Monday, January 28, 2008

The Prophet's (sAas) character

[وَإِنَّكَ لَعَلَى خُلُقٍ عَظِيمٍ ]
(And verily, you are on an exalted (standard of) character.)
Surat al-Qalam (68:4)

ذكر لنا أن سعيد بن هشام سأل عائشة عن خلق رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم فقالت ألست تقرأ القرآن ؟ قال بلى قالت فإن خلق رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم كان القرآن

"It has been mentioned to us that Sa`d bin Hisham asked `A'ishah about the character of the Messenger of Allah , so she replied: `Have you not read the Qur'an' Sa`d said: `Of course.' Then she said: `Verily, the character of the Messenger of Allah was the Qur'an.'''

هذا مختصر من حديث طويل وقد رواه الإمام مسلم في صحيحه من حديث قتادة بطوله

`Abdur-Razzaq recorded similar to this and Imam Muslim recorded it in his Sahih on the authority of Qatadah in its full length.

ومعنى هذا أنه عليه الصلاة والسلام صار امتثال القرآن أمرا ونهيا سجية له وخلقا تطبعه وترك طبعه الجبلي فمهما أمره القرآن فعله ومهما نهاه عنه تركه هذا مع ما جبله الله عليه من الخلق العظيم من الحياء والكرم والشجاعة والصفح والحلم وكل خلق جميل

This means that he would act according to the commands and the prohibition in the Qur'an. His nature and character were patterned according to the Qur'an, and he abandoned his natural disposition (i.e., the carnal nature). So whatever the Qur'an commanded, he did it, and whatever it forbade, he avoided it. Along with this, Allah gave him the exalted character, which included the qualities of modesty, kindness, bravery, pardoning, gentleness and every other good characteristic.

كما ثبت في الصحيحين عن أنس قال : خدمت رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم عشر سنين فما قال لي أف قط ولا قال لشيء فعلته لم فعلته ؟ ولا لشيء لم أفعله ألا فعلته وكان صلى الله عليه وسلم أحسن الناس خلقا ولا مسست خزا ولا حريرا ولا شيئا كان ألين من كف رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم ولا شممت مسكا ولا عطرا كان أطيب من عرق رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم.

This is like that which has been confirmed in the Two Sahihs that Anas said, "I served the Messenger of Allah for ten years, and he never said a word of displeasure to me (Uff), nor did he ever say to me concerning something I had done: `Why did you do that' And he never said to me concerning something I had not done: `Why didn't you do this' He had the best character, and I never touched any silk or anything else that was softer than the palm of the Messenger of Allah . And I never smelled any musk or perfume that had a better fragrance than the sweat of the Messenger of Allah.'

وقال البخاري حدثنا إسحاق بن منصور حدثنا إبراهيم بن يونس عن أبيه عن أبي إسحاق قال سمعت البراء يقول : كان رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم أحسن الناس وجها وأحسن الناس خلقا ليس بالطويل ولا بالقصير

Imam Al-Bukhari recorded that Al-Bara' said, "The Messenger of Allah had the most handsome face of all the people, and he had the best behavior of all of the people. And he was not tall, nor was he short.''

والأحاديث في هذا كثيرة ولأبي عيسى الترمذي في هذا كتاب الشمائل قال الإمام أحمد حدثنا عبد الرزاق حدثنا معمر عن الزهري عن عروة عن عائشة قالت : ما ضرب رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم بيده خادما له قط ولا ضرب امرأة ولا ضرب بيده شيء قط إلا أن يجاهد في سبيل الله ولا خير بين شيئين قط إلا كان أحبهما إليه أيسرهما حتى يكون إثما فإذا كان إثما كان أبعد الناس من الإثم ولا انتقم لنفسه من شيء يؤتى إليه إلا أن تنتهك حرمات الله فيكون هو ينتقم لله عز وجل

The Hadiths concerning this matter are numerous. Abu `Isa At-Tirmidhi has a complete book on this subject called Kitab Ash-Shama'il. Imam Ahmad recorded that `A'ishah said, "The Messenger of Allah never struck a servant of his with his hand, nor did he ever hit a woman. He never hit anything with his hand, except for when he was fighting Jihad in the cause of Allah. And he was never given the option between two things except that the most beloved of the two to him was the easiest of them, as long as it did not involve sin. If it did involve sin, then he stayed farther away from sin than any of the people. He would not avenge himself concerning anything that was done to him, except if the limits of Allah were transgressed. Then, in that case he would avenge for the sake of Allah.''

وقال الإمام أحمد حدثنا سعيد بن منصور حدثنا عبد العزيز بن محمد عن محمد بن عجلان عن القعقاع بن حكيم عن أبي صالح عن أبي هريرة قال : قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم «إِنَّمَا بُعِثْتُ لِأُتَمِّمَ صَالِحَ الْأَخْلَاق» تفرد به

Imam Ahmad also recorded from Abu Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allah said,
(I have only been sent to perfect righteous behavior.) Ahmad was alone in recording this Hadith.

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