The Excellent Exemplar - Muhammad — Page 11
THE EXCELLENT EXEMPLAR — MUHAMMAD 11 course, diversified in individual cases under stress of personal needs and inclinations, family circumstances, or tribal emergencies. Life was subject to many hazards, and resort to arms was had at the slightest provocation. Long - pursued vendettas, often o riginating in slight incidents, exacted a heavy toll. From his earliest youth Muhammad kept aloof from all this. He possessed a sensitive mind and a grave and serene disposition. He felt keenly the distress of his fellow beings and reacted very sharply to it, affording such relief and assistance as were withi n his power. On one occasion he observed an old slave laboring hard to fulfill his task of drawing water in a heavy bucket for tending his master’s garden. Muhammad went to his assistance and drew up a quantity of water, which gave relief to the old man for a short whi le, so that he could rest and husband his failing strength. Muhammad spoke cheering and comforting words to him, and on leaving him said: “Whenever you feel you are in need of help you can call on Muhammad. ” Many such incidents are on record. That which affected his mind most deeply and painfully, however, was the moral and spiritual decline into which his people had fallen, and from which he could see no way of rescuing them, save through Divine guidance and help. He himself had never bowed to an idol or indulged in any idolatrous practices. On the physical side, he had preserved complete purity; he had never gambled or taken liquor, and had led an absolutely chaste life. He enjoyed the trust of his fellow townsmen, and was held in respect by t hem. An illustration of both the position which he occupied even as a young man in Mecca, and the wise