Prophet Muhammad, the Arabs and the Many Shades of Blackness

“If a person’s complexion is intensely black (shadīd al-sawād), he is described as hālik. If his/her blackness has a red hue, he/she is daghmān. If his complexion is lighter than that, he is asḥam. If the blackness has a yellow hue, he is aṣḥum. If his complexion in dark (kudra), it is described as arbad. If the complexion is lighter than that (i.e. arbad), it is abyaḍ. If there is less of a yellow hue and the complexion inclines toward black (al-sawād), it is ādam. If it is lighter thanarbad and darker than ādam, it is shadīd al-udma. If it is lighter than ādam, it is shadīd al-sumra(“intensely dark brown”). If lighter than that, it is asmar (dark brown).”...

The question is thus not whether or not the ancient Arabs, and thus the Arab Prophet, were black or not. The clearly self-identified as black. The question is: which shade of black were they?

The Arabs generally self-identified as akhdar, ādam, and asmar which range from very dark brown to normal brown (which is a much darker color than tan). They tended to disparage and distance themselves from the extreme pitch-blackness like hālik and attributed this to certain African groups.

The obvious next question is whether they "tended to disparage and distance themselves from the "extreme whiteness" however defined. Hat tip to Planet Grenada