Chapter: Reports of the Prophet’s Portrait
And the portraits of the earlier prophets kept by the People of the Book in Syria

ʿAbd Allah ibn Shabīb al-Rabʿī—who is exceedingly weak—said: Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar ibn Saʿīd ibn Muḥammad ibn Jubayr ibn Muṭʿim narrated to us; he said: My aunt Umm ʿUthmān told me, from her father Saʿīd, from his father, that he heard his own father Jubayr ibn Muṭʿim say:

When Allah sent His Prophet ﷺ and his call prevailed in Mecca, I travelled to Syria. Upon reaching Busra, a group of Christians came to me and asked, “Are you from the Sacred Precinct?” I replied, “Yes.” They said, “Do you know the man who has claimed prophethood among you?” I said, “Yes.” They led me into one of their monasteries in which there were portraits and said, “Look—do you see his portrait?” I looked but did not find it and said, “I do not see it.” They then took me into a monastery larger than the first. I looked, and there before me were the description and portrait of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, as well as the description and portrait of Abu Bakr, who was holding the heel of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. They asked, “Do you see his description?” I said, “Yes.” They asked, “Is that he?” I said, “By Allah, yes; I testify that it is he.” They then asked, “Do you recognize the one holding his heel?” I said, “Yes.” They said, “We bear witness that this is your companion and that he is the caliph after him.”

Al-Bukhārī narrated this in his History from a certain Muḥammad—whose full lineage he did not state—on the authority of Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar ibn Saʿīd, in a wording shorter than the one above.

Ibrāhīm ibn al-Haytham al-Baladī said: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Muslim ibn Idrīs narrated to us; he said: ʿAbd Allah ibn Idrīs narrated to us, from Sharahbīl ibn Muslim, from