Life-of-Muhammad

Life of Muhammad sa 223replied: "We felt no offence at what you said. May Godforgive you!" (Muslim, Kitabul Fada’l ).While, however, the Prophet sa insisted that poorpeople should be respected and their feelings should notbe injured and strove to fulfil their needs, he also soughtto instil the sentiment of self-respect into them andtaught them not to beg for favours. He used to say thatit behoved a poor man not to seek to be content with adate or two or with a mouthful or two of food but torestrain himself from making a request, howeverseverely he might be tried (Bukhari, Kitabul Kusuf ). Onthe other hand he used to say that no entertainmentwould be blessed unless some poor people were alsoinvited to it. ‘A’isha ra relates that a poor woman came tovisit her on one occasion accompanied by her two littledaughters. ‘A’isha ra had nothing with her at the timeexcept one date which she gave to the woman. Thewoman divided it between her little daughters and thenthey all departed. When the Prophet sa came home‘A’isha ra related this to him and he said: "If a poor manhas daughters and he treats them with consideration,God will save him from the torments of Hell," and added:"God will bestow Paradise upon this woman on accountof the consideration she showed towards her daughters"(Muslim). On one occasion he was told that one of hisCompanions, Sa‘d ra , who was a well-to-do person, wasboasting of his enterprise to others. When the Prophet saheard this, he said: "Let no man imagine that his wealthor standing or power is the result merely of his ownefforts or enterprise. That is not so. Your power andyour position and your wealth are all earned throughthe poor." One of his prayers was: "O God! Keep mehumble while I am alive and keep me humble when I dieand let my resurrection on the Day of Judgement bewith the humble" (Tirmidhi, Abwabul Zuhad).On one occasion during the hot weather when hewas passing through a street, he observed a very poorMuslim carrying heavy loads from one place to another.He was very plain of features which were rendered still