Excellent Qualities and Description of the Prophet

Abu Huraira reported the Prophet as saying, "I am just a mercy which has been bestowed." Darimi and Baihaqi, in Shu'ab al-iman, transmitted it.

I served the Prophet for ten years, and he never said to me, "Shame!" or "Why did you do such and such?" or "Why did you not do such and such?" (Bukhari And Muslim.)

God's messenger was one of the best of men in character. One day he sent me to do something, and I said, "I swear by God that I will not go." But in my heart, I felt I should go to do what God's messenger had commanded me; so, I went out and came upon some boys who were playing in the street. All of a sudden God's messenger who had come up behind caught me by the back of the neck, and when I looked at him, he was laughing. He said, "Did you go where I ordered you, little Anas?" and I replied, "Yes, I am on my way, messenger of God." Muslim transmitted it.

When I was walking with God's messenger who was wearing a Najrani cloak with a coarse fringe, a nomadic Arab caught up on him and gave his cloak a violent tug, pulling God's Prophet back against his chest, and I saw that the side of God's messenger's shoulder was marked by the fringe of the cloak because of the violence of the man's tug. He said, "Command, that I be given some of God's property which you have, Muhammad," and God's messenger turned round to him and laughed, then ordered that he be given something. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

God's messenger was the best of men, the most generous of men, the bravest of men. One night when the people of Medina were startled and went in the direction of the sound, they were met by the Prophet who had gone in the direction of the sound before them, and he was saying, "You have nothing to fear, you have nothing to fear." He was on a bare-backed horse with no saddle belonging to Abu Talha and had a sword slung on his neck. He said, "I found it could run like a great river." (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Jabir said that when God's messenger was asked for anything he never said, "No[*]."*Mirqat, 5:388, explains this as meaning that he either gave what was asked or explained why he could not, and refers to Quran, 17:28. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Anas told that when a man had asked the Prophet for enough sheep to fill the valley between two mountains and had been given them, he went to his people and said, "Accept Islam, my people, for I swear by God that Muhammad gives gifts to such an extent that there is no fear of poverty[*]." *The translation depends on whether the verb is read as active or passive. The translation above takes it in the passive sense. If it is active, it means that the Prophet does not fear poverty. Muslim transmitted it.

Jubair b. Mut'im told that while he was travelling along with God's messenger returning from Hunain the nomadic Arabs persisted in making requests of him till they forced him up against an acacia tree and his cloak was snatched away[*]. The Prophet stopped and said, "Give me my cloak. If I had as many camels and sheep as these thorny trees I would divide them among you, then you would not find me niggardly, or untruthful, or cowardly." *This means either that it was caught by the tree, or taken by the Arabs. Bukhari transmitted it.

Anas told that when God's messenger prayed the dawn prayer the servants in Medina brought their vessels containing water and they would not bring a vessel into which he did not dip his hand. They would often bring them on a cold morning and he would dip his hand into them. Muslim transmitted it.

He told that one of the maidservants belonging to the people of Medina would hold God's messenger by the hand and take him where she wished. Bukhari transmitted it.

He told that a woman whose mind was affected said, "Messenger of God, I want something from you[*]." He replied, "Mother of so and so, consider which of the streets you wish so that I may accomplish what you want." He then went alone with her into a road till she got all she wanted. *Presumably meaning that she wished to speak to him privately about something. Muslim transmitted it.

He said that God's messenger was not unseemly in his language, or given to cursing or reviling. All he said when reproaching someone was, "What is the matter with him? May his forehead cleave to the dust!" Bukhari transmitted it.

Abu Huraira told that when God's messenger was asked to invoke a curse on the polytheists, he replied, "I was not sent as one given to cursing; I was sent only as a mercy." Muslim transmitted it.

The Prophet was more modest than a virgin in her apartment, and when he saw anything of which he disapproved we could recognise the fact in his face. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

`A'isha- said she never saw the Prophet laughing so immoderately that she could see his uvula, for he used only to smile. Bukhari transmitted it.

God's messenger did not go on talking rapidly as you do, but would talk in such a way that anyone who wished to count his words would be able to do so. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Al-Aswad told that he asked `A'isha what the Prophet used to do in his house, and she replied that he used to engage in the mihna, i.e. the service, of his family, and when the time for prayer came he went out to prayer. Bukhari transmitted it.

`A'isha said God's messenger was never given his choice between two things without taking the lesser of them provided it involved no sin, for if it did, no one kept farther away from it than he. And God's messenger never took revenge on his own behalf for anything unless something God had forbidden had been transgressed, in which event he took revenge for it for God's sake. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

She said God's messenger never struck anyone with his hand, neither a woman nor a servant, unless he was striving in God's path; and nothing was ever done to him for which he took revenge on the perpetrator unless things God had forbidden were transgressed, in which event he took revenge for God's sake. Muslim transmitted it.

I served God's messenger for ten years from the time I was eight years old and he never blamed me for anything which was destroyed at my hand. If any member of his family blamed me, he said, "Leave him alone, for if anything were decreed it would happen." This is the wording in al-Masabih, and Baihaqi has a slightly different version in Shu'ab al-iman.