Internal Beauty of The Prophet | Shama'il E2 | Seerah Intensive 2019 | Mufti Abdul Wahab Waheed

Internal Beauty of the Prophet ﷺ | Shamā'il — Episode 2

أَلسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ

We'll continue from the same narration that we started off with yesterday, and hopefully we can finish a good portion. بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ، اَلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ، وَنُصَلِّي عَلَى رَسُولِهِ الْكَرِيمِ، أَمَّا بَعْدُ. As I mentioned yesterday, the great scholar Imam Ghazali rahimahullah said that there are three elements that attract us towards loving someone.

One was physical beauty — we spoke about that yesterday. And the second was internal qualities. The characteristics, the habits of an individual. The Prophet ﷺ was indeed beautiful externally, but he was also amazing in regards to all of his internal qualities.

Every Prophet's Quality Was Given to Him ﷺ

It has been said by the scholar Imam Suyuti rahimahullah — he narrates a narration where he mentions that when the Prophet ﷺ was born:

That a cloud descended and covered him, and a caller called out:

"Let the world know who was born today. Let the world know that Muhammad ﷺ has come to the world."

For us, that same announcement is actually true, and we can still display the effect of that announcement through our lives. Let the world know that Muhammad's religion is still around. Let the world know that the sunnah is not something which we walk over. Let the world know that we're proud of being Muhammadis. Let the world know that we're not afraid just because we look a little different or we dress a little different.

The caller said that every single prophet that came was given one sublime, specific quality that they were at the mountain top of. For example, Yusuf was given beauty. Dawood was given a voice. Isa was given healing. Musa was given strength.

The Prophet ﷺ walked out one day and saw the sahabas speaking. They were saying:

They were saying: we always hear that our prophet is the greatest — but Musa speaks to Allah, that's unbelievable. Our prophet never spoke directly to Allah outside of Mi'raj. Isa could bring the dead back to life. Adam was the first human created by Allah. Ibrahim was Khalilullah. So if our prophet is the greatest, how come he doesn't have any of these things?

The Prophet ﷺ walks out and sees them. And he says:

"I've heard your statements and I've also been able to gauge and understand your tone." And he mentions to them: yes, Allah has given them all those qualities, but don't be confused and don't even doubt yourself for a moment.

(Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 3148; also recorded in Sahih Muslim, Book 44, Hadith 278)

"I am the greatest human that Allah has ever created, and there is no pride in that — because that's how Allah created me."

So the caller calls out and says:

"Give him the character of Adam, give him the recognition of Sheeth, give him the power of Musa, give him the love of Daniyal, give him the voice of Dawood, give him the beauty of Yusuf." Aisha radiyaAllahu anha says that the women of Yusuf saw him and they cut their hands. She says: wallahi, if they saw our Muhammad ﷺ, they would have cut their hearts out. That's how beautiful he was. So every quality that was given to any Prophet, our Prophet had the best of it.

The Internal Qualities of the Prophet ﷺ

Now specifically, in this hadith, Hassan radiyaAllahu anhu asks his uncle: tell me about some of the qualities of my Prophet. He starts off by asking: what defines your character? Anyone can say they have good character, but you can't just make a blanket statement without a measurable. What defines it?

And this is what he mentioned in regards to the Prophet's internal beauty, his inward beauty, and how he externalized that beauty. It was something that Allah gave him internally, through which he was able to deal with different types of companions from different corners of the world — and succeed. Parents can have two children and struggle with them. You can have in a classroom students from two different geographical backgrounds and struggle with them. Because it's hard to deal with different types of people. Imagine having sahabahs from every corner of the world and still succeeding.

1. Protecting the Tongue

He starts off by saying: one of the special qualities of the Prophet ﷺ was:

That the first element and key of having internal beauty is protecting the tongue. He wouldn't use his tongue except in those things through which he could give benefit to people. If there was benefit in him speaking, he would speak. Otherwise, he would remain silent. His silence was not a sign of him not having anything to say. His silence was a sign of his wisdom.

How the great Umar RA would say:

"I've regretted speaking many times, but I've never regretted my silence."

A lot of times for us, the loudest individual in the room is the one winning the argument. Imam Shafi'i rahimahullah says:

He says: "Say whatever you want about me. I'm not going to reply in a way that degrades myself. I'm not going to your level." For the Prophet ﷺ, Allah would reply for him:

"Oh Prophet, you are not crazy — you are special."

"You are with me. I have your back." Say whatever you want about me — Allah will respond for him. But for us, our silence is a sign of our wisdom.

Imam Shafi'i continues: it's not that I can't reply — it's not correct for a barking dog to receive a reply from a lion. A lion doesn't have to respond to a dog. You're a lion, just continue walking. Let them continue talking.

So the Prophet's sunnah was — in order to earn the love of his companions — he was very soft with his tongue. And the softness of his tongue we can find in the conversion of many sahabas.

