The Noble Character of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم - Yousaf Jahangir

Khutbah Opening

إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ تَعَالَى نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ

أَمَّا بَعْدُ، فَإِنَّ خَيْرَ الْكَلَامِ كَلَامُ اللَّهِ وَخَيْرَ الْهُدَى هُدَى نَبِيِّنَا مُحَمَّدٍ ﷺ وَشَرَّ الْأُمُورِ مُحْدَثَاتُهَا وَكُلَّ مُحْدَثَةٍ بِدْعَةٌ وَكُلَّ بِدْعَةٍ ضَلَالَةٌ وَكُلَّ ضَلَالَةٍ فِي النَّارِ ثُمَّ أَمَّا بَعْدُ

The Blessings of Allah Upon Us

Allah is the one who created us, the one who gave us life, the one who protects us from our greatest fears, the one who fulfills our greatest wishes and actualizes our dreams. Allah has bestowed upon us many, many blessings and they come in many different forms and they affect every aspect of our lives — from his blessings is his gifts to us from giving us those who care about us, from our families and friends, from protecting us from hunger and poverty by providing for us from his rizq, and blessing us with peace and stability, like having good health and making available the correct medicine for those who need it, like his gifts to us such as our sight, our hearing, our intellect, and even to the air that we breathe. And the list goes on and on. In fact, Allah tells us about his blessings and the nature of his blessings upon us where he says in the Quran:

And if you were to count the blessings of Allah upon you, you would not be able to do so.

However, my brothers and sisters, the greatest of Allah's blessings upon us is this religion, this deen of Islam. As Allah says in the Quran:

Today I have perfected your religion for you and I have completed my favor upon you and I am happy for you to take Islam as your way of life.

So in addition to the blessings that I mentioned, Allah creates us from nothing, he takes care of us, rectifies our affairs, and he has also gifted us this deen. But the question is, my brothers and sisters — what is the purpose of this deen? From the reasons Allah gave us this blessing is to keep us happy — to keep us happy in this life and in the next. Allah has not left us alone in this dunya to wander along lost, but rather he has given us this compass to travel through this dunya, through its good and through its evil. And surely we don't have to travel far to see the harms and how dangerous this dunya can be without Allah's guidance.

This deen, my brothers and sisters, is here to keep us happy in this life and the next. Because you find that Allah does not benefit from anything that we do, but rather we are the recipients of benefit when Allah guides us aright. He teaches us through revelation — whether that be through the Quran or through the sunnah of the Prophet — he teaches us that which is beneficial for us: the most best and most honorable way to live our lives, whether that be to the food and drink that we consume, or to how we dress, or to how we speak, how we carry ourselves, how we conduct our relationships. Every aspect of our life has been covered, walhamdulillah.

So from Allah's greatest blessings upon us is that if this religion is practiced correctly, in its proper context, in accordance to how Allah wants it to be practiced, we will be happy in this life and in the next — in this life through living the most honorable and best of ways, and in the next life by Allah gifting us gardens of paradise, eternal bliss, gardens from which under rivers flow, being in the company of the Prophets and the Messengers and the best of mankind, and the greatest reward: seeing the face of Allah, being in his company and him being pleased with us. O Allah, be pleased with us — as well as anything that our hearts and minds desire, and rewards that our minds and intellects cannot yet even imagine and fathom.

The Prophet ﷺ — The Perfect Human Being

So from his blessings is that he did not just give us the Quran, he did not just send down a divine book, but rather he sent to us the Prophet ﷺ who by definition is the most complete and perfect human being — from his relationship with his Lord to his relationship with the rest of Allah's creation, from his wives, from his children, to his enemies, to his companions, even to the animals. SubhanAllah, he was compassionate and merciful.

