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