He said: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was fair-skinned and handsome; when he walked it was as though he were descending a decline.” This is the wording cited by Abū Dāwūd.

Imām Aḥmad (1) said: “Yazīd ibn Hārūn narrated to us; al-Jurayrī informed us:
‘I was performing ṭawāf with Abū l-Ṭufayl when he remarked, “No one who saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is still alive but me.” I asked, “And did you see him?” He replied, “Yes.” I then said, “How would you describe him?” He answered, “He was fair, handsome, and perfectly proportioned.”’

Al-Tirmidhī (3) transmitted the same ḥadīth through Sufyān ibn Wakīʿ and Muḥammad ibn Bashshār, both from Yazīd ibn Hārūn, with this identical chain.

Al-Bayhaqī (4) said: “Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥāfiẓ related to us; ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaʿfar—or Abū l-Faḍl Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm—related to us; Aḥmad ibn Salamah narrated to us; Wāṣil ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā al-Asadī narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn Fuḍayl narrated to us, from Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid, from Abū Juḥayfa who said: ‘I saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: he was fair-skinned, some grey had appeared in his hair, and al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī resembled him.’

He then added: “Muslim (5) recorded this through Wāṣil ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā, and al-Bukhārī (6) through ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī, from Muḥammad ibn Fuḍayl. The core of the report is found in both Ṣaḥīḥs, although in different wording that will be cited later.”

Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq narrated—from al-Zuhrī, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mālik ibn Juʿshum, from his father—that Suraqah ibn Mālik said: “I came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ; when I drew near to him while he was on his she-camel, I kept gazing at his shin—it was like the fresh pith of a date-palm.”