Muhammad

The Prophet of Islam, Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Abd al-Muttalib (c. 570–632 CE). This entry follows him through his shama'il, his bodily and moral qualities, as al-Mubarakpuri gives them in al-Raheeq al-Makhtum ¹.

Umm Ma'bad al-Khuza'iyya described the Prophet ﷺ to her husband when he passed her tent as an emigrant. She said he was radiant of face, with a bright forehead and fine character, deep black in his eyes and with a gleam at his neck ¹.

Ali ibn Abi Talib (may God be pleased with him) described him: he was neither overly tall nor short, but of middle height among the people. His complexion was white with a reddish tinge, his eyes deep black, his eyelashes long, and he was broad at the joints and across the upper back. Between his shoulders was the seal of prophethood, for he is the Seal of the Prophets. He was the most generous of people with his hand, the most courageous in heart, the most truthful in speech and the most faithful to his word ¹. Anas ibn Malik (may God be pleased with him) said: he was radiant in complexion, neither pale-white nor dark. I never touched silk or brocade softer than the palm of the Prophet ². Al-Bara' said: he was the most handsome of people in face and the finest of them in character ³.

He spoke in "comprehensive words", concise and to the point, with neither excess nor shortfall ⁴. A'isha said: he was never offered a choice between two matters without choosing the easier, so long as it was not a sin; and he never took revenge for himself unless the sanctity of God was violated ⁵. He was the most generous of people, most generous in Ramadan when Jibril met him, more generous with good than the driving wind, and he was never asked for anything and said no ⁵. He was the bravest of people. Ali said: when battle grew fierce and eyes reddened, we sheltered behind the Prophet, and none was nearer the enemy than he ⁶. He was extremely modest; Abu Sa'id al-Khudri said he was more modest than a virgin in her chamber, and when he disliked something it was visible in his face ⁶. His people called him al-Amin for the good qualities gathered in him ⁷. A'isha said he would mend his own sandal, sew his own garment and work with his hands in his house ⁶. Hind ibn Abi Hala described him as constantly troubled in thought, always reflective, long in silence, and not speaking except when needed ⁴. Al-Mubarakpuri concluded that these qualities are only brief marks of his perfection, and that the reality of what he was cannot be grasped ⁸.

The lineage is divided into three parts. The first, on which the biographers and genealogists agree, runs from the Prophet up to Adnan: Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim ibn Abd Manaf ibn Qusayy ibn Kilab ibn Murra ibn Ka'b ibn Lu'ayy ibn Ghalib ibn Fihr ibn Malik ibn al-Nadr ibn Kinana ibn Khuzayma ibn Mudrika ibn Ilyas ibn Mudar ibn Nizar ibn Ma'add ibn Adnan. The second part, from Adnan up to Ibrahim, is disputed. The third, from Ibrahim up to Adam, relies on reports from the People of the Book, and contains what is not to be doubted as false ⁹. The details are in the Prophet's lineage and its three parts, and his family is in Banu Hashim. It is related that the Prophet said: "I am the son of the two sacrificed ones," meaning Isma'il and his father Abdullah ¹⁰.

He was born in the valley of Banu Hashim in Mecca, on the morning of Monday, 9 Rabi' al-Awwal, in the first year of the event of the Elephant. The author equates this with 20 or 22 April 571 CE (the birth) ¹⁰. His grandfather Abd al-Muttalib named him Muhammad and had him circumcised on his seventh day ¹¹. His first wet nurse was Thuwayba, and then Halima bint Abi Dhuayb nursed him among Banu Sa'd ibn Bakr. He had foster-brothers there, and his cousin Abu Sufyan ibn al-Harith and his uncle Hamza were also nursed there ¹¹. In his fourth year, according to the verifiers, the incident of the opening of his chest took place, and Halima returned him to his mother ¹². When he reached six, his mother died at al-Abwa', between Mecca and Medina (the death of Amina), and his grandfather took him back to Mecca ¹². His grandfather died when he was eight years, two months and ten days old, and his uncle Abu Talib took him in (the death of Abd al-Muttalib) ¹³.

