Muhammad a Prophet For all Humanity
3. Exemplary Conduct
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imparted by his life is that, unless one changes one’s
plane of existence, one cannot change one’s plane of
actions.
When the Prophet Muhammad discovered the
reality of the world hereafter, it came to dominate
his whole life. He himself became most desirous of
the heaven of which he gave tidings to others, and
he himself was most fearful of the hell of which he
warned others. Deep concern for the life to come
was always welling up inside him. Sometimes it
would surge to his lips in the form of supplication,
and sometimes in the form of heartfelt contrition.
He lived on a completely different plane from that
of ordinary human beings. This is illustrated by
many incidents a few of which are mentioned here.
Once the Prophet was at home with Umm Salamah.
He called the maid-servant, who took some time in
coming. Seeing signs of anger on the Prophet’s face,
Umm Salamah went to the window and saw that
the maid was playing. When she came, the Prophet
had a
miswak
6
in his hand. “If it wasn’t for the fear
of retribution on the Day of Judgement,” he told the
maid, “I would have hit you with this
miswak.”
