The Sacred
Strands of Hair
he Companions of the
Prophet would collect
: strands of his hair and
beard after they were cut for keep-
sakes. Anas ibn Malik explained this
as follows: "Once I saw the Prophet
while he was being shaved by a bar-
ber. The Companions had surround-
ed him, and they did not allow a sin-
gle strand to fall on the ground. They
picked up all of them." 8
According to Umm Umara's narra-
tive, when the Muslims stopped in
Hudaybiya on their way to perform
minor pilgrimage, hair shaved from
the Prophet was left on a tree
branch. The Companions collected it
and shared it among themselves
Umm Umara always kept a handful of
hair with her. For medicinal purposes
it was put in water used to wash il
people.
During the Farewell Pilgrimage
the Prophet gave his hair that had
been cut by Mamar ibn 'Abd Allah to
Abu Talha al-Ansari and told him to
"distribute it to people." The famous
Muslim commander Khalid ibn al-
Walid asked for some hair from the
Prophet, which he placed in his tur
ban and carried for the rest of his life.
Later, when he was criticized for put-
ting himself in danger while trying to
retrieve his turban which had fallen
off during battle, Khalid said that the
Prophet's hair was inside it, adding
that God always granted him victory
for the sake of that hair.