General Behavior (Kitab Al-Adab)

Makhlad ibn Khalid al-Sha‘iri narrated to us: ‘Umar ibn Yunus narrated to us: ‘Ikrimah—meaning Ibn ‘Ammar—narrated to us, saying: Ishaq—meaning Ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn Abi Talhah—narrated to me: Anas said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was among the best of people in character. One day he sent me on an errand. I said, ‘By Allah, I will not go,’ though inwardly I intended to go because the Prophet of Allah (ﷺ) had ordered me to. I went out and passed by some boys playing in the market. Suddenly the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was behind me, holding me by the nape of my neck. I looked at him and he was laughing. He said, ‘Unays, go where I told you to go.’ I replied, ‘Yes, Messenger of Allah, I am going.’ Anas said: By Allah, I served him for seven or nine years, and I never knew him to say about anything I had done, ‘Why did you do such-and-such?’ or about anything I had left undone, ‘Why did you not do such-and-such?’

‘Abd Allah ibn Maslamah narrated to us: Sulayman—meaning Ibn al-Mughirah—narrated to us, from Thabit, from Anas, who said: I served the Prophet (ﷺ) in Madinah for ten years while I was a boy. Not everything I did was as my master would have wished, yet he never once said ‘Uff!’ to me, nor did he say about anything, ‘Why did you do that?’ or, ‘Why did you not do that?’

Harun ibn ‘Abd Allah narrated to us: Abu ‘Amir narrated to us: Muhammad ibn Hilal heard his father relate that Abu Hurayrah said, as he was narrating to us: The Prophet (ﷺ) used to sit with us in the gathering and speak to us. When he stood, we would stand and watch until he entered one of his wives’ rooms. One day, after he had spoken to us, we stood when he stood. An Arab Bedouin caught up with him and tugged his cloak so forcefully that his neck reddened. Abu Hurayrah said: The cloak was coarse. The Prophet turned to him, and the Bedouin said, ‘Load these two camels of mine; you do not give me anything from your wealth or your father’s wealth.’ The Prophet (ﷺ) said, ‘No—and I ask Allah’s forgiveness. No—and I ask Allah’s forgiveness. No—and I ask Allah’s forgiveness. I will not load them for you until you let me settle the score for the tug you gave me.’ Each time, the Bedouin said, ‘By Allah, I will not let you.’ The narrator then related the rest of the report. The Prophet called a man and said, ‘Load his two camels: barley on one and dates on the other.’ Then he turned to us and said, ‘Go on your way with the blessing of Allah Most High.’

Al-Nufayli narrated to us: Zuhayr narrated to us: Qabus ibn Abi Zabyan narrated to us that his father related to him: ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Abbas narrated to us that the Prophet of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘Good guidance, good bearing, and moderation are one part of the twenty-five parts of prophethood.’

Ibn al-Sarh narrated to us: Ibn Wahb narrated to us, from Sa‘id—meaning Ibn Abi Ayyub—from Abu Marhum, from Sahl ibn Mu‘adh, from his father, that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘Whoever restrains his anger while able to act on it, Allah, Mighty and Majestic, will summon him before all creation on the Day of Resurrection and let him choose whichever of the wide-eyed maidens he wishes.’ Abu Dawud said: Abu Marhum’s name was ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Maymun.

‘Uqbah ibn Mukram narrated to us: ‘Abd al-Rahman—meaning Ibn Mahdi—narrated to us, from Bishr—meaning Ibn Mansur—from Muhammad ibn ‘Ajlan, from Suwayd ibn Wahb, from a man among the sons of the Prophet’s Companions, from his father, who said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) related a report of similar meaning. This version says: ‘Allah will fill him with security and faith.’ It omits the wording, ‘Allah will summon him.’ It adds: ‘Whoever gives up wearing fine clothing despite being able to do so’—Bishr said, ‘I think he said, out of humility’—‘Allah will clothe him in a robe of honor; and whoever marries for Allah Most High, Allah will crown him with the crown of sovereignty.’

Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shaybah narrated to us: Abu Mu‘awiyah narrated to us, from al-A‘mash, from Ibrahim al-Taymi, from al-Harith ibn Suwayd, from ‘Abd Allah, who said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) asked, ‘Whom do you consider a strong wrestler among you?’ They replied, ‘The one whom other men cannot defeat in wrestling.’ He said, ‘No. Rather, it is the one who controls himself when angry.’

Yusuf ibn Musa narrated to us: Jarir ibn ‘Abd al-Hamid narrated to us, from ‘Abd al-Malik ibn ‘Umayr, from ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Layla, from Mu‘adh ibn Jabal, who said: Two men were exchanging insults in the presence of the Prophet (ﷺ). One of them became so angry that I thought his nose would split from the intensity of his anger. The Prophet (ﷺ) said, ‘I know a phrase which, if he said it, would make the anger he feels go away.’ He was asked, ‘What is it, Messenger of Allah?’ He replied, ‘He should say, “O Allah, I seek refuge in You from Satan, the accursed.”’ Mu‘adh kept urging him to say it, but he refused, argued stubbornly, and grew even angrier.

Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shaybah narrated to us: Abu Mu‘awiyah narrated to us, from al-A‘mash, from ‘Adi ibn Thabit, from Sulayman ibn Surad, who said: Two men were exchanging insults in the presence of the Prophet (ﷺ). One man’s eyes reddened and his jugular veins swelled. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, ‘I know a phrase which, if this man said it, would make what he feels go away: “I seek refuge in Allah from Satan, the accursed.”’ The man said, ‘Do you think I am insane?’

Ahmad ibn Hanbal narrated to us: Abu Mu‘awiyah narrated to us: Dawud ibn Abi Hind narrated to us, from Abu Harb ibn al-Aswad, from Abu Dharr, who said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said to us: ‘When one of you becomes angry while standing, let him sit. If his anger goes away, well and good; otherwise let him lie down.’

Wahb ibn Baqiyyah narrated to us, from Khalid, from Dawud, from Bakr, that the Prophet (ﷺ) sent Abu Dharr with this report. Abu Dawud said: This is the sounder of the two reports.

Bakr ibn Khalaf and al-Hasan ibn ‘Ali said—the meaning is the same: Ibrahim ibn Khalid narrated to us: Abu Wa’il al-Qass narrated to us, saying: We visited ‘Urwah ibn Muhammad ibn al-Sa‘di. A man spoke to him and angered him, so he stood up and performed ablution. He returned after performing ablution and said: My father related to me, from my grandfather ‘Atiyyah, that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘Anger is from Satan, and Satan was created from fire. Fire is extinguished only with water, so when one of you becomes angry, let him perform ablution.’

‘Abd Allah ibn Maslamah narrated to us, from Malik, from Ibn Shihab, from ‘Urwah ibn al-Zubayr, from ‘A’ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, who said: Whenever the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was given a choice between two matters, he chose the easier of them, provided it was not a sin. If it was a sin, he was the furthest of people from it. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) never took revenge for himself, unless one of Allah Most High’s prohibitions was violated; then he took revenge for Allah’s sake.

Musaddad narrated to us: Yazid ibn Zuray‘ narrated to us: Ma‘mar narrated to us, from al-Zuhri, from ‘Urwah, from ‘A’ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, who said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) never struck a servant or a woman.

Ya‘qub ibn Ibrahim narrated to us: Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Tufawi narrated to us, from Hisham ibn ‘Urwah, from his father, from ‘Abd Allah—meaning Ibn al-Zubayr—regarding the words, ‘Accept what is easy’: He said, ‘The Prophet of Allah (ﷺ) was commanded to accept the easy course in people’s conduct.’

‘Uthman ibn Abi Shaybah narrated to us: ‘Abd al-Hamid—meaning al-Himmani—narrated to us: al-A‘mash narrated to us, from Muslim, from Masruq, from ‘A’ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, who said: When the Prophet (ﷺ) heard something about a man, he would not say, ‘What is the matter with so-and-so, that he says this?’ Rather, he would say, ‘What is the matter with some people, that they say such-and-such?’

‘Ubayd Allah ibn ‘Umar ibn Maysarah narrated to us: Hammad ibn Zayd narrated to us: Salm al-‘Alawi narrated to us, from Anas, that a man came to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) with traces of yellow dye on him. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) rarely confronted a man to his face with something he disliked. When the man left, he said, ‘If only you had asked him to wash that off.’ Abu Dawud said: Salm was not an ‘Alawi. He practiced astrology and testified before ‘Adi ibn Artah that the crescent had been sighted, but his testimony was not accepted.

Nasr ibn ‘Ali said: Abu Ahmad informed me: Sufyan narrated to us, from al-Hajjaj ibn Furaifsah, from a man, from Abu Salamah, from Abu Hurayrah. (Another chain:) Muhammad ibn al-Mutawakkil al-‘Asqalani narrated to us: ‘Abd al-Razzaq narrated to us: Bishr ibn Rafi‘ informed us, from Yahya ibn Abi Kathir, from Abu Salamah, from Abu Hurayrah. Both chains attribute to the Prophet (ﷺ) that he said: ‘The believer is guileless and noble, while the evildoer is cunning and despicable.’

Musaddad narrated to us: Sufyan narrated to us, from Ibn al-Munkadir, from ‘Urwah, from ‘A’ishah, who said: A man asked permission to see the Prophet (ﷺ), and he said, ‘What a bad man of the clan,’ or, ‘What a bad member of the clan.’ Then he said, ‘Let him enter.’ When the man came in, the Prophet spoke gently to him. ‘A’ishah said, ‘Messenger of Allah, you spoke gently to him, even though you had said what you said about him.’ He replied, ‘The person worst in rank before Allah on the Day of Resurrection is one whom people abandon—or leave alone—to avoid his obscenity.’