Why all this is known
The sources describe the Prophet ﷺ in the smallest detail. The reason lies in the Qur’an, which makes him a model:
﴿ لَّقَدْ كَانَ لَكُمْ فِى رَسُولِ ٱللَّهِ أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ لِّمَن كَانَ يَرْجُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَٱلْيَوْمَ ٱلْـَٔاخِرَ وَذَكَرَ ٱللَّهَ كَثِيرًا ﴾“You have in the Messenger of God a fine example, for whoever hopes for God and the Last Day, and remembers God often.”
His Companions therefore retained what he ﷺ did as much as what he said: how he sat at table, on which side he slept, what he answered to a Bedouin who tugged at his cloak. People also questioned those who had seen him. One man asks al-Bara whether his face was like a sword, another asks Aisha what he did at home, and their answers are preserved (Bukhari 3552; Bukhari 676).
The books
Al-Bukhari and Muslim devote whole chapters to his description ﷺ and his manners. Al-Tirmidhi (d. 279 AH / 892) made a separate book of it, the Shama’il, his qualities: more than fifty chapters, from his hair to his sandals, from his laughter to his tears. Al-Salihi al-Shami (d. 942 AH / 1536) gathered everything in his great encyclopaedia, Subul al-huda wa-l-rashad, whose volumes VI to VIII follow his daily life and his worship.
The rule of these pages
What is beautiful is not always sure. Several famous portraits rest on weak chains, and an honest defender does not lean on them. Three rules therefore guide these pages:
- We start from al-Bukhari and Muslim, in the numbering of sunnah.com.
- A hadith from Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi or al-Nasa’i is kept only if al-Albani grades it authentic or good, and the page says so when the specialists differ.
- What is famous but weak is flagged as such, and nothing is built on it.
The witnesses are those who saw him ﷺ: Aisha, his wife; Anas ibn Malik, his servant; Ibn Mas’ud, al-Bara, Jabir ibn Samura and others. The words are translated by this site, as close to the Arabic as possible.
The pages of this part
- His portrait: his height ﷺ, his face, his hair, the seal between his shoulders.
- His character: gentleness, forgiveness, modesty, courage, generosity.
- His speech, his laughter, his tears: how he spoke, joked and wept.
- His table: what he ate, and the months without fire.
- His clothing and his grooming: what he wore, perfume, the siwak.
- His days and his nights: his days, his home, his sleep, his journeys.
- With people: his wives, his children, the weak, those who did not share his faith, animals.
- His worship: his nights of prayer, his fasts, his supplications.
How this page connects to the others
- The man, in one page: Who is he?
- His life ﷺ, step by step: His life.
- What his person shows of his sincerity: The testimony of his person.
Sources for this page
- Qur’an: Tanzil text (Uthmani); translation of the meaning by this site.
- Hadiths: Bukhari 676, 3552.
- Al-Tirmidhi, al-Shama’il al-Muhammadiyya, on sunnah.com.
- Al-Salihi al-Shami, Subul al-huda wa-l-rashad, VI to VIII.