The good character, modesty and kind companionship of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)

Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I have been sent only so that I may perfect good character."
Imam Ahmad recorded this narration, and its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih.
Imam al-Bazzar recorded this narration, but he narrated these words: "So that I may perfect noble character." The narrators of this narration are likewise, except for Muhammad bin Rizqullah al-Kalwadhani, whose case is different, and he is thiqah (trustworthy).

Sayyidah Safiyyah bint Huyayy (may Allah be pleased with her) narrates: I have not seen anyone of better character than the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). I remember about him that at night, at Khaybar, he seated me on the rear part of the camel. I began to doze, and my head began to strike the back of the saddle. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would touch me with his hand and say: O daughter of Huyayy! Steady, O daughter of Huyayy! Steady now. Until, when he arrived at al-Sahba', he said: O Safiyyah! I offer you an explanation for the way I treated your people; they had said such-and-such about me, and they had said such-and-such.
Imam al-Tabarani recorded this narration in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat, and Imam Abu Ya'la recorded it in abridged form. The narrators of both are thiqat (trustworthy), except that I do not know al-Rabi', the nephew of Sayyidah Safiyyah bint Huyayy (may Allah be pleased with her).

Sayyiduna Amr bin al-As (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would talk even with the worst person among those present, turning to him with full attention; in this way he would win his heart. When talking with me, he would talk turning to me with full attention, to the point that I thought I was better than everyone present. I said: O Messenger of Allah! Am I better, or Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him)? The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Abu Bakr. I said: O Messenger of Allah! Am I better, or Umar (may Allah be pleased with him)? The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Umar. I said: O Messenger of Allah! Am I better, or Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him)? The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Uthman. When I asked the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) this and he turned away from me, I wished that I had never asked him (peace and blessings be upon him) this question. (Allamah al-Haythami says:) I say: Part of this narration is reported in the Sahih without this context.
Imam al-Tabarani recorded this narration, and its chain is hasan (good).

Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: Whenever the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was given a choice between two matters, he chose the one that was easier of the two.
Imam al-Bazzar recorded this narration, and Imam al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat; its chain contains a narrator whom I do not know.

Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: It was the habit of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that when someone took his hand, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would not withdraw his hand from that person's hand himself, until the other person let go of his hand himself. Nor was he ever seen to have spread his knees out in front of a person sitting with him. Whoever shook hands with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), he would turn to him with full attention, and would not turn his face away from him until he had finished speaking.
Imam al-Bazzar and Imam al-Tabarani in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat recorded this narration, and the chain of Imam al-Tabarani is hasan (good).

Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: A Bedouin came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), wanting his help in some matter. Ikrimah says: I think it was a matter of blood (a killing). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) gave him something, then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Have I treated you well? The Bedouin said: No! You have not done right. Some of the Muslims became angry and intended to get up and go at him, but the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) signalled to them to hold back. When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) got up and went to his house, he had the Bedouin called to the house and said to him: You came to us, you asked us, we gave to you, and you said what you said about it. Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) gave him something more and asked: Have I treated you well? The Bedouin said: Yes! May Allah Almighty reward you with good on behalf of family and kin. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: You came to us, you asked us, we gave to you, then you said what you said about it, and there is some unease in the hearts of my Companions towards you on that account. When you go, say before them what you have said before me, so that the unease in their hearts goes away. He said: Very well.
The narrator says: Then that Bedouin came, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Your companion came to us, he asked us, we gave to him, and he said what he said. Then we called him and gave to him, and now he says that he is pleased. Is that so? The Bedouin said: Yes! May Allah Almighty reward you with good on behalf of family and kin.
Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) says: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
"The example of me and this Bedouin is like that of a man who has a she-camel. That she-camel runs away from the man; people go after her, and it only adds to her running away. The owner of the she-camel says: Leave the space between me and my she-camel, for I know her better and know more about her. Then the owner of the she-camel turns to her, picks up something to eat from the ground for her, and calls her until she comes and responds to him. Then he puts the saddle on her and mounts her. So if I were to accept everything you said, then (it may be that that man, persisting in what he said) would have gone into Hell."
Imam al-Bazzar recorded this narration; its chain contains a narrator, Ibrahim bin al-Hakam bin Aban, who is matruk (abandoned).

