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Who was the Prophet Muhammad and what was he like?

We have sent you a Messenger of your own who recites Our revelations to you and makes you grow in purity; and educates you in the Scripture, and wisdom, and teaches you what you knew nothing about. (al-Qur’an 2:151)

‘Say (O Muhammad): I am only human, like yourselves. It is revealed to me that your god is (only) One God. So whoever hopes to meet his Lord should do good deeds, and not worship anyone but his Lord.’ (al-Qur’an 18:110)

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THE PROPHET said: ‘My likeness in relation to the Prophets who came before me is that of a man who built a house, and made it fine and lovely, except that one brick in its corner was missing. The people went around it and wondered at its beauty, but said: ‘If only that brick were put in its place!’ I am that brick, and I am the seal of the Prophets’. (Bukhari)

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THE PROPHET said: ‘Every Prophet before me was sent to his people alone, but I have been sent to all mankind’. (Bukhari)

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ʿALI ibn Abi Talib (describing the Prophet ) said: ‘Anyone who saw him suddenly would stand in awe of him, and anyone who got to know him through spending time with him came to love him. Those who described him said that they had never seen anyone like him, before or since’. (Tirmidhi)

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ANAS ibn Malik said: ‘I was in the Prophet’s service for ten years, and he never once said “Uff (i.e. shame)!” to me. When I did something (wrong) he never asked me, “Why did you do that?” When I did not do something (that I should have done) he never asked me, “Why did you not do that?” The Messenger of Allah had the best disposition of all people’. (Tirmidhi)

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ʿABDULLAH ibn Ja‘far said: ‘Whenever Allah’s Messenger came back from a journey, the children of his family used to (run to) welcome him. This was how he once came back from a journey when I was the first to go to him: he mounted me (on his camel) in front of him. Then one of his daughter Fatimah’s two sons came, and he mounted him behind him, and that is how the three of us were brought into Madinah on a single mount’. (Muslim)

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KAʿB ibn Malik reported: ‘When the Messenger of Allah was pleased, his face lit up as if it was a piece of the moon. That is how we could tell when he was pleased’. (Bukhari, Ahmad)

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ʿABDULLAH ibn al-Harith said: ‘I never saw anyone who smiled more than Allah’s Messenger ’. (Tirmidi)

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ʿA’ISHAH said: ‘The Prophet spoke in a simple and clear way so that all those who heard him, understood him’. (Abu Dawud)

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ʿA’ISHAH said: ‘The Prophet never hit anything or anyone – not a woman or a slave – except when he was fighting in the cause of Allah’. (Muslim)

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ʿA’ISHAH related: ‘Whenever the Prophet was given a choice (between two things) he chose whatever was easier – unless it was sinful, in which case he was more careful than anyone to avoid it’. (Bukhari, Muslim)

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JABIR said: ‘Allah’s Messenger never said no when anyone asked him for anything at all’. (Bukhari)

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THE PROPHET said: ‘None of you (truly) believes until I am dearer to him than his own parents, his children and all mankind’. (Bukhari, Muslim)

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THE PROPHET said: ‘Whoever asks Allah to bless me once will be blessed by Allah ten times over’. (Muslim)

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THE PROPHET said: ‘Whoever loves my way of life (Sunnah) loves me, and whoever loves me will be with me in Paradise’. (Tirmidhi)