Is It True That the Prophet Yusuf Was Given Half of Beauty and the Prophet Muhammad Was Given All of It?

Answered by Ustadh Abdullah Anik Misra

Question: Is the hadith, “Yusuf was given half of beauty and I was given all of it”, a sound hadith? If so, where is it narrated and what commentary has been given on it?

Answer: In the Name of Allah Most Merciful and Compassionate,

As salamu alaikum,

Thank you for your question.

The first part of the quotation you mentioned, that the prophet Yusuf [peace be upon him] “was indeed given half of beauty” is a rigorously authenticated hadith found in Sahih Muslim, Ahmad, and others.

The second part of your quotation, “and I was given all of it”, to the best of my knowledge and research, is not a hadith.  However, it is true in meaning, because the Prophet [Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him] was the most beautiful human being that ever existed.

What the hadith means is that Yusuf [peace be upon him] was endowed with a large share of the beauty of the people of the world- more than anyone else, but some scholars said the Prophet [peace and blessings be upon him], as the speaker, was excluding himself from this comparison. [S. Usmani, Fath al Mulhim]

Ibn al-Munayyir opined that it does not mean half of the beauty in the world, rather, half of the beauty that the Prophet Muhammad [Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him] was given, as he reached the limit, while Yusuf only reached half of that. [al-Munawi, Fayd
al-Qadir]

This leaves us to reflect, that if a group of women cut their hands while distracted at the sight of Yusuf’s beauty, what must the beauty of our beloved Messenger [peace and blessings be upon him] have been like?  May Allah Ta’ala grant us the sight of it in our dreams, and forever in the Hereafter, Ameen.

Also read: Is Prophet Muhammad more beautiful than Prophet Yusuf?

Wasalam,

Abdullah Anik Misra

Checked & Approve by Faraz Rabbani