At twelve, his uncle Abu Talib took him on a trading journey to Syria. At Busra he met the monk Bahira, who recognized him by the seal of prophethood between his shoulders and feared for him from the Romans and the Jews, so his uncle sent him back to Mecca with some of his servants (the meeting with Bahira) ¹⁴. In his twentieth year the War of the Fijar took place, and he gathered arrows for his uncles ¹⁵. After it he attended the Pact of al-Fudul in the house of Abdullah ibn Jud'an, and he said after the mission began that if he were called to it in Islam he would answer ¹⁵. He had no particular occupation in his early youth, though the accounts agree that he tended sheep, in Banu Sa'd and in Mecca for its people for small wages, and it seems he moved to trade as he grew up ¹⁵. At twenty-five he went out as a trader to Syria with the goods of Khadija (the Syria journey), and he married her two months after his return (the marriage). All his children were from her except Ibrahim ¹⁶. When he was thirty-five, the Quraysh rebuilt the Ka'ba, and they made him the arbiter in placing the Black Stone (the rebuilding of the Ka'ba) ¹⁶.

He did not drink wine, did not eat what was sacrificed on the idol stones, did not attend the festivals or celebrations of the idols, and could not bear to hear oaths sworn by al-Lat and al-Uzza ⁷. The author also relates a report that twice he meant to spend a night as young men of Mecca did, and on hearing the sound of a wedding he sat down to listen and God made him fall asleep ⁷. Among his people he was distinguished by manliness, good character, faithfulness and trust, and his people named him al-Amin ⁷. As Khadija said of him, he bore the burdens of others, earned for the destitute, hosted guests and helped in the calamities of truth ¹⁷.

He used to withdraw to the cave of Hira in the month of Ramadan each year, from three years before prophethood ¹⁸. When he completed forty years, true dreams came to him for six months, and then the revelation came. The author judges that this was the night of Monday, 21 Ramadan, corresponding to 10 August 610 CE (the beginning of revelation) ¹⁹. He returned to Khadija, who reassured him, and she took him to Waraqa ibn Nawfal ¹⁷. In the author's view the revelation then paused for ten days ²⁰, and then the first verses of Surat al-Muddaththir came down, with the command to stand up and warn (the descent of al-Muddaththir) ²¹. The author states that the prophetic period was twenty-three years ¹⁹.

The author divides the Meccan period into stages. The first was three years of secret call, followed by the open proclamation of the call to the people of Mecca (the stages of the call) ²². He and his companions prayed in the mountain passes, concealed from their people (the prayer before the Night Journey) ²³. Then he was commanded to call openly, and he proclaimed the call in the gatherings and assemblies of the idolaters ²⁴.

The Sheikh relates that the Prophet told his Companions he sees them from behind his back as he sees them in front, and the Sheikh holds this is not far from his standing: if ordinary people, with their sins, see beautiful visions in dreams, how much more the Prophet ²⁵.

He relates that after the age of sixty the Prophet did not rise from the second prostration to the next rak'a in one movement but sat briefly to rest, and that Aisha asked him to rest a little for fear his feet would swell from so much standing (needs_source) ²⁶.

The Sheikh points out that the Prophet, though protected from sin and forgiven, answered Aisha when she asked him to sleep a little, and then he gives his answer ²⁷.

He says the Prophet told her how could he rest when the angel of the horn has put the horn to his mouth, bent his forehead, lent his ear and fixed his gaze on the sky waiting for the command to blow, and the Sheikh describes this as fear that his Lord might order him to blow ²⁸.

The Sheikh uses this to explain another saying, the Prophet's words that if they knew what he knows they would laugh little and weep much and would not take pleasure in women on their beds, and he says the Prophet lived these realities, which is why the Companions and the mothers of the believers watched his movements ²⁹.

He tells of Umm Salama seeing the Prophet pray alone at night and wondering at his state: he stepped forward in his prayer and stretched out his hand, then drew back and stepped backward, then finished his prayer and gave the salam, and she asked him about the strange thing she had seen that night ³⁰.

He told her, as the Sheikh relates, that while he was praying a door of Paradise was opened and a bunch of grapes from one of its trees appeared, so he reached out his hand to pick it for her ³¹.