2. Drawing People In, Not Pushing Them Away

How would he use his tongue? To bring people closer. To praise them. To speak highly of them. To speak about them behind their backs. To make du'a for them. He was soft with them, and through the softness of his speech, people were attracted to him.

You can't be a soft individual and allow your tongue to continue swimming with words that speak negatively about people. And someone might say: "I have good character, but my tongue is naturally rough." Well, it doesn't really matter if your tongue is naturally rough. Khuluq — as is mentioned in many books of tafsir regarding the verse:

Khuluq is something that you work on for so long — despite you struggling with it, you continue working on it — up to a point that that difficult quality which you struggled with now becomes innate within you. It's second nature to you. It's supposed to be work. It's not supposed to happen naturally.

So the Prophet ﷺ was not a person that would run people away. That's important for us at every scope of our life — running people away from the masjid, running people away from our houses, running people away from our gatherings. Our gatherings are limited to people who look like us, who eat the same food as us, who probably earn the same amount of money as us. That's our gathering.

Imagine walking into the gathering of the Prophet ﷺ. You would have every single person sitting there with no synonymous quality that brought them together other than the simple fact that they had belief in Allah. It wasn't that they all worked for a similar company, or were all in the corporate world, or all came from the same country.

How was Bilal sitting there while at the same time Abbas, the uncle of the Prophet ﷺ, was sitting there? How is it that those who were the leaders of Mecca were made to sit in the back? Where Abu Sufyan, after accepting Islam, came to Madinah, walked inside a packed gathering, found no space, and sat next to the shoes — all the way in the back. A few moments later Bilal walks in, and the Prophet ﷺ stops his speech and says: "Bilal, come here. You sit next to me." Abu Sufyan looks at Ikrimah and says: we were the leaders of Makkah but the Prophet ﷺ allowed us to sit all the way here, and Bilal — our former slave — is going all the way there. And Ikrimah replied: because he brought belief way before us.

Remember this: the reward of an action is truly based upon how difficult it is for you. The salat of Hussain in Karbala and our salat in an air-conditioned room cannot be the same. If I struggle with praying Fajr and I still pray, my reward is different from a person who prays with ease. What the Prophet ﷺ says:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 4937; Sahih Muslim, Book 6, Hadith 1862)

A person who learns the Qur'an and finds it easy for them gets one reward. A person who struggles to learn it gets double the reward — because the struggle is more.

On Sins and Haya

When Abu Dharr asked the Prophet ﷺ, "How can I become the best of worshippers?" — I believe that coming to these classes is not only for information, it should create some form of transformation within our daily lives. And a point was mentioned: never do a major sin because it is a major sin, and never do a minor sin unapologetically. The Prophet ﷺ says:

"Every single person in my ummah will be forgiven — except for one type of individual." The sahabas asked: Ya Rasulullah, who can be such a wretched person that they are unable to engulf themselves within the immense mercy of Allah? The Prophet ﷺ replied: Al-Mujahir is a person — when he does a sin:

He does a sin, and the next day he goes to his friend and says: "Hey man, guess what? Last night I did this. Last night I did that."

What is a sin? The sahabas themselves asked the Prophet ﷺ. Look at how Jawami' al-Kalim — the all-encompassing brevity of the Prophet's speech — answers it:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 32, Hadith 6518; also Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 17695)

"A sin is that which eats you up inside — it bothers you — and you dislike and despise people finding out about it." That's a sin. Hiding your sins is being apologetic. And exposing your sins is waging war on Allah.

Doing good deeds for people is a sign of insincerity — that's the biggest illogical statement in the world. Staying away from sins because of people is a sign of sincerity. Because that's what we call haya. And haya is the greatest branch of iman. If one is devoid of haya, they're losing out on the greatest fruit of iman.

The Prophet ﷺ said:

"Once you lose the simple quality of bashfulness, that society will continue doing whatever it wants to do." And:

(Sunan Abī Dāwūd, Hadith 4811; Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 7939)

The same way: if you can't be grateful to people, you can't be grateful to Allah. If you don't have some form of shame and bashfulness from people, you won't have it from Allah either.

The Greatest Usage of Blessings

There are many stories where the Prophet ﷺ — وَلَا يُنَفِّرُهُمْ — used whatever he had to reel people in. And the greatest usage of my blessings is when a person uses their blessings to get someone else closer to Allah. That is the greatest usage of my blessing. If I have money and I can use it to bring someone to the masjid, there is no better usage of that money. If I have a tongue that can encourage people, there is no better form of using it than speaking to someone softly and encouraging them to come closer to Allah.

Allah says: "Use your blessings and let people know about them." This means: use those blessings in a way that can benefit people. For us, the greatest usage of our blessings should extend beyond ourselves and our immediate families. Putting ourselves in others' shoes allows us to understand where they're coming from.

