The following is an excerpt from the book entitled "The Message of
Mohammad", by Athar Husain . Among other things, it talks about some
of the personal characteristics of the prophet Mohammed (Peace Be Upon
Him), the final messenger of Allah (God). It has been edited slightly
in order to reduce it's length. Care has been taken not to change the
content inshallah. The topics include:
Appearance
Muhammad (pbuh) was of a height a little above the average. He was of
sturdy build with long muscular limbs and tapering fingers.The hair of
his head was long and thick with some waves in them. His forehead was
large and prominent, his eyelashes were long and thick, his nose was
sloping, his mouth was somewhat large and his teeth were well set. His
cheeks were spare and he had a pleasant smile. His eyes were large and
black with a touch of brown. His beard was thick and at thetime of his
death, he had seventeen gray hairs in it. He had a thin line of fine
hair over his neck and chest. He was fair of complexion and
altogetherwas so handsome that AbuBakr composed this couplet on him:
"as there is no darkness in the moonlit night so is Mustafa, the
well-wisher, bright." His gait was firm and he walked so fast that
others found it difficult to keep pace with him. His face was genial
but at times, when he was deep in thought, there there were long
periods of silence, yethe always kept himself busy with something. He
did not speak unnecessarily and what hesaid was always to the point
and without any padding. At times he would make his meaning clear by
slowly repeating what he had said. His laugh was mostly a smile. He
kept his feelings under firm control - when annoyed, he would turn
aside or keep silent, when pleased he would lower his eyes (Shamail
Tirmizi).
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).
His blanket had several patches (Tirmizi). He had very few spare
clothes, buthe kept them spotlessy clean (Bukhari). He wantedothers
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"). On
another occasion he enquired of a person in dirty clothes whether he
had any income. Upon getting a reply in the affirmative, he observed,
"When Allah has blessed you with His bounty, your appearence should
reflect it." (Abu Dawud) He used to observe:
"Cleanliness is piety".
Mode of living
His house was but a hut with walls of unbaked clayand a thatched roof
of palm leaves covered by camel skin. He had separate apartments for
his wives, a small room foreach made of similar materials. His own
apartment contained a rope cot, a pillow stuffed with palm leaves ,
the skinof 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." Amr Ibn Al-Harith, a brother in law of the
prophet (pbuh), says that when the prophet died, hedid not leave a
cent, a slave man or woman, or any property except his white mule, his
weapons and a piece of land which he had dedicated for the good of the
community (Bukhari, Sahih Bukhari).
He advised the people to live simple lives and himself practised great
austerities. Even when he had become the virtual king of arabia, he
lived an austere life bordering on privation. His wife Aiysha (ra)
says that there was hardly a day in his life when he had two square
meals (Muslim, Sahih Muslim, Vol.2, pg 198). When he died there was
nothing in his house except a few seeds of barley left from a mound of
the grain obtained froma Jew by pawning his armour (Bukhari, Sahih
Bukhari, Chapter "Aljihad").
He had declared unlawful for himself and his family anything given by
the people by way of zakat or sadaqa (types of charity). He was so
particular aboutthis that he would not appoint any member of hisfamily
as a zakat collector (Sahah-Kitab Sadqat).
His manners and disposition
"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 Quran 3:159)
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