He was told that he was still in the world and that a worldly stomach is not fit for those grapes, so he drew his hand back; then a door of Hell was opened, he feared it and stepped backward, and he finished his prayer asking forgiveness ³².

The Sheikh then says the Prophet asked Bilal what he did, because he had heard the sound of his steps in Paradise, and that he saw a woman walking ahead of him who, when asked who she was, told him she was a woman whose husband had left her orphans and she had stayed with them ³³.

The woman says she raised them, the Sheikh notes that she will enter Paradise, and he then recalls a man's saying that he finds the scent of Paradise, and asks whether someone who smells that scent stops or goes toward it ³⁴.

He relates that the Prophet would pass by night among his nine wives, leaving one and going to the other eight, waking them and saying that many women who are comfortable in this world will be in hardship in the next, and reminding them of the terrors of the Day of Resurrection and of death (needs_source) ³⁵.

The Sheikh asks whether a mother of the believers would sleep when she heard the Prophet say this every day, and then says he would come to the last house and wake Fatima and Ali for prayer, and that Ali used to take a short nap after the night prayer ³⁶.

The Sheikh says that a group of people enters Paradise by God's mercy and not by their deeds, and that the Prophet's Companions asked him «not even you, Messenger of God?» and he said «not even I, unless God wraps me in His mercy»; he then asks who is speaking, and answers that it is the one God promised forgiveness and the praised station, and who is the first intercessor allowed to speak before God ³⁸.

He cites the hadith of intercession: the people at the gathering go from prophet to prophet, from Adam to Isa, each saying «it is not for me», and then the Prophet says «it is for me»; the Sheikh says the Prophet nevertheless used to say that he does not enter Paradise by his deeds ³⁹.

He describes how the Prophet spent his night and day seeking God's good pleasure, so that his speech was remembrance, his looking was reflection and his silence was thought on the oneness of his Lord, and all his senses were occupied with his Lord ⁴⁰.

He says the truths were laid before the Prophet, and that it is a mercy of God to people that He veiled this from them so that their lives could be pleasant, since life is not pleasant amid disquiet, and he tells the believer that the fine prayer rug he is sitting on glorifies God ⁴¹.

He mentions that the Prophet's soul was transparent and expressed light, so pebbles glorified God in his hand, that at the conquest of Makkah he said there was a stone there that used to greet him whenever he passed, and that the palm trunk yearned for him as a nursing infant yearns ⁴².

He says the Companions heard all this, not the Prophet alone, because their souls were luminous and the darkness of bodily matter did not veil them ⁴³.

He relates that a bedouin in the desert asked the Prophet who he was, and he said he was Muhammad ibn Abdullah, the Messenger of God; the bedouin asked who testifies to it, and the Prophet said this tree testifies ⁴⁴.

He continues that the Prophet called the tree to come by God's leave, and it came moving along the ground; he asked it who he was, and it said: you are Muhammad, the Messenger of God ⁴⁵.

The Sheikh holds that what God taught His prophet, abundant as it is, is like a sip from the sea compared with God's knowledge; whoever takes a bucket or a hundred thousand buckets from the sea leaves it undiminished ⁴⁶.

The Sheikh urges learning from the Prophet's tenderness, says a kind word opens hearts, and asks whether any of us can run his household this way ⁴⁷.

He says researchers discovered some years ago that hitting a child on the face kills 300 brain cells and stroking his hair grows 300, then ties this to what is reported about the merit of stroking an orphan's head, a reward for every hair, and says only his Lord knew the Prophet's true worth (needs_source) ⁴⁸.

The Sheikh criticises Muslims for being sentimental in their love of the Prophet, and asks whether any of them follows him as spouse, neighbour, teacher or learner, and whether Muslims have his character in forbearance, loyalty, taking and giving; he says the Companions knew his worth (a sharp criticism by the Sheikh) ³⁷.

He then recites verses describing the Prophet's character: the best teacher, merciful, faithful to his covenants (a poetic citation) ⁴⁹.

He recites further verses describing the Prophet as the dawn of the world, through whom God made the spring of eloquence burst forth, and says the Messenger of God is the morning of the whole world (a poetic citation) ⁵⁰.