For days the Prophet and his family went without food, subsisting upon dried dates or crushed parched barley. He did not sleep on a bed but on the ground on a mattress stuffed with dry twigs of palm trees and often awoke with marks of twigs on his body. His living room had clay walls and a roof made up of date-leaves.

Whenever the Prophet was at home he spent the time in the service of his family, doing household chores. He lived in great humility, performing the most menial tasks with his own hands; he kindled the fire, swept the floor, milked the goats, patched his own garments and cobbled his own shoes. The Prophet used to wait upon himself. (He used to serve his food himself).

In addition to the daily five prayers, he spent long hours at night in solitary prayer. He never touched a drop of wine or liquor all his life. He observed the fast in the month of Ramadhan and in addition, usually observed a fast for two days each week. Moderation was his way in everything.

He honoured the old for their age. He showed extreme indulgence to the disabled and tended the sick and consoled them by rubbing their bodies. He adored children and cared for them even to the extent of missing the scheduled prayer.

He never passed a group of little ones without a sweet smile and a kind word for them. He advocated tenderness and leniency to females. He gave special treatment to the widows and displaced. He followed any bier he met and dined with slaves.

He was very kind to animals. He remonstrated with those who ill-treated their camels. He forbade the employment of living-birds as targets for marksmen. All acts of cruelty to animals were abhorrent to him.

The Prophet never spoke a word without wearing a smile. He thanked for the merest trifles. He showed meekness and modesty while dealing with others and never indulged in vain talk and embellishment.

He helped his kindred who did not benefit him. He forgave those who injured him. He entertained those who avoided him. He was hospitable to those who abused him.

He championed the cause of the wronged and oppressed whether they were Muslims or not. He was graceful to his enemies and won their admiration ultimately. Many non-Muslims left their properties in his custody for safekeeping.

The Prophet ate only when he was hungry and stopped eating when he could still eat and did not leave even a few particles in his plate to waste. Mostly he was eager to eat in the company of friends and relatives. He was invariably the last to begin eating.

The Prophet was the most handsome of men and very liberal and brave. He was immaculately clean and called cleanliness next to Godliness. He was fond of perfume and preferred to wear white and sometimes green clothing. He was always befittingly-dressed.

He always withheld himself from anger. He never struck anyone or anything with his own hand and on his own account never felt the need for revenge. He was far from talkative. He spoke only when he had good reason for doing so.

When asked to invoke a curse on the polytheists, He replied, “I was not sent as one given to cursing, I was sent only as a mercy”.

Zaid, the Prophet’s servant said: “I served Prophet Muhammad 10 years and he never said: “Uff” to me and never said “Why did you do so?” He gave his servants to eat what he ate himself and clothed them like himself. He ordered that a labourer be paid his wage before his perspiration becomes dry. He stunned a large assembly of his followers by kissing the coarse hands of a woodcutter. He advised an oft-praying that his brother who feeds him is a holier man before God than him.

Prophet Muhammad was more modest than a virgin in his apartment and when he disapproved of something, one could recognise that fact in his face.

The Prophet when he shook hands with a man never withdrew first, and he did not turn his face away till the other did so.

The Prophet did not turn a poor man away even if he came again and again, and gave the poor whatever he had, even if it were just half a date. The Prophet threw his lot with the poor, called poverty his pride and prayed that he be raised amongst the poor. The Prophet, in his house, did not store up anything for the next day.

The Prophet used to keep to the rear when travelling and urged on the weak. He would make supplications for them all.

When the Prophet was asked for anything he never said no. Even when a man asked the Prophet for enough sheep to fill the valley between two mountains he gave them. He was genial and generous to his neighbours.

He counselled his followers not to envy and to show their sincerity by paying no heed to that which is not their business. He ordained Muslims to speak the truth, fullfil their promises, discharge their trust, commit no fornication, to be chaste and to have no impure desires. He exhorted his followers to work to earn an honest living and refrain from ill-gotten wealth.

He never preached to others that which he himself did not practise in his day-to-day life. His life was a perfect exposition

of the teachings of Islam. He gave the most exalted place for reason and greatly encouraged deliberation.

Prophet Muhammad preached the doctrine of equality and fraternity. He adopted a slave as his own son. He called the white and the black, the Arab and non-Arab as equals. He gave his cousin, a noble Quraish, in marriage to a slave. In his
private dealings, he was fair and just. He treated friends and strangers, the rich and the poor with equality. He put noble

men and slaves on the same level.

Democracy shone outstandingly in all dealings. He laid the foundation for democratic rules by not appointing a successor though he knew of his impending death. He gave a hint of his personal choice by making Abu Bakar lead the

The institution of Haj which boosts universal brotherhood and enriches the range of every branch of knowledge, and fasting that leads to innumerable physical and social benefits and five daily prayers that perfect men are cardinal principles of Islam propounded by the Prophet.

The Prophet proclaimed to his followers that the search for knowledge is one of their highest obligations and urged them to pursue it from the cradle to the grave. He characterized a person who goes out in search of knowledge as one in God’s path till he returns. He condemned intellectual stagnation.

He gave a highly-respectable place in the social system for women and emancipated them. Islam gives women the right to inherit, acquire and possess property and to be known by r own personal name even after marriage. The Prophet said: “O Men you have rights over your wives and they have rights over you”.

The Prophet recognized no monopoly of Divine Knowledge or sanctity, no intermediary between Man and his Creator.

The Prophet discouraged monasticism and priesthood in Islam. The Prophet said: “The retirement that becometh my followers is to live in the world and yet to sit in the corner of a Mosque in the expectation of prayers”.

The Prophet of Islam liberated mankind by forestalling the possibility of accumulation of wealth in private hands. The Prophet enforced compulsory charity so that none can be left without food or other necessities of life. He called the holder of a monopoly a sinner and offender.

The Prophet introduced a law of inheritance whereby no estate, large or small, can remain undivided after the death of the owner.

As can be seen from the above all the values expounded by the Prophet of Islam are acceptable universally for the betterment of mankind.