One day the Prophet – Sal Allaahu Alayhi wa Sallam – sat with his companions when a Bedouin came. Immediately the man asked the Prophet – Sal Allaahu Alayhi wa Sallam, “When is the final hour?” A question the Prophet – Sal Allaahu Alayhi wa Sallam – disliked. The Prophet – Sal Allaahu Alayhi wa Sallam – replied, “What have you prepared for it?” The Bedouin said, “I have not prepared much Salah, or much Sawm, or much Sadaqah, but one thing: I love Allah and His Messenger.” Then the Prophet – Sal Allaahu Alayhi wa Sallam – said, “You shall be with whom you love!” Anas – Radi Allahu Anhu – the narrator of the hadith said, “By Allah, nothing brought us more happiness after our Islam than that statement: ‘you shall be with whom you love.’ I love Allah and His Messenger, and Abu Bakr and Umar; And I hope to be with them (on the final day) even though I have not done as much as they did. – Muslim
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPHET
When the Messenger of Allah – Sal Allaahu Alayhi wa Sallam – performed Hijra from Makkah to Medinah, he and his companion Abu Bakr – Radi Allahu Anhu – stopped at the home of Umm Ma’bad. They asked her for food/milk and she said that there was none. Then, seeing a weak, frail calf in the corner, the Messenger of Allah – Sal Allaahu Alayhi wa Sallam – asked if he could milk it. The Prophet – Sal Allaahu Alayhi wa Sallam – pet the calf on the back, praying, until it opened it’s legs in preparation for milking. The milk poured and poured as Umm Ma’bad watched in shock.
Later, when her husband came home with the frail flock he saw the blessing shine from the walls and inquired, “What has happened here?” Umm Ma’bad then described the Prophet – Sal Allaahu Alayhi wa Sallam. Her description of the Prophet – Sal Allaahu Alayhi wa Sallam – is one of the most detailed. Amongst the things she said was that his face was like a moon and his voice was beautiful. His beard was long and full, his hair reached his shoulders. Tranquility befell him when he was silent, and if he spoke he was magnificent. From far he was the handsomest man, and from near he was the greatest. Flanking him were men, if he spoke they listened, and if he commanded, they hastily complied.
Abu Ma’bad knew who he was. He said, “Verily this is the man that Quraish is looking for. I once thought of following him, and when I meet him I shall.” He then called out poetry that all the inhabitants of Makkah heard on the horizon:
SOME PERSONAL QUALITIES:
DRESS
His dress generally consisted of a shirt, tamad (trousers), a sheet thrown round the sholders and a turban. On rare occasions, he would put on costly robes presented to him by foreign emissaries in the later part of his life (Ahmed, Musnad, Hafiz Bin Qaiyyam).
He had very few spare clothes, but he kept them spotlessy clean (Bukhari). He wanted others also to put on simple but clean clothes. Once he saw a person putting on dirty clothes and remarked,
"Why can't this man wash them." (Abu Dawud, Chapter "Dress").
MODE OF LIVING
His house was but a hut with walls of unbaked clay and a thatched roof of palm leaves covered by camel skin. He had separate apartments for his wives, a small room for each made of similar materials. His own apartment contained a rope cot, a pillow stuffed with palm leaves , the skin of some animal spread on the floor and a water bag of leather and some weapons. These were all his earthly belongings, besides a camel, a horse, and an ass and some land which he had aquired in the later part of his life (Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud). Once a few of his disciples, noticing the imprint of his mattress on his body, wished to give him a softer bed but he politely declined the offer saying,
"What have I to do with worldly things. My connection with the world is like that of a traveler resting for a while underneath the shade of a tree and then moving on."
MANNERS
"By the grace of Allah, you are gentle towards the people; if you had been stern and ill-tempered, they would have dispersed from round about you" (translation of Qur'an 3:159)
About himself the prophet (pbuh) said
"Allah has sent me as an apostle so that I may demonstrate perfection of character, refinement of manners and loftiness of deportment." (Malik, Mawatta; Ahmed, Musnad; Mishkat)
By nature he was gentle and kind hearted, always inclined to be gracious and to overlook the faults of others. Politeness and courtesy, compassion and tenderness, simplicity and humility, sympathy and sincerity were some of the keynotes of his character. In the cause of right and justice he could be resolute and severe but more often than not, his severity was tempered with generosity. He had charming manners which won him the affection of his followers and secured their devotion. Though virtual king of
"I am a Prophet of Allah but I do not know what will be my end." (Bukhari, Sahih Bukhari, Chapter "Al-Janaiz")
He used to pray,
"O Allah! I am but a man. If I hurt any one in any manner, then forgive me and do not punish me." (Ahmed, Musnad, Vol. 6 pg. 103)
He always received people with courtesy and showed respect to older people and stated:
"To honor an old man is to show respect to Allah."