From the reasons why the Prophet ﷺ was sent, Allah tells us in the Quran where he says:

This is a book which we have given to you, O Muhammad ﷺ, that you might bring mankind out of perpetual darkness into the light of the Lord with his permission. So we find the Prophet's job was to deliver, relay, and explain the message of Allah. And he explained the Quran with the greatest form of wisdom. And in fact we as Muslims do not act upon the Quran until we know the Prophet's context — how did he explain this Quran to his Sahaba? What was the meaning that he gave to the Quran? How did he live this Quran? How did he bring it to life?

Allah says in the Quran:

Allah is the one who sent among the unlettered a messenger from themselves, reciting Allah's verses to them, purifying them through revelation, teaching them the book and the wisdom — although before this they were in clear error.

Another reason why the Prophet ﷺ was sent was as a perfect role model, somebody for us to emulate and follow his way, as Allah says:

Surely in the Prophet of Allah you have the complete and perfect example to follow.

From the reasons why the Prophet ﷺ was sent was as a mercy — as a mercy to the whole of Allah's creation — as Allah says:

And we have not sent you except as a mercy to the whole of mankind.

So in today's khutbah — that which remains — I'd like to take two mannerisms of the Prophet ﷺ, two characteristics that he had that he never ever left no matter what was happening. The first one is his relationship with Allah, and the second one is the mercy that he showed to the whole of Allah's creation and the different aspects of his society. And the reason, my brothers and sisters, why I chose these two topics is because every single person here is going through some sort of problem. However, if we know these two aspects of the Prophet's life — his relationship with Allah and how he lived and how he practiced his life, and the mercy he showed to the rest of Allah's creation — our problems will either be prevented from falling in the first place, or they will be cured, with Allah's permission.

The First Characteristic: The Prophet's ﷺ Relationship with Allah

So first of all, let's look at the Prophet's ﷺ worship. SubhanAllah, his entire life was devoted to strengthening his relationship with Allah. His entire life was devoted to strengthening his relationship with Allah — throughout the day, throughout the night, in seclusion, in public, in times of prosperity, in times of adversity. No matter what was happening in the Prophet's ﷺ life, he was focusing on his relationship with Allah, on true servitude.

And my brothers and sisters, true servitude is not something which is restricted just to the musalla, the prayer area, but rather it affects every aspect of our lives — our mannerisms, how we carry ourselves, how we speak to each other, our goals in this life, our work ethics, our aspirations, our visions. Everything is affected by our servitude.

The Prophet's ﷺ Prayer

We look at the Prophet's ﷺ prayer, for an example. SubhanAllah, the prayer for the Prophet ﷺ was a special act of worship — an act of worship which he would perform in which he would find true peace and tranquility and solace in speaking to Allah and calling upon him and making du'a to him. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sunan al-Nasa'i, Hadith 3939)

In this dunya I love my wives and I love perfume, however the coolness of my eyes and the tranquility of my soul is in the prayer.

The Prophet ﷺ would say to Bilal: "O Bilal, call the adhan so we can pray and take a break from the problems that we are facing." SubhanAllah. From this we learn: any problems that we are facing, we need to turn back to Allah, we need to turn back to Allah and call upon him and establish the prayer, until we find the sweetness of faith, until we find the tranquility of the soul the Prophet ﷺ taught us about. Because the reality is, my brothers and sisters, it doesn't come overnight. The sweetness of faith takes a long time to get there — it is a luxury which only the truly hard-working and the truly patient get to experience.

My brothers and sisters, Allah is the one who created the heavens and the earth. Do we really believe that he cannot solve the problems that we are facing? Of course not. Of course he can solve whatever he wants. But it is upon us to establish our relationship with him and our connection with him. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was tested many a time — trial and tribulation, he went through many different tests — because Allah tests those people whom he loves, starting with the Prophets and Messengers and then those who are similar to them. But he understood: if my relationship with Allah is correct and it is strong, everything will be fine. Because that is where the beginning of our solution starts to any problem we are facing — our relationship with Allah.

