Description of the Prophet Mohammed (SAW)

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.

AppearanceMuhammad (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 the time of his death, he had seventeen
gray hairs in it. He had a thin line of fine hair over
his neck and chest.
His gait was firm and he walked so fast that others
found it diffucult 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, yet he
always kept himself busy with something. He did not
speak unnecessarily and what he said 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, 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").
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 livingHis 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."

Amr Ibn Al-Harith, a brother in law of the prophet
(pbuh), says that when the prophet died, he did 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 from a 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 about this
that he would not appoint any member of his family 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 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 Arabia
and an apostle of Allah, he never assumed an air of
superiority. Not that he had to conceal any such vein
by practice and artifice: with fear of Allah, sincere
humility was ingrained in his heart. He used to say,
"I am a Prophet of Allah but I do not know what will
be my end." (Bukhari, Sahih Bukhari, Chapter
"Al-Janaiz")

In one of his sermons calculated to instill the fear
of Allah and the day of reckoning in the hearts of
men, he said, "O people of Quraish be prepared for the hereafter, I
cannot save you from the punishment of Allah; O Bani
Abd Manaf, I cannot save you from Allah; O Abbas, son
of Abdul Mutalib, I cannot protect you either; O
Fatima, daughter of Muhammad, even you I cannot save."
(Sahahin)

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."
He would not deny courtesy even to wicked persons. It
is stated that a person came to his house and asked
permission for admission. The prophet (pbuh) remarked
that he was not a good person but might be admitted.
When he came in and while he remained in the house, he
was shown full courtesy. When he left Aiysha (ra)
said,
"You did not think well of this man, but you treated
him so well."
The prophet (pbuh) replied,
"He is a bad person in the sight of Allah who does not
behave courteously and people shun his company bacause
of his bad manners." (Bukhari, Sahih Bukhari)
He was always the first to greet another and would not
withdraw his hand from a handshake till the other man
withdrew his. If one wanted to say something in his
ears, he would not turn away till one had finished
(Abu Dawud, Tirmizi). He did not like people to get up
for him and used to say,
"Let him who likes people to stand up in his honour,
he should seek a place in hell." (Abu Dawud, Kitabul
Adab, Muhammadi Press, Delhi).
He would himself, however, stand up when any dignitary
came to him. He had stood up to receive the wet nurse
who had reared him in infancy and had spread his own
sheet for her. His foster brother was given similar
treatment. He avoided sitting at a prominent place in
a gathering, so much so that people coming in had
difficulty in spotting him and had to ask which was
the Prophet (pbuh). Quite frequently uncouth bedouins
accosted him in their own gruff and impolite manner
but he never took offence. (Abu Dawud Kitabul Atama).
He used to visit the poorest of ailing persons and
exhorted all muslims to do likewise (Bukhari, Sahih
Bukhari, Chapter "Attendance on ailing persons").

He would sit with the humblest of persons saying that
righteousness alone was the criterion of one's
superiority over another. He invariably invited people
be they slaves, servants or the poorest believers, to
partake with him of his scanty meals (Tirmizi, Sunan
Tirmizi).

Whenever he visited a person he would first greet him
and then take his permission to enter the house. He
advised the people to follow this etiquette and not to
get annoyed if anyone declined to give permission, for
it was quite likely the person concerned was busy
otherwise and did not mean any disrespect (Ibid).

There was no type of household work too low or too
undignified for him. Aiysha (ra) has stated,

"He always joined in household work and would at times
mend his clothes, repair his shoes and sweep the
floor. He would milk, tether, and feed his animals and
do the household shopping." (Qazi Iyaz: Shifa;
Bukhari, Sahih Bukhari, Chapter: Kitabul Adab)
He would not hesitate to do the menial work of others,
particularly of orphans and widows (Nasi, Darmi). Once
when there was no male member in the house of the
companion Kabab Bin Arat who had gone to the
battlefield, he used to go to his house daily and milk
his cattle for the inhabitants (Ibn Saad Vol. 6, p
213).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Children
He was especially fond of children and used to get
into the spirit of childish games in their company. He
would have fun with the children who had come back
from Abyssinia and tried to speak in Abyssinian with
them. It was his practice to give lifts on his camel
to children when he returned from journeys (Bukhari,
Sahih Bukhari, Vol. 2 pg.886). He would pick up
children in his arms, play with them, and kiss them. A
companion, recalling his childhood, said,
"In my childhood I used to fell dates by throwing
stones at palm trees. Somebody took me to the Prophet
(pbuh) who advised me to pick up the dates lying on
the ground but not to fell them with stones. He then
patted me and blessed me." (Abu Dawud)

