The Person and Character of the Prophet Muhammad (5)

His Disposition

“When Ayesha was questioned about Muhammad, she used to say: “He was a man just such as yourselves; he laughed often and smiled much: If he had the choice between two matters, he would always choose the easier, so that no sin accrued therefrom. He never took revenge, excepting where the honour of God was concerned. When angry with any person, he would say: “What has taken such a one that he should soil his forehead in the dust.”

Humility:

“His humility was shown by his riding upon asses, by his accepting the invitation even of slaves, and when mounted, by his taking another behind him. He would say: “I sit at meals as a servant does, and I eat like a servant, for I really am a servant”, and he would sit as one that was ready to rise. He discouraged supererogatory fasting, and works of mortification. He hated nothing more than lying; and whenever he knew that any of his followers had erred in this respect, he would hold himself aloof from them, until he was assured of their repentance.”

Attitude at Prayers:

“He used to stand for such a length of time at prayer that his legs would swell. When remonstrated with, he said, “What shall I not behave as a thankful servant should? He never yawned at prayer. When he sneezed, he did so with a subdued voice, covering his face. At funerals he never rode; he would remain silent on such occasions, as if conversing with himself so that the people used to think he was holding communication with the dead.[1]”

The following are abstracts of Washington Irving’s account of the characteristics of the Prophet Muhammad[2].

His intellectual qualities were undoubtedly of an extraordinary kind. He had a quick apprehension, a retentive memory, a vivid imagination, and an inventive genius. His ordinary discourse was grave and sententious, abounding with those aphorisms and epilogues, so popular among the Arabs; at times, he was excited and eloquent, and his eloquence was aided by a voice musical sonorous.

He was sober and abstemious in his diet, and a rigorous observer of fasts. He indulged in no magnificence of apparel, the ostentation of a petty mind; neither was his simplicity in dress affected, but the result of a real disregard to distinction from so trivial a source. His garments were sometimes of wool, sometimes of the striped cotton of Yemen, and were often patched. He forbade the wearing of clothes entirely of silk; but permitted a mixture of thread and silk.

He was scrupulous as to personal cleanliness, and observed frequent ablutions. In his private dealings he was just. He treated friends and strangers, the rich and the poor, the powerful and the weak, with equity, and was beloved by the common people for the affability, with which he received them, and listened to their complaints. In the self-indulgent intercourse of domestic life, he was kind and tolerant. “I served him from the time I was eight years old,” said his servant Anas, ‘and he never scolded me for anything, though things were spoiled by me.”

The Social Changes Brought about by the Prophet

Dealing with the social changes brought about by the Prophet, Dr. Noldeke [3] states: “One fact among others by which we can estimate the striking impression the Prophet produced upon the Arabs, is that as each tribe submitted, or adopted his religion, it renounced the right of revenge for the bloodshed in the struggle. Under other circumstances, this abandonment of blood revenge, at least, would have seemed to the Arab the lowest depth of humiliation. This was, indeed so striking a feature of the new brotherhood that it could not fail to make a silent but deep impression upon the unbelieving multitude who now began to feel the new religion power.

“To those who seek miracles, this glorious result, achieved in less than a decade, constitute a real and splendid miracle of Islam, which alone gives it the title, to be ranked as a great religion and a wonderful civilising agency. In an exquisitely beautiful passage, full of grace and wisdom, the Glorious Qu’ran draws a contrast between the life and manners of the Arabs in the shade of Islam and those in pre-Islamic times; and urges upon the true believers a true union of hearts, and dwells on the real purpose of the advent of the new religion. Here is a translation of the verses:

‘O you believers, fear God as He deserves to be feared; and die not but as true Muslims. And hold you fast by the cord of God, all of you, and do not scatter yourselves, and remember God’s goodness towards you, how that when you were enemies. He united your hearts, and through His grace, you became brethren, and when you were on the brink of the pit of fire, He drew you back from it; thus clearly God shows His signs, that you may be guided. And let there be among you a people who invite to the good, and enjoin the right, and forbid the wrong: and these are they who shall succeed. And be you not like those who have broken into divisions and fallen into disagreement, after the clear proofs have come to them; and for those there waits a terrible punishment”. [3:102-105]