DAILY ROUTINE
On the authority of Ali, Tirmizi has recorded that the Prophet (pbuh) had carefully apportioned his time according to the demands on him for
- offering worship to Allah
- public affairs, and
- personal matters.
After the early morning prayers he would remain sitting in the mosque reciting praises of Allah till the sun rose and more people collected. He would then preach to them. After the sermons were over, he would talk genially with the people, enquire about their welfare and even exchange jokes with them. Taxes and revenues were also disrtibuted at this time (Muslim, Sahih Muslim Tirmizi, Sunan Tirmizi). He would then offer chaste prayers and go home and get busy with household work (Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmizi). He would again return to the mosque for the mid-day and afternoon prayers, listen to the problems of the people and give solace and guidance to them. After the afternoon prayers, he would visit each of his wives and, after the evening prayers, his wives would collect at one place and he would have his dinner (Muslim, Sahih Muslim). After the night prayers, he would recite some suras of the Quran and before going to bed would pray:
"O Allah, I die and live with thy name on my lips."
On getting up he would say,
"All praise to Allah Who has given me life after death and towards Whom is the return."
He used to brush his teeth five times a day, before each of the daily prayers. After midnight, he used to get up for the tahajjud prayers which he never missed even once in his life (Bukhari, Sahih Bukhari). He was not fastidious about his bed: sometimes he slept on his cot, sometimes on a skin or ordinary matress, and sometimes on the ground (Zarqani).
TRUST IN ALLAH (SWT)
Muhammad (pbuh) preached to the people to trust in Allah (swt). His whole life was a sublime example of the precept. In the loneliness of Makkah, in the midst of persecution and danger, in adversity and tribulations, and in the thick of enemies in the battles of Uhud and Hunain, complete faith and trust in Allah (swt) appears as the dominant feature in his life. However great the danger that confronted him, he never lost hope and never allowed himself to be unduly agitated. Abu Talib knew the feelings of the Quraish when the Prophet (pbuh) started his mission. He also knew the lengths to which the Quraish could go, and requested the Prophet (pbuh) to abandon his mission, but the latter calmly replied,
"Dear uncle, do not go by my loneliness. Truth will not go unsupported for long. The whole of
When the attitude of the Quraish became more threatening, Abu Talib again begged his nephew to renounce his mission but the Prophet's (pbuh) reply was:
"O my uncle, if they placed the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left, to force me to renounce my work, verily I would not desist thereform until Allah made manifest His cause, or I perished in the attempt." (Ibid)
KINDNESS TO ANIMALS
The Prophet (pbuh) not only preached to the people to show kindness to each other but also to all living souls. He forbade the practice of cutting tails and manes of horses, of branding animals at any soft spot, and of keeping horses saddled unnecessarily (Muslim, Sahih Muslim). If he saw any animal over-loaded or ill-fed he would pull up the owner and say,
"Fear Allah in your treatment of animals." (Abu Dawud, Kitab Jihad).
LOVE FOR THE POOR
The Prophet (pbuh) enjoined upon Muslims to treat the poor kindly and to help them with alms, zakat, and in other ways. He said:
"He is not a perfect muslim who eats his fill and lets his neighbor go hungry."
He asked,
"Do you love your Creator? Then love your fellow beings first."
Monopoly is unlawful in Islam and he preached that
"It is diffucult for a man laden with riches to climb the steep path that leads to bliss."
He did not prohibit or discourage the aquisition of wealth but insisted that it be lawfully aquired by honest means and that a portion of it would go to the poor. He advised his followers
"To give the laborer his wages before his perspiration dried up."
He did not encourage beggary either and stated that
"Allah is gracious to him who earns his living by his own labor, and that if a man begs to increase his property, Allah will diminish it and whoever has food for the day, it is prohibited for him to beg."
To his wife he said,
"O Ayesha, love the poor and let them come to you and Allah will draw you near to Himself." (Bukhari, Sahih Bukhari)
