The Seal of Prophets - His Personality and Character — Page 18
18 The Seal of Prophets took his permission to perform Umrah; a lesser pilgrimage to Mecca than Hajj. The Holy Prophet sa of Islam turned to him and said: “Yes, go ahead, perform the Umrah and please do not forget me in your prayers. ” Such was the humility of the man, on whose prayers every Muslim depended that he was asking one of his own servants to remember him in his prayers. All through his life he shared in every type of hardship faced by the Muslims in general. During the Battle of the Ditch he is known to have suffered hunger along with the others. When portions were allotted in digging the ditch, he was no exception and did his part of labour. Once a companion saw him in a state that overwhelmed him. He remarked: “On the day of the Battle of Al-Ahzaab, I saw the Holy Prophet sa carrying earth which was covering the whiteness of his abdomen”. He was saying: “Without you, 0 Lord, we would have no guidance, nor have given any charity, nor prayed; so please bless us with tranquillity and make firm our feet when we meet our enemy. Indeed, people have oppressed us but never shall we yield if they try to bring affliction upon us because of you. ” Jaabir narrates that they were digging in the days of Al-Ahzaab and came across a big rock. They told the Holy Prophet sa about it. When he got up, they saw a stone tied to his belly; he had not eaten anything for three days. It was an Arab custom to tie a stone like this when extremely oppressed with hunger, perhaps this helped to alleviate its pangs. In another narration of the same incident, we find that companions of the Holy Prophet sa had a stone each tied to their bellies, but when the Holy Prophet sa lifted his shirt to show them, they saw two stones tied to his belly indicating that he was suffering from hunger more than them. Jaabir ra , on seeing this plight, could not bear it any