Humility and manners of the Prophet

What was the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ like in his manners? He was humble, modest and simple in how he lived. He thanked Allah for plain food, he never spoke a harsh word to the boy who served him for ten years, he joked and told only the truth, and when a man asked about the end of the world he asked what the man had prepared.

How he looked is on its own page. For a wider look at his character, with other stories, read The Character of Prophet Muhammad on the guide.

One day at an hour when people did not normally go out, the Prophet ﷺ found Abu Bakr and Umar outside. He asked what had brought them out of their houses, and they said it was hunger. He told them the same had brought him out. They went together to the house of an Ansari, Abu al-Haytham ibn al-Tayyihan, who was away fetching water. When he came back he was overjoyed, and he laid out dates and then slaughtered a sheep for them. The Prophet ﷺ asked him not to kill a milk animal. Muslim 2038a, sahih (Muslim); the host is named in Tirmidhi 2369, sahih (al-Albani), though Zubair Ali Zai graded it weak

What he did next is the lesson. After they had eaten and drunk until they were full, he said to Abu Bakr and Umar that they would be asked about this blessing on the Day of Judgement, since hunger had driven them out and they had not returned until this bounty came. Most of us eat three meals a day and hardly think of where it came from. The Prophet ﷺ was aware of it even over a simple meal. The Quran gives the same warning in Quran 102:8.

Anas ibn Malik served the Prophet ﷺ in Madinah. He said he served him for ten years, and in all that time the Prophet ﷺ never said “Uff” to him, which is the smallest word of irritation. He never said to him, “Why did you do that?” or “Why did you not do this?” Bukhari 6038, sahih (al-Bukhari); also Muslim 2309a, sahih (Muslim)

You come to know a person by how they treat the people closest to them, in their home, with their spouse and their children. It is easy to be someone else in the masjid or at work. Ten years of gentleness at home is the proof of his manners. You can meet Anas on his own page.

The Companions once asked him, “O Messenger of Allah, you joke with us?” He said that he did, and that he said nothing except what was true. Tirmidhi 1990, sahih (al-Albani)

Even his jokes were clean and truthful. He made people laugh, and he never lied to do it.

One story people often tell to show this is about an old woman. Al-Hasan al-Basri reported that she came and asked the Prophet ﷺ to pray that she enter Paradise. He said that no old woman would enter it. She went away in tears, and he told those with him to say to her that she would not enter it as an old woman, because Allah says that He will make the women of Paradise a new creation. Shama’il al-Tirmidhi 239, da’if (Zubair Ali Zai); the report is mursal, since al-Hasan al-Basri was a Successor and names no Companion

Indeed, We have produced the women of Paradise in a [new] creation And made them virgins, Devoted [to their husbands] and of equal age,Quran 56:35 to 37, Sahih International

Because its chain is weak, take this story as an example of his gentle humour that has long been repeated, and do not build any teaching on it. The meaning, that Paradise renews people, is in the Quran itself.

A man asked the Prophet ﷺ when the Hour would come. It is a question with no benefit in the answer, because nobody was given its time. The Prophet ﷺ did not mock the man and did not say he did not know. He turned him to a better question: “What have you prepared for it?” The man said he had prepared nothing except his love for Allah and His Messenger. The Prophet ﷺ said, “You will be with those whom you love.” Bukhari 3688, sahih (al-Bukhari); also Muslim 2639a, sahih (Muslim)

Anas, who tells it, said that they had never been so glad about anything as they were to hear those words, and that he loved the Prophet ﷺ, Abu Bakr and Umar, and hoped to be with them for that love. There are two lessons in it. When someone asks you a question that does not help them, point them to one that does. And love of Allah and His Messenger is itself something to prepare with.