I had heard about him from my secondary school days but I just wasn't interested. Years later, I think my first year in university, I came home for the holidays and went to visit a neighbour of ours who was like a mother to me. We got talking and she mentioned him again, everybody seems to know him - I think, so why not me? She really got me interested in him such that when I left her house that day, I was armed with what I could use to get to know him better.
For the next five to six days, I concentrated on one goal - Who really is he?
Let me give you a description from someone who actually interacted with him:
He was innocently bright and had broad countenance. His manners were fine. Neither was his belly bulging out nor was his head deprived of hair. He had black attractive eyes finely arched by continuous eyebrows. His hair glossy and black, inclined to curl, he wore long. His voice was extremely commanding. His head was large, well formed and set on a slender neck. His expression was pensive and contemplative, serene and sublime. The stranger was fascinated from the distance, but no sooner he became intimate with him than this fascination was changed into attachment and respect. His expression was very sweet and distinct. His speech was well set and free from the use of superfluous words, as if it were a rosary of beads. His stature was neither too high nor too small to look repulsive. He was a twig among the two, singularly bright and fresh. He was always surrounded by his companions. Whenever he uttered something, the listeners, would hear him with rapt attention and whenever he issued any command, they vied with each other in carrying it out. He was a master and a commander. His utterances were marked by truth and sincerity, free from all kinds of falsehood and lies.
Yes! He was this and more. He isn't a holly or bolly wood star, not a footballer, model, musician, and whatever the individuals of nowadays gloat after.
His cousin said of him....."He was neither excessively tall nor extremely short. He was medium height among his friends. His hair was neither curly nor wavy, It was in between. It was not too curly nor was it plain straight. It was both curly and wavy combined. His face was not swollen or meaty-compact, it was fairly round. His mouth was white. He had black and large eyes with long eyelashes. His limb joints and shoulder joints were rather big. He had a rod-like little hair extending from his chest down to his navel, but the rest of his body was almost hairless. He had thick hand palms and thick fingers and toes. At walking, he lifted his feet off the ground as if he had been walking in a muddy remainder of water. When he turned, he turned all. The Prophethood was Seal was between his shoulders. He is the Seal of the Prophets, the most generous and bravest of all.
Correct me if I am wrong but I can't think of any man with better characteristics physically or mannerwise now. The extent of the affection and love we should have for him is seen in the way his Lord, Allaah (Subhanahu wa ta'ala), loves him. If Allaah loves him that much, we shouldn't we? Afterall, it would amount to Allaah loving us too!
I always get emotional when I read one of the conversations he will have with Allaah on the Day of Judgement. He will be the only Prophet given the opportunity of the Great intercession and he will have lots of privileges that would be to the advantage of every muslim as long as he/she had a mustad grain of sincere faith in his heart.
Aboo Hurayrah reported:
One day, meat was brought to the Messenger of Allaah (r) and a foreleg
was offered to him, a part which he liked. He bit off a piece of it and said: “I will be the leader of
humankind on the Day of Resurrection. Do you know why? Allaah will gather the early and latter
[generations] in one plain on the Day of Resurrection…The sun will come near and people will
experience an unbearable degree of anguish, anxiety and agony and they won’t be able to stand. Some people will say to others: Don’t you see the trouble you are in? Don’t you see what has overtaken you? Why don’t you find someone who can intercede for you with your Lord? Some will say to others: Go to Aadam…They will come to me and say: O Muhammad. You are the Messenger of Allaah and the last of the prophets. Allaah has pardoned your past and future sins. Intercede for us with your Lord; can’t you see the trouble we are in? Don’t you see what has overtaken us? I will then set off and come below the Throne and fall down in prostration before my Lord. Then Allaah will reveal to me and inspire me with some of His praises and glorifications which He had not revealed to anyone before me. He will then say: Muhammad, raise your head; ask and it will be granted; intercede and your intercession will be accepted.” (Sahih Muslim, vol. 1, pp. 129-32, no. 378)
Isn't that beautiful? Think and reflect.
So what are you waiting for? Believe me when I say you need to know as much as you can about MUHAMMAD (Peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). Never feel you know everything about him, you can learn how to be a husband, father, leader, philanthropist, legal jurist, legislator, etc from just getting authentic books about his life.
Most importantly - LOVE him with all your heart, even more than your family. Yes, I know he is no more here but remember, He is our Prophet, Allaah forbids the earth from eating up his body and makes it possible for him to hear our salams to him. And as in all things, do not go to the extreme such that you will commit atrocities in his name and then you incur the wrath of Allaah.
