He passed his hand over my head, prayed that I be blessed, then performed ablution, and I drank from the water of his ablution. After that I stood behind him and looked at the Seal of Prophethood between his shoulders—it was like the button of the ḥajlah. Muslim likewise transmitted this ḥadīth (1) from Qutaybah and Muḥammad ibn ʿAbbād, both reporting from Ḥātim ibn Ismāʿīl.
Al-Bukhārī then said:
(Ibn ʿUbayd Allah remarked) (2)
“The ḥajlah is the little tuft on a horse’s forehead between its eyes.”
Ibrāhīm ibn Ḥamzah added: “It was like the knob of the ḥajlah.” (3)
Abū ʿUbayd commented: “It is pronounced ar-riz, with the letter rāʾ before the zāy.”
Muslim also narrated (4):
Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah told us; ʿUbayd Allah narrated to us; from Isrāʾīl, from Simāk, who said he heard Jābir ibn Samurah say:
“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ had a few grey hairs at the front of his head and in his beard. When he applied oil they were not noticeable, but when his hair was unkempt they could be seen. His beard was thick.”
A man asked, “Was his face like a sword?”
He replied, “No; it was like the sun and the moon—rounded. I saw the Seal near his shoulder; it was like a pigeon’s egg, blending with the colour of his skin.”
He further related to us (5):
Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā told us; Muḥammad ibn Ḥazm told us; Shuʿbah related from Simāk, who said, “I heard Jābir ibn Samurah say: I saw a seal on the back of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that looked like a pigeon’s egg.”
Ibn Numayr also narrated to us; ʿUbayd Allah ibn Mūsā related to us; Ḥasan ibn Ṣāliḥ from Simāk—with this same chain—reported the like of it.
Imām Aḥmad said:
ʿAbd al-Razzāq narrated to us; Maʿmar informed us, from ʿĀṣim ibn Sulaymān, from ʿAbd Allah ibn Sarjis, who said:
“Do you see this old man—meaning himself? I spoke with the Prophet of Allah ﷺ, ate with him, and saw the mark that was between his shoulders. It was on the raised part at the top of his left shoulder, like a clenched fist”—and he closed his own hand—“and upon it were moles resembling small warts.” (6)
Aḥmad also said:
Hāshim ibn al-Qāsim and Aswad ibn ʿĀmir narrated to us, both saying: Shurayk reported to us, from ʿĀṣim, from