The Prophet ﷺ would pray for so long that his feet would begin to swell, and the Sahaba would ask him: "O Messenger of Allah, why do you do this when your previous sins and your future sins have all been forgiven? Why do you pray for so long that your feet begin to swell?" He said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 4837; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2820)

Should I not be grateful to Allah? Should I not be a grateful slave to Allah?

The Prophet's ﷺ Balanced Approach to Worship

At the same time, we find the Prophet ﷺ had a balanced approach to his worship. Anas ibn Malik, that famous companion who served the Prophet ﷺ in the whole Medina period, tells us that the Prophet ﷺ would not fast for so many days we would think that he's not going to fast this month — he's having a break — and at other times in other months he would fast so much we would think he's going to fast every single day, showing us the balance the Prophet ﷺ had.

Anas also tells us in the nighttime you would see the Prophet ﷺ resting and sleeping and giving his body the rights that it deserves, and at the same time you would find him get up and he would be praying as well, showing us the balance that the Prophet ﷺ had in his relationship to Allah.

The Prophet's ﷺ Dhikr and Fasting

We look at the Prophet's ﷺ dhikr, for an example — his remembrance of Allah. Aisha, his wife, may Allah be pleased with her, teaches us the Prophet ﷺ would remember Allah in every single situation, no matter what he was doing, no matter what he was going through. He would remember Allah. The Prophet ﷺ said about himself:

I seek Allah's forgiveness and turn to him in repentance over a hundred times a day — showing us his relationship with Allah.

You look at how the Prophet ﷺ would fast — he would fast every Monday and Thursday, and he would fast three days from every month. So we learn, when we look at every Prophet and Messenger, that they had this profound devotion to Allah, because they knew of Allah's favors upon them and that Allah favored them with all of these blessings and they did not necessarily deserve any of them. So they exhausted themselves in their worship of Allah, and even though they knew in reality we can never thank Allah for even the most simplest of blessings.

The Second Characteristic: The Mercy of the Prophet ﷺ

The second trait and characteristic of the Prophet ﷺ that I'd like to discuss here today is the mercy of the Prophet ﷺ. And before we get into that, we have to understand that Allah summarizes the Prophet's life in the Quran in one brief, concise, yet comprehensive verse where he says:

And we have not sent you, O Muhammad ﷺ, except as a mercy to the whole of Allah's creation. And that's no surprise, because rahma — mercy — is from Allah's most important attributes, and many of Allah's names like Ar-Rahman and Ar-Rahim are derived from this concept of mercy. Mercy is one of the most important aspects of our religion. So Allah, who is the Most Merciful, sent the Prophet ﷺ to come and explain and relay and educate us about the religion of mercy, and with regards to this he sent a perfect example for us all to follow.

Some ahadith which help us understand the importance of mercy — the Prophet ﷺ said:

Allah does not show mercy to those who do not show mercy to others.

Another hadith, the Prophet ﷺ taught us:

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 4941; Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1924)

The ones who have mercy will be shown mercy by Allah, who is the truly merciful. Have mercy upon those who are on the earth so that the one in the heavens can have mercy upon you.

Examples of the Prophet's ﷺ Mercy

If we look at some examples of how the Prophet's ﷺ mercy manifested itself to different aspects of his community — we look at one instance, for an example, where the Bedouin man came in from the desert. He came to the Prophet's masjid — that famous hadith — where he came and he urinated in a corner. The Sahaba began to express the graveness of what he was doing by scolding him, and the Prophet ﷺ said: "Leave him." When he finished, he came to the Prophet ﷺ, and out of his mercy he educated him and he said to him: "These places are the places of worship for Allah, and it is not befitting for anything impure to enter them." The man saw how the Prophet ﷺ dealt with him with kindness and ease and mercy and he said: "O Allah, have mercy upon me and have mercy upon Muhammad and have mercy upon nobody else." The Prophet ﷺ began to smile and he said: "You have made something which is so vast into something so small."

