Our Prophet's
akhlaq
akhlaq
"And you are truly ˹a man˺ of outstanding character"
[Surah Al-Qalam 68:4]
[Surah Al-Qalam 68:4]
The above verse is a testimony of Allah that Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) was blessed with a remarkable character that influenced every segment of the society.
The route of the invitation to Islam by Prophet Muhammad ﷺ first passed through the establishment of an excellent character.
Zubair ibn Muteem ibn Adi had still not accepted Islam at that time. He narrated ,“One day, I noticed Mohammed ﷺ sitting near the Kabah, dejectedly.
Amr bin Absar (May Allah be pleased with him) was the stepbrother of Abu Dhar Ghifari (May Allah be pleased with him). He was a shepherd.
Bad or inferior Akhlaq (character) causes a huge damage to the society by uprooting relations and increasing atrocities.
Arabic definition of Zulm - To remove something from its deserving position and put it elsewhere or place something in a position it does not deserve.
Whether it’s being a miser, a spendthrift, or a womanizer, this all is equivalent to being a slave to your own desires. This list also includes greed and laziness.
Anger causes a person to be rude, abusive, harsh and ruthless, even towards his family; wife, children and parents as well. Islam encourages its followers to swallow their anger.
It is He who has sent among the unlettered a Messenger from themselves reciting to them His verses and purifying them and teaching them the Book and wisdom - although they were before in clear error.
Ibrahim refers to the Biblical Abraham who is honoured as the father of the two races, the Jews and the Arabs. The above words of the supplication of Abraham quoted in Qur’an are worth noting.
An excellent Akhlaq (character) is a part of prophethood and establishing the same excellence in the Muslim community is included in the mission.
It is said that Hassan ibn Ali (May Allah be pleased with them) was slightly short tempered. Once he was performing wudhu and his slave was pouring water for him.
The Prophet ﷺ once said, “There will be three offices on the day of Qiyamah where each human will have to pass through.
Salman Farsi was a fire worshipper in his early life. His father was a rich landlord and used to send his son, little Salman, along his servant to teach him about farming.
A real teacher would never ignore personal development of his students. “O People! I am like a father to you. I teach you everything, however small (it may be).”
The story below is from Bukhari, narrated by the Prophet ﷺ, which elaborates this method. Read this story like a school book and then note the lessons that it provides.
A very interesting story from the Indian war of independence stands out as a milestone about Islamic Akhlaq (character); It shows how saving the life of a British lady and preserving her modesty and chastity, helped to save their own lives.
There was a dispute between Muslims and and Hindus over a land in Muzaffarnagar. This was during the times of British rule.
Abraham lived and preached amongst his people in Iraq, who used to worship stars, sun and stones. One day he broke their idols, to make them realise how useless their idols were.
Hajrah was Abraham’s second wife and she bore him a son, Ismail. As a trait of human nature, Sarah felt jealous as she did not have a child (at that time). There were petty quarrels.
The religion left by Abraham was Islamic Monotheism and the land of Arabia was supposed to safeguard it.
A very prominent Jewish scholar Ka’ab bin Ahbab had embraced Islam, soon after the Prophet (peace be upon him) passed away. Umar bin al-Khattab used to respect him a lot.
Zam zam means ‘stop stop’. It is narrated that Hajrah, the mother of Ismail, ordered to water to stop. It had gushed forth from a place quite near to Kabah.
Ismail (peace be upon him) grew up and got married to one of the daughters of the people of caravan. Now the family grew into three. Ismail (peace be upon him) was an excellent archer.
The other wife of Ibrahim (peace be upon him) Sarah, was in Palestine and both of them were old. They did not have a child but Ibrahim continued to pray for a child even in his old age.
Zaid ibn Sa’ana was a prominent Jewish scholar, who lived in Madinah during the time of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ . He said: I have read a lot of our religious scriptures.
While the prominent Jews were embracing Islam after confirming the signs of Prophethood, well known figures of Christian community ,too, were amongst those who embraced Islam.
