The Messenger of Allah ﷺ had a large head, great eyes, long eyelashes, a slight redness in the whites of his eyes, a thick beard, and a radiant complexion. When he walked, he leaned forward as though descending a slope. When he turned, he turned his whole body. His palms and feet were thick.
كان رسول الله ﷺ ضخم الرأس، عظيم العينين، هدب الأشفار، مشرب العين، بحمرة، كث اللحية، أزهر اللون، إذا مشى تكفأ كأنما يمشي في صعد، وإذا التفت التفت جميعا، شثن الكفين والقدمين.
Narrated by Ahmad (684, 796), Ibn Saad (1/410), Bukhari in Adab al-Mufrad (1315), Bazzar (660), and Bayhaqi in Dalail Nubuwwah (1/212), all of them through Hammad bin Salama, from Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Aqeel, from Muhammad bin Ali, from his father, who said, then he related it.Its chain is hasan because of Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Aqeel, since his hadith is hasan as long as he does not contradict others, and he has been corroborated. He was corroborated by Salim bin Abdullah Makki, as reported by Bazzar (645) and Abu Yaala (370). Muhammad bin Ali here is Ibn Hanafiya.With the same meaning, it was also narrated from Ali that whenever he described the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, he would say, "The Messenger of Allah was not excessively tall and lanky, nor was he short and stocky. He was of medium height among his people. His hair was neither tightly curled nor completely straight, but gently wavy. He was not overly fleshy in the face, nor was his face round and plump, though there was a roundness to it. He was fair-skinned, tinged with red, with intensely black eyes and long eyelashes. He had prominent joints and a broad upper back. He was smooth-bodied except for a fine line of hair running down from his chest, and his palms and feet were thick. When he walked, he stepped firmly, as if descending a slope. When he turned to look at something, he turned his whole body together. Between his shoulders was the seal of prophethood, which is the seal of the prophets. He was the most generous of people in heart, the most truthful of people in speech, the gentlest of them in nature, and the most noble of them in companionship. Whoever saw him unexpectedly was struck with awe of him, and whoever came to know him closely loved him." The one describing him would say, "I never saw before him or after him anyone like him," ﷺ.Tirmidhi narrated it (3638) and said, "This hadith's chain is not connected." In one manuscript of Tirmidhi's Sunan there is an addition, "hasan gharib," but this is the weaker view. Its chain is daif, containing two flaws. Ibrahim bin Muhammad bin Hanafiya, the narrator from Ali, did not meet Ali. It also contains Umar bin Abdullah Madani, the client of Afra bint Rabah, or as some say, Ghufayra bint Rabah, who is daif. Even so, some of its passages have sahih corroborating evidence.