Another example is that Sahabi who came to him and he was upset and he was depressed because he had fallen into a major sin — he had had intimate relations with his wife whilst he was fasting in the month of Ramadan. The Prophet ﷺ said to him: "Can you do the expiation which is freeing a slave?" He said: "I cannot do so." The Prophet ﷺ said to him: "Can you fast two months consecutively?" He said: "I cannot do so." He said: "Do you have the ability to feed 60 poor people?" He said: "I cannot do so." The Prophet ﷺ stayed for a little while, and he was presented with a basket of dates in charity. The Prophet ﷺ called that man and said: "Here, take this and feed the poor people." The man said to the Prophet ﷺ: "But there is nobody more poorer than me and my family in Medina." The Prophet ﷺ again began to smile and he said: "Take this and feed your family with it" — showing us his mercy.

We look at the mercy the Prophet ﷺ had with those people who served him, like Anas ibn Malik, for an example. He tells us about the Prophet's dealings with him. He said: "I served him for ten years whilst we were in Medina, whilst we were travelling. Never did he ever scold me, never did he ask me 'Why did you do this like this? Why did you not do this? Why was this not done in a particular way?'" — showing us the mercy he had for those who were under him.

Another example is the black woman that used to come into the Prophet's masjid and she used to clean the masjid. The Prophet ﷺ never saw her for some time and he asked the Sahaba: "Where is she?" They informed him that she had in fact passed away. The Prophet ﷺ became upset and said: "Why did nobody tell me?" He said: "Tell me where she is buried." He went to her grave and he prayed the salatul janazah over her — showing us the mercy he had for those people who were under him.

Or we look at the mercy the Prophet ﷺ had for those people who were weak and vulnerable — for an example when Mu'adh, may Allah be pleased with him, would lead the prayer. He used to extend the prayer, make it long. The Prophet ﷺ heard this and said: "Do not put the people to test, O Mu'adh. Do not prolong the prayers like this. Make them short and read Surah such-and-such and Surah Ash-Shams when you are leading the prayers, because behind you are those people who are old and they are weak and they are needy" — again showing us the mercy he had for his congregation.

Another example is how the Prophet ﷺ would want to lead the prayers and would want to extend the prayers so people can benefit from his recitation of the Quran. He would hear the children crying and he would shorten the prayers, because he knew that would be difficult upon the parents.

Or we look at the mercy he had to other members of his congregation. The Prophet ﷺ said: "I have more right to the believers than themselves. If any of them passes away and he leaves behind money, that is for his family and his inheritors. However, if any of them passes away and he leaves behind a debt, then I am going to take responsibility of his debt" — subhanAllah, showing us the mercy the Prophet ﷺ had for those who were around him.

Mercy Towards Parents

We look at how the Prophet ﷺ taught us to be merciful to our parents. And before that we need to understand that this message is derived directly from the Quran. Allah says in the Quran about our parents:

And your Lord has decreed and ordered that none be worshipped except for Allah, and that towards your parents you treat them with honor and respect. Whether one of them or both of them reaches old age, do not offend them and do not repel them, but speak to them a noble and honorable word. And lower to them the wing of humility out of mercy, and say: "My Lord, have mercy upon them just as they brought me up when I was small."

The Prophet ﷺ took this message of mercy and further explained it from the Quran — where he was asked what are the most beloved deeds to Allah, he said: "Worshipping Allah alone, and being righteous and caring for your parents."

In another instance, the Prophet ﷺ taught us the importance of our parents and the great sin of dishonoring them and disrespecting them. The Prophet ﷺ said:

Should I not inform you of the greatest of sins? — and he said this three times — Making shirk with Allah, and disrespecting your parents — showing us the graveness of disrespecting our parents. O Allah, we have many shortcomings with our parents — forgive us from your mercy.

Mercy Towards Children

We look at how the Prophet ﷺ taught us mercy towards our children. There is a famous companion by the name of Mahmoud ibn Rabia. He met the Prophet ﷺ once in his entire life and he tells us of this incident of his meeting with the Prophet ﷺ in Sahih al-Bukhari, where he says: "I was five years old" — he was a toddler when he met the Prophet ﷺ — "when I met the Prophet ﷺ, and he came and he sprinkled water in my face" — out of playfulness, out of playfulness with him. SubhanAllah.