After Saffana accepted Islam, she was worried about her brother, Adi bin Hatim Ta’ee, and desperately wanted him to meet the noble Prophet (SAW) and accept Islam.
A person should correct his own self before trying to correct others. The biggest hurdle in the path to excellence in conduct (good Akhlaq) is overlooking one’s own weakness and errors while exaggerating (magnifying) the weaknesses of others.
The subject of the first verses and early Surahs of Qur'an that were revealed upon the Prophet (peace be upon him), was character building. His wife, Aisha (May Allah be pleased with her) asked him about the beginning of the divine revelation.
The character of the Prophet ﷺ was constantly being improved, after being honored with the status of Prophethood. He was excellent in Akhlaq (conduct)
The term Ihsan has a deep (profound) meaning to explain goodness in a broader sense. It includes returning good with better, returning evil with good and obliging others without expecting any favour.
Although idol worship was widespread in pagan Arabia, there was a small number of people who still clung to the Abrahamic faith, in whatever form it was available.Waraqa bin Naufal was one of prominent monotheist of pagan Arabia.
Zaid bin Amr was amongst the few monotheist of Makkah who refused to bow to the stones. He travelled widely in search of monotheist groups. Zaid said, “After wandering in the four big cities, I returned back to Sham.
Zaid bin Amr used to worship Allah without associating any partners with Him. He used to prostrate for a long time weeping while supplicating.
In the pagan Makkah, daughters were buried alive but Zaid used to keep daughters alive. The term used for burying daughter by her own father is Mow’uda.
Thumama ibn Uthal was a staunch disbeliever and idol worshipper. He was the chieftain of Banu Hanifah Najd. The present Riyadh and its surrounding areas were once known as Najd.
After being set free in a noble manner, Thumama (May Allah be pleased with him) became a Muslim and he received a glad tiding of success in this world and hereafter, from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
Unfortunately nowadays there are some Muslims who love to be identified as liberals. They proclaim that Humanity comes first, then comes Religion.
Today most of the Non-Muslims know that Mohammed (peace be upon him) is the Prophet of Allah.
There are two phases of Faith; Ilm e Yaqeen (knowledge with certainty) and Ainul Yaqeen (Accepting with certainty)
During the days of our Prophet ﷺ, the rich used to sponsor the Muslim armies, free the slaves by paying their dues and spend on poor and orphans. During the same time, there were some sahaba who were living in destitude.
In the days of the Prophet ﷺ, Hijrah, the migration from Makkah was declared as compulsory. It was an exceptionally difficult task for the early Muslims, even if they belonged to rich families.
Consider this: a person is fasting. To others, it looks like he is hungry and thirsty but secretly he is eating and drinking because he cannot control his desire to eat.
Shuffaya ibn Mat’e al-As’bahi was one of the Tabe’in. He narrates his experience: “I left for Madinah for the first time and was worried about the place as I was a stranger there so I prayed to Allah to give me good company during my stay.
A tradition narrated by Ibn Abbas (May Allah be pleased with him) - Abu Sufyan bin Harb informed me that Heraclius had sent a messenger to him while he had been accompanying a caravan from Quraish.
"Ibn An-Natur was the Governor of llya' (Jerusalem) and Heraclius was the head of the Christians of Sham. Ibn An-Natur narrates that once while Heraclius was visiting ilya' (Jerusalem), he got up in the morning in a bad mood.
The Prophet ﷺ lived most of his early forty years in Makkah except that he traveled to a few cities for a short time.
Every divine book, previous to Qur’an, had a discussion about the noble manners of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and many rulers showed up the courage to accept Islam.
The study of the Prophet’s Akhlaq (character) is not only meant to gain knowledge about him but also to adopt these noble characteristics in one’s own life.
One of the reasons to avoid retaliation or taking revenge is facing the justice of Allah on the Day of Qiyamah where each action and every deed of ours would be judged.
