How he ﷺ spoke
Aisha says it with an image: “He spoke in such a way that, if anyone had wanted to count his words, he could have done so.” To a man who was rattling off accounts about him at great speed, she would have replied, had she caught up with him: “The Messenger of God ﷺ did not rattle off his speech as you rattle off yours” (Bukhari 3567).
He ﷺ wanted to be understood. “When he said a word, he repeated it three times, so that it would be understood” (Anas, Bukhari 95).
He ﷺ spoke briefly. “I was sent with all-encompassing words” (Bukhari 2977). Here are four, among the best known:
- “Actions are only by intentions” (Bukhari 1).
- “None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself” (Bukhari 13).
- “Let whoever believes in God and the Last Day speak good or keep silent” (Bukhari 6018).
- “The strong man is not the one who throws others down: the strong man is the one who masters himself in anger” (Bukhari 6114).
The Qur’an says where what he ﷺ announced from God comes from:
﴿ وَمَا يَنطِقُ عَنِ ٱلْهَوَىٰٓ إِنْ هُوَ إِلَّا وَحْىٌ يُوحَىٰ ﴾“He does not speak out of his own desire: it is nothing but a revelation inspired to him.”
He ﷺ himself distinguished this revelation from his opinion on the things of this world: see The testimony of his person.
What he ﷺ did not say
“He was neither coarse nor given to coarseness” (Bukhari 6035). He ﷺ did not name the person he was correcting: “When something was reported to him about a man, he did not say: What is wrong with so-and-so, that he says this? He would say: What is wrong with people, that they say such and such?” (Aisha, Abu Dawud 4788, graded authentic by al-Albani).
His smile ﷺ
Jarir ibn Abd Allah says that, from the time he entered Islam, the Prophet ﷺ never saw him without laughing or, in another version, without smiling in his face (Muslim 2475). Abd Allah ibn al-Harith says that he saw no one smile more than he did (Tirmidhi 3641, graded authentic by al-Albani, and questioned by others), and that his laughter was only a smile (Tirmidhi 3642).
Aisha confirms it: “I never saw him laugh fully, to the point where the back of his mouth could be seen. He would only smile” (Bukhari 6092).
Yet he did laugh, at times, until his molars showed. A man came to tell him he had broken his fast. The Prophet ﷺ had a basket of dates given to him for charity. “To someone poorer than me? By God, between the two lava fields of Medina there is no family poorer than mine.” He laughed then, and told him to feed it to his own (Bukhari 1936; Bukhari 6087).
His Companions laughed in front of him ﷺ. After the dawn prayer, he stayed seated until sunrise, “and they would talk, recall the days before Islam and laugh, and he would smile” (Jabir ibn Samura, Muslim 2322).
His jokes ﷺ
It was pointed out to him ﷺ: “O Messenger of God, you joke with us.” He answered: “I say only what is true” (Tirmidhi 1990, graded authentic by al-Albani).
A man asked him ﷺ for a mount. “I will mount you on the young of a she-camel.” “What would I do with the young of a she-camel?” “And camels, who gives birth to them, if not she-camels?” (Tirmidhi 1991; Abu Dawud 4998, graded authentic by al-Albani).
He ﷺ called Anas “you with the two ears” (Abu Dawud 5002, graded authentic by al-Albani). And he teased Anas’s little brother, Abu Umayr, who played with a small bird: “Abu Umayr, what has the little bird done?” (Bukhari 6203).
His tears ﷺ
Listening to the Qur’an. He ﷺ asks Ibn Mas’ud to recite to him. “Recite to you, when it was revealed to you?” “I love to hear it from another.” Ibn Mas’ud recites the sura of the Women up to the verse: “How will it be when We bring from every community a witness, and bring you as a witness against these?” (4:41). “Stop.” His eyes were streaming (Bukhari 4582).
Before his son. His son Ibrahim, still very small, breathes his last before him ﷺ. His eyes flow. Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf is astonished: “You too, Messenger of God?” “It is a mercy. The eyes weep, the heart grieves, and we say only what pleases our Lord. Your parting, Ibrahim, grieves us” (Bukhari 1303).
Before a grandson. His daughter’s child is brought to him ﷺ, at the point of death. His eyes overflow. Sa’d asks him about it. He answers: “This is a mercy that God has placed in the hearts of His servants. And God shows mercy only to those of His servants who are merciful” (Bukhari 1284).
At his mother’s grave. He ﷺ visits it, weeps and moves those around him to weep: “I asked my Lord’s permission to pray for her forgiveness, and it was not granted to me. I asked permission to visit her grave, and it was granted to me. So visit graves: they remind you of death” (Muslim 976).
His tears ﷺ in prayer are on the page His worship.
Poetry
The Qur’an says it plainly:
﴿ وَمَا عَلَّمْنَٰهُ ٱلشِّعْرَ وَمَا يَنۢبَغِى لَهُۥٓ إِنْ هُوَ إِلَّا ذِكْرٌ وَقُرْءَانٌ مُّبِينٌ ﴾“We did not teach him poetry, and it does not befit him. This is only a reminder and a clear Qur’an.”
He ﷺ did not compose verse, but he listened to it. “The truest word a poet has spoken is that of Labid: Indeed, everything but God is vain” (Bukhari 6147). One day he took al-Sharid up behind him and asked him whether he knew any verses of Umayya ibn Abi al-Salt. “More”, he said at each verse, up to a hundred (Muslim 2255).
How this page connects to the others
- His gentleness and his anger ﷺ: His character.
- His tears in the night: His worship.
- How the Qur’an came to him: The revelation.