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).
On friday he used to give sermons after the weekly
"Jumma" prayers. He was not annoyed if anyone
interrupted him during the sermons for anything. It is
stated that once, while he was delivering his sermon,
a bedouin approached him and said, "O messenger of
Allah, I am a traveler and am ignorant of my
religion." The prophet (pbuh) got down from the
pulpit, explained the salient features of Islam to him
and then resumed the sermon (Tirmizi, Sunan Tirmizi).

On another occasion his grandson Husain, still a
child, came tumbling to him while he was delivering a
sermon. He descended and took him in his lap and then
continued the sermon (Ibid).

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 Arabia and
beyond will one day espouse its cause." (Ibn Hisham,
Sirat-ur-Rasul.)
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)
To another well-wisher, he said,
"Allah will not leave me forelorn."
A dejected and oppressed disciple was comforted with
the words:
"By Allah, the day is near when this faith will reach
its pinnacle and none will have to fear anyone except
Allah." (Bukhari, Sahih Bukhari)
It was the same trust in Allah (swt) which emboldened
the prophet (pbuh) to say his prayers openly in the
haram in the teeth of opposition. The Quraish were
once collected there and were conspiring to put an end
to his life when he next entered the haram. His young
daughter Fatima, who happened to overhear their talk
rushed weeping to her father and told him of the
designs of the Quraish. He consoled her, did his
ablutions and went to the Kaaba to say prayers. There
was only consternation among the Quraish when they saw
him (Ahmed, Musnad, Vol. 1, pg. 368).
Then leaving his house for Madinah he asked Ali (ra)
to sleep on his bed and told him,

"Do not worry, no one will be able to do you any harm"
(Tabari, Ibn Hisham)
Even though the enemies had surrounded the house, he
left the house reciting the Quranic verse:
"We have set a barricade before them and a barricade
behind them and (thus) have covered them so that they
see not" (translation of Qur'an 36:9)
Abu Bakr was frightened when pursuers came close to
the cavern in which he and Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)
were hiding during their flight, but the Prophet
(pbuh) heartened him,
"Grieve not. Allah is with us."
A guard was kept at the Prophet's house in Madinah
because of the danger that surrounded him but he had
it withdrawn when the Quranic verse was revealed:
"Allah will protect you from the people" (translation
of Qur'an 5:67).
A man was caught waiting in ambush to assault the
Prophet (pbuh) but he was directed to be released with
the words,
"Even if this man wanted to kill me, he could not."
(Ahmed, Musnad, Vol.3 pg. 471)
A Jewess from Khaibar had put poison in the Prophet's
(pbuh) food. He spat it out after taking a morsel but
a disciple who had his fill died the next day. The
Jewess was brought before the prophet (pbuh) who
questioned her:
"Why did you do this?" "To kill you," was her defiant
reply. She was told, "Allah would not have allowed you
to do it." (Muslim, Sahih Muslim.)
In the battle of Uhud when the rear guard action of
the Makkan army had disorganized the Muslim army and
had turned the tables, the Prophet (pbuh) stood as
firm as a rock even though he had suffered personal
injuries. When Abu Sufiyan taunted the Muslims and
shouted "Victory to hubal!" (hubal was one of their
idols), the Prophet (pbuh) asked Umar (ra) to shout
back, "Allah is our protector and friend. You have no
protector and friend. Allah is Great, Magnificent."
(Ibn Hisham, Sirat-Ur-Rasul).
Again in the battle of Hunain, when the unexpected
assault of the army had swept the Muslim force off its
feet and a defeat seemed imminent, the Prophet (pbuh)
did not yield ground. With trust in Allah (swt) he
showed such courage that the Muslim army rallied
behind him to win a signal victory.