Once the Prophet ﷺ dreamt that he was performing Umrah. Makkah was still under the control of Pagan Quraish.
The group of munafiqeen (hypocrites: those who seemingly embraced Islam but actually did not believe in Allah Almighty) always looked for an opportunity to disturb the Messenger of Allah and his Companions.
The above two verses are from Surah al A'raf which is a Madni Surah. During the Madni Period, the Muslims were gaining influence, yet they were restrained from taking revenge and were told to forgive or pardon.
The day when Khaibar was conquered, there was a famous swordsman in the enemy camp, Murhab, a Jew, who was well known to be able to fight with 200 fighters.
During the victory at Makkah, the Muslims were ten thousand in number and not a single enemy could escape from Makkah, as they were outnumbered Amongst the many enemies was Hinda,
The above verses introduce several attributes of Akhlaq (character) of Prophets of Allah. Besides a forgiving nature, commanding the good is a duty.
In Islamic context, repelling evil means tolerance and generosity towards evil behaviour.
A delegation arrived from Bahrain along with their chieftain, Ashad to meet the Prophet ﷺ. Ashad was a nickname because he had a head injury due to which there was a bald spot on his head.
During 1857 war of Independence in India, many Muslims were killed by the invading British. For some time, the tables were turned and the British were being hunted and killed around Delhi.
Five qualities of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ have been mentioned in the Books of Jews and Christians and later in the Qur’an as well, which can easily eradicate problems faced in any society very efficiently.
Easy - The Islamic approach towards correcting the society is based upon easy methods so people can easily adapt or change themselves.
Abdullah ibn Amr bin Al-As (May Allah be pleased with him), was a young companion amongst the companions of the Prophet who recorded the highest number of Hadith.
Abdullah ibn Amr bin Al-As (May Allah be pleased with him) once presented a verse from the books of Ahlul Kitab which mentions 16 attributes of the Prophet ﷺ.
The Torah announced that Allah has named Muhammad ﷺ as Mutawakkil- One who puts his trust only in Allah under all circumstances.
The two proceeded further and they met Umar bin al Khattab (May Allah be pleased with him). The Prophet ﷺ asked him as to why he was out of his house at that time.
The Prophet who was never abusive - What an honour to be mentioned as a person who never used offensive or harsh words. Rude, harsh and foul language is a sign of bad character.
Abdullah ibn Amr bin Al-As (May Allah be pleased with him) had a good knowledge of the Torah and Injeel.
Repel evil with that which is good and you will find the one who harbored hatred against you will be your close friend.
Throughout their lives, Prophet Ibrahim and Ismail (peace be upon them) promoted Touhid. After their death, as years passed by, evil practices spread out in Makkah though Touhid was intact.
Allah will not give him death till he corrects the deviated religion (Deen) What is a deviated path in religion (Deen)? Touhid is the straight path, Siratul Mustaqeem. Shirk is the deviated path.
A man got his son married to an educated lady, a doctor by profession. She did not concieve any child, so after some time, the in-laws decided to take her to a place of worship.
Once we were sitting with the Prophet ﷺ and he asked me to recite something from the Qur’an. I was shocked to be honored with such a request.
One of the qualities of the Prophet ﷺ is that he was unlettered (illiterate), yet he was a teacher for the entire mankind.
The Arabs used to bury their daughters alive because of apathy and the social stigma related to the birth of daughters.
Though every person who worships Allah is His worshiper, yet this title was specifically granted to our Prophet ﷺ There are many points in the Qur’an where Allah addresses Mohammed ﷺ as His worshipper.
The Arabs were unlettered except for a few. The blessings of Touhid made them efficient and useful members of the society.
“There were two brothers who had a date farm each. One of them was very fond of sitting in the company of the Prophet ﷺ everyday,
The above mentioned verse gives testimony of the Qur’an that the advent of Prophet Mohammed ﷺ had been foretold in the Injeel.
When Umar ibn Khattab (May Allah be pleased with him) entered Sham as a victorious ruler, his shirt had 13 patches.
