allah bless him and
give him peace), such that they saw themselves
as less than his sandals.
The Companions and the Noble Sandals
The attention given to the noble sandals is not
an innovated matter. Rather, the first
generations, from the Companions of the Prophet
(Allah bless him and give him peace), were the
first to give them attention and importance,
such that some of them were known to have
distinguished themselves with serving the noble
sandals. It has been reported by Ibn Sa`d that
Anas (Allah be well pleased with him) was the
keeper of the sandals of the Messenger of Allah
(Allah bless him and give him peace).
And Imam al-Sâlihî reported in his work,
Subul al-Huda wa’l Rashâd (8:318) that `Abd
Allâh ibn Mas`ûd (Allah be pleased with him)
used to get up as soon as the Messenger of Allah
(Allah bless him and give him peace) sat down,
and would take off the latter’s sandals, and
place them under his own arms. Then, when the
Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)
would get up, he would put them on him. Many
other narrations have been transmitted from the
Companions giving exact descriptions of the
noble sandals of the Prophet (Allah bless him
and give him peace).
The Attention Given by the Imams and Scholars
to the Noble Sandals
A number of Imams gave the noble sandals of the
Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace)
particular attention, authoring complete works
in describing and praising them, and gathering
that which was transmitted regarding this. Among
them were:
1. Imam Abu Ishâq Ibrahîm ibn Muhammad ibn
Khalaf al-Sullamî, famous as Ibn al-Hâjj, who
collected that which many poets and authors had
written in praise of the sandals.
2. Imam and hadith master Abû al-Yumn `Abd al-Samad
ibn `Abd al-Wahhâb Ibn `Asâkir of Damascus (686
AH), who was buried in the Baqî` cemetery [in
Madina], authored a treatise called A Sketch
of the Sandal of the Prophet (Allah bless him
and give him peace) (Timthâlu Na`l al-Nabiyy),
which is published.
3. The great mujtahid Imam Sirâj al-Dîn `Umar
ibn Raslân al-Bulqînî.
4. Imam Shams al-Dîn Muhammad ibn `Îsa al-Muqri’,
whose book was titled A Joy For Eyes By
Verifying The Matter of The Sandals (Qurrat
al-`Aynayn fî Tahqîq Amr al-Na`layn)
5. Imam Abû al-`Abbâs al-Maqqarî of Tilmisân,
who died in Egypt, wrote the most expansive work
on the issue, An Opening From The Most High
In Praising The Sandals (Fath al-Muta`âl
fî Madh al-Ni`âl). This work is published,
and has three abridgements. The first is by
Radiyy al-Dîn Abu al-Khayr al-Qâdirî; the second
by Abû al-Hasan al-Dimintî; and the third by
Shaykh Yûsuf al-Nabahânî (Allah have mercy on
them all).
6. The author of the work Collected Pearls
from the Bewildering Design and the Unique
Exposition on the Characteristics of the
Depiction of the Sandals of the Messenger of
Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) (
al-La’ali’ al-Majmû`a Min Bâhir al-Nizâm wa
Bâri` al-Kalâm fî Sifat Mithâl Na`li Rasûl Allâh),
who was one of the scholars of Cordoba, as
mentioned by the historian Abû Sâlim al-`Ayyâshî
in his famous travelogue.
The Place of the Depiction of the Noble
Sandals and their Baraka
The depiction of the noble Prophetic sandals has
had a special place in the hearts of Muslims
since it points to one of the needs of their
tremendous Prophet (Allah bless him and give him
peace), and since it inspires in them the utmost
humility towards his high rank (Allah bless him
and give him peace). Because of this, they took
care to record this depiction, and to draw it,
and they sometimes even placed it under their
turbans, to feel their complete subservience to
the tremendousness of this most noble Messenger
(Allah bless him and give him peace). They also
hung this depiction in their houses, seeking
baraka from it.
Writers and poets wrote eloquently in praise of
the noble sandals and in describing the feelings
of ecstatic love for their wearer (Allah bless
him and give him peace). Imam Abû al-`Abbâs
gathered a significant amount of these writing
in his aforementioned work, as well as in his
treatise Azhâr al-Riyâd
May the best of blessings and peace be upon the
owner of these blessed sandals.
Sandal