Al-Bayhaqī said:
ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Bishrān informed us; Ismāʿīl ibn Muḥammad al-Ṣaffār informed us; Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq Abū Bakr narrated to us; Salamah ibn Ḥafṣ al-Saʿdī narrated to us; Yaḥyā ibn al-Yamān narrated to us; Isrāʾīl narrated to us from Simāk, from Jābir ibn Samurah, who said:
“The little toe of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ lay so close to the toe beside it that they appeared joined.” (1) This ḥadīth is gharīb (solitary).
Description of his Stature ﷺ and the Sweetness of his Fragrance
In Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, through the isnād of Rabīʿah from Anas, it is related: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was of medium height among the people, neither tall nor short.” (2)
Abū Isḥāq reports from al-Barāʾ: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ had the most handsome face and the finest character of all people; he was neither tall nor short.” (3) Both al-Bukhārī and Muslim record it in their Ṣaḥīḥs.
Nāfiʿ ibn Jubayr transmits from ʿAlī: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was neither tall nor short; I have never seen anyone like him before or after.” (4)
Saʿīd ibn Manṣūr relates—through Khālid ibn ʿAbd Allāh, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, from his father, from his grandfather—that ʿAlī said: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was neither tall nor short, though he inclined toward height, and his perspiration was like pearls …” and so on. (6)
Saʿīd also narrates—from Nūḥ ibn Qays (7), from Khālid ibn Khālid al-Tamīmī, from Yūsuf ibn Māzin al-Rāsibī, from—
(1) al-Bayhaqi, Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwah (Proofs of Prophethood), vol. 1, p. 248. Its isnad includes Salama ibn Hafs al-Sa‘di. Ibn Hibban states that he fabricated hadiths, making his narrations inadmissible as proof or for transmission; this particular report is baseless. The Prophet ﷺ had a medium (balanced) build.
(2) Narrated by al-Bukhari in his Sahih, no. 3547 (Virtues).
(3) Narrated by al-Bukhari in his Sahih, no. 3549 (Virtues), and by Muslim in his Sahih, no. 2337 (Virtues).
(4) Reported by al-Tirmidhi in al-Jami‘, no. 3637 (Virtues), and by Ahmad in his Musnad (1/96). Mentioned above on several occasions; it is authentic.
(5) The edition reads “from Khalid ibn Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Umar ibn Ali,” which is a pure mistake. The correct narrator is Khalid ibn Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Yazid al-Ṭahhan, one of the students of the Two Shaykhs; Sa‘id ibn Mansur’s transmission from him appears in Muslim (cf. Tahdhib al-Kamal, 8/101; 11/78). By contrast, Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Umar ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib is among the narrators of al-Nasa’i and Abu Dawud. He is thiqa hasan (trustworthy and good); Ibn Hajar calls him maqbūl (accepted) in At-Taqrib (see Al-Tahrir, 2/265). His name was also distorted in al-Bayhaqi’s Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwah (1/252); see Tahdhib al-Kamal (16/93). (Bashar)
(6) al-Bayhaqi, Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwah, vol. 1, p. 252, via Ya‘qub ibn Sufyan from Sa‘id; its isnad is hasan (good).
(7) The printed text reads “Ruḥ,” which is incorrect. The narrator is Nuḥ ibn Qays ibn Ruba‘ al-Azdi, brother of Khalid ibn Qays. He is among Muslim’s transmitters (cf. Al-Tahrir, 4/27; Musnad Ahmad, 1/151; etc.). (Bashar)