3. Checking In on Companions — Sympathy vs. Empathy

It's not called sympathy — it's called empathy. Sympathy is feeling for someone. Empathy is feeling with someone. Putting yourself in that person's shoes. Sympathy is cheap. Anyone can share a post on Facebook. Anyone can say, "Oh man, I feel bad for you." That's lip service. Empathy is where your food becomes tasteless because of what you saw. When a family member passes away, food loses its taste. Sleep becomes just resting on your bed but never falling asleep. The same things you would enjoy — it's lost all its enjoyment. When your life is actually affected by the difficulties that others are going through.

Our sympathy is: "Your uncle got sick? Well, you know, there's some khayr in that too." Is that your way of telling me you feel bad for me? Empathy is: "Your uncle is sick? I'll come to the hospital and meet him with you. Your sister is sick? I'm not just going to text her and say I'm making du'a. Ask me what I can do for you — and I'm there for you."

The Prophet ﷺ showed empathy and because of his empathy, people became Muslim.

The Story of Ikrimah, Son of Abu Jahl

After Fath-e-Makkah, there were a few individuals where the Prophet ﷺ said should not be forgiven. One of them was Ikrimah, the son of Abu Jahl. Abu Jahl was the one who physically harmed the Prophet ﷺ. When the Prophet ﷺ came to Makkah, Ikrimah left on a ship and ran away. As the waves were about to break the ship, Ikrimah made a vow to Allah: "Oh Allah, if you save me from this, I'll go back to Muhammad ﷺ and become a Muslim." Allah saved him and he returned.

Imagine: the son of the man who was the main source of all the pain of the Prophet ﷺ in his own city is coming back, and the Prophet ﷺ finds out. How does he react? He says to his companions: "Ikrimah is coming back to Makkah. Hopefully he becomes a Muslim." Not: "Oh that person is coming, hopefully he doesn't stay for too long." The thing that unites us is iman. And if that person has iman, they're a brother and they're a sister.

And he doesn't stop there. What's his next statement? He says: "Oh sahabahs, do me a favor. Don't refer to the father of Ikrimah by his nickname Abu Jahl. Because if you refer to his father by Abu Jahl in front of him, it will affect him in a negative way." Even though that was the nickname the Prophet ﷺ himself gave him — his real name was Amr ibn Hisham. The Prophet ﷺ said: just call him by the name his mother gave him, so that he doesn't feel bad.

The greatest man in the world was able to put himself in the shoes of the son of his enemy. And we can't forgive people because they screamed at us once. Or looked down at us once. How small have our hearts become?

Sabrun Jameel: Beautiful Patience

The greatest sign of sabrun jameel is that a person cannot tell you're going through a difficulty — because you don't show it to anyone. You only show it to Allah. The Prophet's quality was da'im al-tabassum — he was always smiling. But sahabas also say he was da'im al-huzn — he was always in grief. They're seemingly contradictory. How can a person always be in grief and always be smiling at the same time?

His smiles were always there in front of people because he understood how much that smile meant to that person. That youngster who comes to the masjid — you smiling at him has an effect.

We want to work on making people love us because their love benefits us. When will we start working on loving people because our love benefits them? The Prophet ﷺ didn't benefit by the sahabahs loving him — the sahabahs benefited by the Prophet ﷺ loving them. We are the ones who should be the givers.

The Boy with the Bird

There was a youngster in the masjid of the Prophet ﷺ who would walk in every day with a bird on his shoulder. One day he walked in and there was no bird there. Guess who recognized that the bird wasn't there? The Prophet ﷺ. We people — we wouldn't even recognize the person isn't there. Two weeks will go by in our masjid and some musalli isn't coming, and two weeks later he comes and I meet him. "Yeah, I just came back — I was sick in the hospital for two weeks." We're so lost within our own lives that we're unable to recognize the absence of a regular person coming to our masjid. Forget a kid.

The Prophet ﷺ comes to the boy and smiles at him and says:

"O little Umayr, what happened to the little bird?" The bird had died. The Prophet ﷺ was engaged enough to recognize that a child's bird had passed away. He was there emotionally for his companions.

The Woman Who Swept the Masjid

Similarly, the Prophet ﷺ — وَيَتَفَقَّدُ أَصْحَابَهُ — woke up one day, came to the masjid, and asked his sahabas: "Where is the elderly woman that used to sweep the masjid?" They replied: "Oh Prophet of Allah —

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1337; Sahih Muslim, Book 4, Hadith 2296)

"She has passed away." He says: "What? Let us go pray janazah upon her." They replied: "Ya Rasulullah, we have already prayed janazah upon her." The Prophet ﷺ became so angry that the vein between his forehead became apparent. "Why didn't you tell me that she passed away, so I could also pray janazah upon her?"

This was a janitor of the smallest masjid in the world. A janitor whose name is unknown to this day. But the Prophet ﷺ knew who she was. The greatest person knew who the lowest person was. And that's why it was a successful community.

If we want our societies to progress as a community, we have to be able to take our blessings and allow the lowest of the people to benefit from them — and bring them up with us, inshallah.