The following is an excerpt from the book entitled "The Message of Muhammad", by Athar Husain. Among other things, it talks about some of the personal characteristics of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), the final messenger of Allah (God). It has been edited slightly in order to reduce its length. Care has been taken not to change the content inshallah.
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 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. He was fair of complexion and altogether was so handsome that Abu Bakr 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 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)
His dress generally consisted of a shirt, tamad (trousers), a sheet thrown round the shoulders 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 spotlessly 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 appearance should reflect it." (Abu Dawud)
"Cleanliness is piety."
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 acquired 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 practiced great austerities. Even when he had become the virtual king of Arabia, he lived an austere life bordering on privation.
"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."
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.
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."
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."
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.
"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."
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.
"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."
Muhammad (pbuh) preached to the people to trust in Allah (swt). His whole life was a sublime example of the precept.
"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."
"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 therefrom until Allah made manifest His cause, or I perished in the attempt."
"Grieve not. Allah is with us."
The Prophet (pbuh) asked people to be just and kind. As the supreme judge and arbiter, as the leader of men, as generalissimo of a rising power, as a reformer and apostle, he had always to deal with men and their affairs.
"Many a community ruined itself in the past as they only punished the poor and ignored the offences of the exalted. By Allah, if Muhammad's daughter Fatima would have committed theft, her hand would have been severed."
The Jews, in spite of their hostility to the Prophet (pbuh), were so impressed by his impartiality and sense of justice that they used to bring their cases to him, and he decided them according to Jewish law.
Muhammad (pbuh) asked people to shun notions of racial, family or any other form of superiority based on mundane things and said that righteousness alone was the criterion of one's superiority over another.
"It is true, but I do not like to attribute any distinction to myself. Allah does not like the man who considers himself superior to his companions."
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.
"Fear Allah in your treatment of animals."
"Verily, there is heavenly reward for every act of kindness done to a living animal."
The Prophet (pbuh) enjoined upon Muslims to treat the poor kindly and to help them with alms, zakat, and in other ways.
"He is not a perfect muslim who eats his fill and lets his neighbor go hungry."
"Do you love your Creator? Then love your fellow beings first."
"To give the laborer his wages before his perspiration dried up."
"O Aysha, love the poor and let them come to you and Allah will draw you near to Himself."
His love for the poor was so deep that he used to pray:
"O Allah, keep me poor in my life and at my death and raise me at resurrection among those who are poor."
Abdul Ghani