This characteristic here is something which many of the young Sahaba narrate about the Prophet ﷺ — that he was playful with them. And this Sahabi tells us this incident at the end of his life, when he begins to forget his memory. SubhanAllah, why is it that this one incident stayed with him for such a long time? Because you find, if somebody important is coming into our area, this was the last thing you would expect them to do — to be merciful and kind and playing with the children, honoring the children in such a way.

From this we learn: our children, my brothers and sisters, will do as we do and not as we say. Our children will do as we do and they will not do as we say. You tell your children not to lie, but you teach them how to lie at the same time — yes, you teach them how to lie by lying in front of them, to your wives, to your bosses, whoever it may be. And then something happens at school and they come home and they lie. Where has that come from? That has come from us. So can we really be mad at them for something which we have taught them?

Mercy Towards Spouses

Another example of how the Prophet treated other members of his society with honor and respect and mercy — in particular how he was with his wives. And again we learn this concept is derived directly from the Quran where Allah says:

And from Allah's signs is that He has created for you from among yourselves spouses that you may find tranquility in them, and He placed between you affection and mercy. Indeed in that are signs for those people who give thought.

The Prophet ﷺ taught us how to be honorable towards our spouses and have mercy to them. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1162)

The best of the believers and the most complete in faith are those with the best of character and the best of manners, and the best of you are those who are best to their women.

The Prophet ﷺ went on to educate us about how we should be treating our wives, where he said a believer must not hate his wife, because if he sees something in her which he does not like, then he must look for something else in her which he does like. And this of course works both ways.

Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, was asked by Al-Aswad, who was one of the Tabi'een: "How was the Prophet's ﷺ character in his house?" She said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 676)

He used to serve his household — he used to be in the house helping his family, helping his wife, helping his children. And that is the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. But when the time for prayer came, he'd get up and he'd go for the prayer.

Conclusion and Moving Forward

In ending, my brothers, this was just a glimpse that I wanted to present here today with regards to the Prophet's character. In conclusion, a number of questions in moving forward:

The first is — what is your action plan? How are you going to bring the Prophet's mannerisms and noble character into your life? How are you going to better who you are as a person to everybody that crosses your path? How are you going to attain Allah's mercy by being merciful to others? Who is it in your life that needs to see your mercy? What steps are you taking — practical steps — in your life to learn more about the Prophet's character? Because in his life, my brothers and sisters, lies the solution to all of our problems.

My brothers and sisters, we have around a month left before the summer holidays start in the schools. So that gives us enough time to start planning from now how we're going to spend time with our children — to truly get to know who they are and spend quality time and create special moments with them. And most importantly, how are we going to educate them about our religion? Not just by reading books and attending lectures — which is important — but more important than that is you living Islam with them, you exposing them to Islam and the Prophet's character by acting upon it yourselves.

Du'a

O Allah, we ask you to establish our hearts firm upon your religion. O Allah, do not leave us to ourselves even for a moment. O Allah, give us good in this life and in the next and protect us from the fire of hell. O Allah, help us to learn about your beloved Prophet's life and help us to act in accordance to his blessed guidance. O Allah, help us to emulate and follow the Prophet's way. O Allah, we are in need of you — your mercy, your love, your guidance. Forgive us for our shortcomings and accept our repentance. O Allah, provide for our poor and needy. O Allah, cure our sick. O Allah, guide us, our spouses, our children, and our parents to your straight path.

Community Announcement

Before we pray, my brothers, there is a revert brother from our community who has passed away — may Allah have mercy upon him. Brother Rex Edwards passed away at the age of 76. The burial will take place at Handsworth Cemetery at 3:30, inshaaAllah. He does not have much family and we need around six brothers to go to the cemetery.