Exemplary Conduct

how he walked suggested reverence for God. Criticism never angered him. When he used to put on his clothes, he would say: “I am God’s servant, and I dress as befits a servant of God.” He would sit in a reverential posture to partake of food and say that this is how a servant of God should eat. Once, a companion said, “If it is the will of God and the will of the Prophet ...” The Prophet’s face changed colour in anger when he heard this. “Are you trying to equate me with God?” he asked the man severely. Rather say: “If God, alone, wills.” On another occasion, a companion of the Prophet said: “He that obeys God and His Prophet is rightly guided, and he who disobeys them has gone astray.” “You are the worst of speakers,” the Prophet observed, disliking a reference which placed him in the same pronoun as the Almighty. He was very sensitive on such issues. Three sons were born to the Prophet, all died in infancy. His four daughters, all by his first wife, Khadijah, grew to adulthood. Fatimah was the Prophet’s youngest daughter, and he was extremely attached to her. When he returned from any journey, the first thing he would do, after praying two rak’at19 in the mosque, was to visit Fatimah and kiss her hand and forehead. Jumai’ ibn ‘Umayr once asked ‘Aisha whom the Prophet loved most. “Fatimah”, she replied. But the Prophet’s whole life was moulded by thoughts of the hereafter. He loved his children, but not in any worldly way. ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib, Fatimah’s husband, once told Ibn ‘Abdul Wahid a story about the Prophet’s most beloved