During the Persian Arab war, the ruler of Iran called upon his court along with military intelligence and asked, “Who is larger in number? Us or those Muslims?”
There is an incident mentioned in the books of Seerah (The Biography of the Prophet). When the hostility of the Makkans grew worse, the Prophet ﷺ permitted a batch of Muslims to migrate to Abyssinia.
The Prophet ﷺ sent letters of invitation to Islam to the rulers of other countries along with Dihya bin Khalifah al-Kalbi . The Companion went to the Roman empire, too.
The Jews and the Christian had been claiming: “We are waiting for the prophet about whom we read in our religious books.”
“So they who have believed in him honored him, supported him and followed the light which was sent down with him - it is those who will be successful”
Ya’la, a Companion notes a narration which is classified as Sahih by many scholars: “Once we were traveling with the Prophet ﷺ. I experienced amazing miracles in his company.
Abu Dawood, Imam Ahmed and others have quoted another interesting hadith. “Abdullah ibn Jafar (May Allah be pleased with him) was traveling with the Prophet ﷺ and he sat with him and discussed many things.
The Prophet ﷺ was mercy for all, hence it is expected that all of his followers would be merciful and kind to others.
We were traveling with the Prophet ﷺ and he took a break at a place. He went to attend the call of nature. One Companion noticed a fowl and ran to chase it.
Every Muslim scholar, who has written the biography of the Prophet ﷺ , has included numerous incidents that showed kindness and compassion of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ towards animals.
We are so careful in maintaining our cars and laptops which are inanimate things but when it comes to animals, many of us do not have the same attitude towards them.
Muslims are not allowed to keep another goat standing while a goat is being slaughtered
Imam Ibn Saad narrates in his book of Hadith. Musyib ibn Darr said, “Umar ibn Khattab (May Allah be pleased with him) once caught a camel owner and punished him with whipping.
Prophet Mohammed ﷺ was blessed with an inborn noble character. Allah also taught him more through His revelations and inculcated great habits.
The below-mentioned story has been mentioned by Moulana Abul Kalam Azad, a noted Indian scholar, and India’s first Education Minister.
These four qualities would set us free from hellfire, though they have nothing to do with acts of worship but are related to dealings with fellow humans.
Our Salaf (Pious predecessors) said, “Courage is a part of good Akhlaq (character). Courage is not physical strength but it is in the heart”.
This is an incident from the early days of our Prophet ﷺ, before his prophethood. Hilful Fuzool was always remembered fondly by our Prophet ﷺ throughout his life.
Abu Bakr (May Allah be pleased with him) was the first person to embrace Islam. When he was appointed as a Khalifa, many people among the needy and the helpless, started weeping.
The Prophet ﷺ was a resident of Makkah and he was also from a reputed family, Bani Hashim. Initially, the Kabah, when built by Prophet Ibrahim ﷺ was a rectangular, unroofed structure that wasn’t too high.
When the Prophet ﷺ declared his prophethood, Quraish used to go and meet the people who had come for pilgrimage warning them to be careful of the person who declared himself as the Prophet of Allah.
An excellent Akhlaq (character) remains incomplete without fulfilling the rights of Allah completely. The rights of Allah can be summarised as:
In these verses, Allah has declared Prophet Mohammed ﷺ as his Abd. Abdullah is derived from the term ‘Abd’ which means a slave...
In order to prevent Mohammed ﷺ being taken as god or son of a god, Allah has clearly mentioned his status in the Qur’an and declared him as a human.
He is known as Mabloos ilasakhlain (Chosen for two heavy creations) - Prophet Mohammed ﷺ is the Prophet for human-kind as well as Jinns.
It is difficult for a person to part with his wealth because he is insecure about the future and has ambitions of using his wealth for future use.
Hasan ibn Ali (May Allah be pleased with him), was the grandson of our Prophet ﷺ. Once his slave walked into the gathering of Abu Huraira (May Allah be pleased with him) where he was narrating Ahadeeth.
