Muhammad: The Ideal Character
MUHAMMAD The Ideal Character
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“No white man has any superiority over a black
man.
The Prophet once saw a wealthy Muslim gathering
up his loose garment so that a certain distance
would be kept between himself and a poor Muslim
sitting close by. He remarked, “Do you fear that his
poverty will cling to you?’’
Although, in the later years of his life, a proper
Muslim state had been set up at Madinah with the
Prophet at its head, he lived like any ordinary
person, and did not assume any superior rights. He
once had to borrow some money from a Jew called
Zaid ibn Sana’a. The Jew came to demand the
immediate return of the loan a few days before the
expiry of the stipulated period. Tugging at the
mantle around the Prophet’s shoulders he jibed that
the progeny of Abd al Muttalib were always
defaulters. Umar Faruq, not being able to tolerate
this misbehaviour on the part of the Jew, started
berating him, and was on the point of beating him
when the Prophet said to the Jew, smiling, “There
are still three days to go before the promise has to
be fulfilled. To Umar Faruq he said, “We might
