General Behavior (Kitab Al-Adab)

كتاب الأدب

Chapter 1: Regarding forbearance and the character of the Prophet(pbuh)

Anas said

the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was one of the best of men in character. One day he sent me to do something, and I said: I swore by Allah that I would not go. But in my heart I felt that I should go to do what the Prophet of Allah (ﷺ) had commanded me; so I went out and came upon some boys who were playing in the street. All of a sudden the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) who had come up behind caught me by the back of the neck, and when I looked at him he was laughing. He said: Go where I ordered you, little Anas. I replied: Yes, I am going, Apostle of Allah! Anas said: I swear by Allah, I served him for seven or nine years, and he never said to me about a thing which I had done: Why did you do such and such? Nor about a thing which I left: why did not do such and such?

Narrated Anas ibn Malik

I served the Prophet (ﷺ) at Medina for ten years. I was a boy. Every work that I did was not according to the desire of my master, but he never said to me: Fie, nor did he say to me: Why did you do this? or Why did you not do this?

Narrated AbuHurayrah

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to sit with us in meetings and talk to us. When he stood up we also used to stand up and see him entering the house of one of his wives. One day he talked to us and we stood up as he stood up and we saw that an Arabi (a nomadic Arab) caught hold of him and gave his cloak a violent tug making his neck red.

AbuHurayrah said: The cloak was coarse. He turned to him and the Arabi said to him: Load these two camels of mine, for you do not give me anything from your property or from your father's property.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said to him: No, I ask Allah's forgiveness; no, I ask Allah's forgiveness; no, I ask Allah's forgiveness. I shall not give you the camel-load until you make amends for the way in which you tugged at me.

Each time the Arabi said to him: I swear by Allah, I shall not do so.

He then mentioned the rest of the tradition. He (the Prophet), then called a man and said to him: Load these two camels of his: one camel with barley and the other with dates. He then turned to us and said: Go on your way with the blessing of Allah.

Chapter 2: Regarding dignity

Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Good way, dignified good bearing and moderation are the twenty-fifth part of Prophecy.

Chapter 3: Regarding suppressing anger

Narrated Mu'adh ibn Anas

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: If anyone suppresses anger when he is in a position to give vent to it, Allah, the Exalted, will call him on the Day of Resurrection over the heads of all creatures, and ask him to choose any of the bright and large eyed maidens he wishes.

Abu Dawud said: The name of the transmitter Abu Marhum is 'Abd al-Rahman b. Maimun

Suwaid b. Wahb quoted a son of a Companion of the Prophet (ﷺ) who said his father reported the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said

He then mentioned a similar tradition described above. This version has: Allah will fill his heart with security and faith. He did not mention the words "Allah will call him". This version further adds: He who gives up wearing beautiful garments when he is able to do so (out of humility, as Bishr's version has) will be clothed by Allah with the robe of honour, and he who marries for Allah's sake will be crowned by Allah with the crown of Kingdom.

`Abd Allah (b. Mas`ud) reported the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as saying

Whom do you consider a wrestler among you? The people replied: (the man) whom the men cannot defeat in wrestling. He said: No, it is he who controls himself when he is angry.

Chapter 4: What should be said at the time of anger

Narrated Mu'adh ibn Jabal

Two men reviled each other in the presence of the Prophet (ﷺ) and one of them became excessively angry so much so that I thought that his nose will break up on account of excess of anger. The Prophet (ﷺ) said: I know a phrase which, if he repeated, he could get rid of this angry feeling. They asked: What is it, Messenger of Allah? He replied: He should say: I seek refuge in Thee from the accursed devil. Mu'adh then began to ask him to do so, but he refused and persisted in quarrelling, and began to enhance his anger.

Sulaiman b. Surad said

Two men reviled each other in the presence of the Prophet (ﷺ). Then the eyes of one of them became red and his jugular veins swelled. The Apostle of Allah (ﷺ) said: I know a phrase by repeating which the man could get rid of the angry feelings: I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed devil. The man said: Do you see insanity in me.

Narrated AbuDharr

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said to us: When one of you becomes angry while standing, he should sit down. If the anger leaves him, well and good; otherwise he should lie down.

Bakr said

Abu Dawud said: This tradition is sounder of the two traditions.

Narrated Atiyyah as-Sa'di

AbuWa'il al-Qass said: We entered upon Urwah ibn Muhammad ibn as-Sa'di. A man spoke to him and made him angry. So he stood and performed ablution; he then returned and performed ablution, and said: My father told me on the authority of my grandfather Atiyyah who reported the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as saying: Anger comes from the devil, the devil was created of fire, and fire is extinguished only with water; so when one of you becomes angry, he should perform ablution.

Chapter 5: Being tolerant

`A’ishah said

the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was never given his choice between two things without taking the easier(or lesser) of them provided it involved no sin, for if it did, no one kept farther away from it than he. And the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) never took revenge on his own behalf for anything unless something Allah had forbidden has been transgressed, in which event he took revenge for it for Allah’s sake.

`A’isha said

the Messenger of Allah (saws ) never struck a servant or a woman.

Explaining the Qur’anic verse “Hold to forgiveness”, `Abd Allah b. Al-Zubair said

The Prophet of Allah (ﷺ) was commanded to hold to forgiveness from the conduct of the people.

Chapter 6: Regarding good interactions with people

Narrated Aisha, Ummul Mu'minin

When the Prophet (ﷺ) was informed of anything of a certain man, he would not say: What is the matter with so and so that he says? But he would say: What is the matter with the people that they say such and such?

Narrated Anas ibn Malik

A man who had the mark of yellowness on him came to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). The apostle of Allah (ﷺ) rarely mentioned anything of a man which he disliked before him. When he went out, he said: Would that you asked him to wash it from him.

Abu Dawud said: Salam is not 'Alawi (from the descendants of 'Ali). He used to foretell events by stars. He bore witness before 'Abi b. Arafat to the visibility of moon, but he did not accept his witness.

Narrated AbuSalamah ; AbuHurayrah

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: The believer is simple and generous, but the profligate is deceitful and ignoble.

`A’isha said

A man asked permission to see the Prophet (ﷺ), and he said: He is a bad son of the tribe, or: He is a bad member of the tribe. He then said : Give him permission. Then when he entered, he spoke to him leniently. `A’isha asked : Apostle of Allah! You spoke to him leniently while you said about him what you said! He replied: The one who will have the worst position in Allah’s estimation on the Day of Resurrection will be the one whom people left alone for fear of his ribaldry.