tall nor short.”6 He also reports: “The Prophet was of middle height, with broad shoulders. His hair did not reach the lower end of his ears. I saw him once wearing a red suit, and I never saw anything more pleasant.”7 Al-Barā’ was asked whether the Prophet’s face was long. He said: “No. It was like the full moon.” Other reports mention that his eyes were of sharp blackness against bright whiteness, with long, arch-shaped and rather thin eyebrows that did not meet in the middle. His head was large, with a wide forehead, straight cheeks, a curved nose, and a wide mouth with well-proportioned lips. He was of fair complexion with a touch of redness in his cheeks. His black hair was neither too curly nor lank. By the end of his life, he had only a few grey hairs. When he walked, his step was assured, as if he was going down a slightly sloping passage. He always addressed his interlocutor with his full face, swinging his entire body around if he needed to turn. He always had a charming smile that inspired confidence. Overall, he was very handsome and his body smell was very pleasant. Anas ibn Mālik reports: “I never touched silk or brocade that was smoother than the Prophet’s palm; nor did I ever smell better perfume than the Prophet’s body smell.”8
His manners and moral values endeared him to the people who came into contact with him. The people of his clan, Hāshim, felt that he was one who would certainly fulfil his promise of a bright future. In the broader community of the Quraysh, he was highly respected for his integrity and sense of propriety. He was nicknamed Al-Amīn, which means “the trustworthy.” This trait was acknowledged by his opponents, and even those who wished him dead admitted that he never failed to be true to his word.
Similarly, his kindness was never in doubt. Those who were close to him felt that he cared for all people, particularly those who were in a vulnerable position. What he did for Zayd ibn Ḥārithah gives us a good picture of his kindness. Zayd was a young lad who had been taken away from his tribe by raiders, who then sold him as a slave. He was apparently sold more than once before he was brought to Makkah and became Khadījah’s slave when her uncle gave him to her as a gift. She in turn gifted him to Muhammad when they got married. By then Zayd was a teenager. Learning that Zayd was in Makkah, his father came over to secure his release. Rather than selling Zayd to his father, Muhammad offered him a choice of staying with him or going free with his father. To the astonishment of the father, Zayd unhesitatingly opted for staying with Muhammad. He told his father that he would not part company with Muhammad for any reason. To reassure the father, Muhammad then freed Zayd and adopted him as a son.
As he grew older, Muhammad’s wisdom became widely recognized. The Quraysh needed to renovate the Kaʿbah, which they held to be a holy place. This cubic and nearly entirely black building had a stone of special significance (a meteoric black stone), which is placed at shoulder height in one corner of the building. This served as a mark for the beginning and end of the ṭawāf ritual. When the rebuilding was complete, this black stone needed to be placed back in position. Each clan wanted to have the honour of putting it back in place. Argument was heated and tempers flared up. Some people even called for a fight over this. However, a respected elderly person suggested arbitration, and the clans agreed to make the first entrant the arbiter. It was Muhammad who came through and they were all happy to let him arbitrate. He realized that reconciliation could only be achieved with a sharing of the honour. Therefore, he called for a cloth sheet to be placed on the floor. The black stone was put in the middle and a representative of each clan was chosen. These held the sheet and lifted it together. When the black stone was parallel with its location, Muhammad put it back in place. All were happy, as no clan could boast of having greater honour in the rebuilding of the Kaʿbah.
As Muhammad was approaching his mid-thirties, there was no indication that he would have anything but the continuity of his happy married life while enjoying a good position in society. There are no reports of any travels in this period. Khadījah’s trading was managed at home. Agents were hired to go with the trade caravans to Syria and Yemen. His two sons died in infancy, but his daughters were growing up and expected to move to their prospective husbands’ homes. It was about this time that he began to seek some solitude where he could have undisturbed reflection. He would go to a cave in a nearby mountain, where he would spend several days in worship. No special form of worship is recorded, but this must have been a mostly verbal prayer addressed to God, the Creator.
Again, we can now see this as part of the preparation God’s hand provided for him. Through long reflection in solitude, high up in the mountain where the universe appears so vast – particularly in the clear skies at night, with countless stars shining – the thought of God, the Omnipotent Creator, makes its presence clear. Another aspect of preparation that came even later, very close to the moment when he first received Divine revelations, was that of true dreams. Whenever he saw a dream pertaining to his social and physical environment, it would soon come true, just as it had happened in the dream. This was to reassure him in advance that he was not being subjected to any foul play.
As he approached forty, Muhammad was a well-established family man. He was a highly respected figure in his tribe and in the Makkah community in general. His kindness was always forthcoming and his readiness to help anyone in need was assured. Then the great moment arrived. He was sleeping in the Cave of Ḥirā’ in the mountain, when the angel came to him holding an open book and asking him to read. Muhammad was unlettered, and he replied that he could not read. The angel pressed on his chest with the book until he was almost out of breath, before releasing him and telling him again to read. Again he said he could not. This pattern was repeated twice. After the third time, the angel told him:
Read in the name of your Lord who created man out of a germ-cell. Read; for your Lord is the most Bountiful One, who has taught the use of the pen, taught man what he did not know. (96: 1-5)
He woke up trembling. When he had calmed down, the angel came to him once more in full wakefulness, repeating exactly what had been said and done in the dream. As soon as this was all over he ran home to his wife. As he was trembling, he asked her to cover him up, which she did. When he regained his composure, he told her what he saw. She reassured him that nothing evil could happen to him, because “you are faithful to your trust, kind to your kinsfolk and you always tell the truth.”
From that moment, Muhammad became God’s Prophet. He was soon to learn that he was to be entrusted with a message to deliver to mankind.
1 Muslim, Ṣaḥīḥ (Book of Funerals).
2 Ibn Saʿd, Al-Ṭabaqāt al-Kubrā, vol. 1, pp. 116-119.
3 Ahmad Khaleel Jumaah, Nisā’ min ʿAṣr al-Nabiy, Dār Ibn Kathīr, Damascus, 2003, p. 23.
4 Ibid., p. 25
5 Ibn Saʿd, Al-Ṭabaqāt al-Kubrā, Beirut, Dar Sadir, vol. 1, p. 158.
6 Al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ, Kitāb al-Manāqib (chapter on the Prophet’s description).
7 Ibid.
8 Ibid.
CHAPTER 2
SUMMARY OF EVENTS DURING THE PROPHET’S LIFETIME
AS A MATURE MAN OF FORTY, Muhammad was now also a Prophet. It took some time for him to be reassured of his role, and in this Khadījah played an important part. She was certain that her husband – clearly a man of moral rectitude and wisdom – could have nothing to do with the world of evil. Eventually, with reassurance came belief. Muhammad now believed in God’s