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrates: When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) bade farewell to someone, he would take his hand and would not let go of his hand until the other person himself let go of the hand of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).
Imam al-Bazzar recorded this narration; its chain contains a narrator, Yazid bin Abd al-Rahman bin Umayyah, whom I do not know.
Imam al-Tabarani recorded this narration in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat; its chain contains a narrator, Ibn Abi Sulaym, who is a mudallis; the remaining narrators of this narration have been declared trustworthy.

Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: I served the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) for nine years. Regarding anything that displeased him, he never said to me: How bad is what you have done? And regarding anything he liked, he never said: How good is this deed that you have done.
(Allamah al-Haythami says:) I say
This narration is reported in the Sahih without this context.
Imam Abu Ya'la recorded this narration from his teacher Sufyan bin Waki', and he is da'if (weak).

Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: I served the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) for ten years. I do not remember it ever happening that he ever agreed with something or opposed something; he was pleased with whatever came from Allah Almighty. If one of his wives said: If you had done it this way and that way, it would have been better, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would say: Leave it! For only that will happen which Allah Almighty has willed. I never saw the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) take revenge for himself in any matter, except that when one of the sanctities of Allah Almighty was violated, the matter was different: when one of the sanctities of Allah Almighty was violated, he was the angriest of all people for the sake of Allah Almighty. And whenever two matters were presented to him, he chose the one that was easier, as long as there was no aspect of Allah Almighty's displeasure in it. If there was an aspect of displeasure in it, he (peace and blessings be upon him) was the farthest of all people from it.
(Allamah al-Haythami says:) I say: Part of it is reported in the Sahih.
Imam al-Tabarani recorded this narration in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat and al-Mu'jam al-Saghir, and its chain contains narrators whom I do not know.

Muhajir, the freed slave of Sayyidah Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her), narrates: I served the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) for some years. If I did something, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) never said about it: Why did you do this? And about something I had left undone, he did not say: Why did you leave it?
Imam al-Tabarani recorded this narration, and its chain contains a narrator whom I do not know.

Sayyiduna Muhammad bin Maslamah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: I came back from a journey, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) took my hand, and he did not let go of my hand until I let go of his hand.
Imam al-Tabarani recorded this narration; its chain contains a narrator, al-Jald bin Ayyub, who is da'if (weak).

Kharijah bin Zayd bin Thabit narrates: Some people came to Sayyiduna Zayd bin Thabit (may Allah be pleased with him) and said: Narrate to us some hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). He said: What hadith shall I narrate to you? I was his neighbour. When revelation came down to him, he would send for me and I would write down the revelation. When we spoke of the Hereafter, he would speak of it along with us; when we spoke of the world, he would speak of it along with us; and when we spoke of food, he would speak of it along with us. So these are all the things I can narrate to you about him.
Imam al-Tabarani recorded this narration, and its chain is hasan (good).

Sayyiduna Abu Umamah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was the most smiling and the most good-natured of people.
Imam al-Tabarani recorded this narration in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir and al-Mu'jam al-Awsat; the chain of this narration contains a narrator, Ali bin Yazid al-Alhani, who is da'if (weak).

Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reports this saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "I do joke, but I say nothing except the truth." The people said: O Messenger of Allah, you joke with us? The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: I say nothing except the truth.
Imam al-Tabarani recorded this narration in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat, and its chain is hasan (good).

Sayyiduna Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: When revelation came down upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), or when he was admonishing, I would think that he was warning a people upon whom punishment was about to come. And when that state of his had passed, I would think that he was the most cheerful-faced, the most smiling and the best-mannered of people.
Imam al-Bazzar recorded this narration, and its chain is hasan (good).

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin al-Harith (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would line up Abdullah, Ubaydullah and Kathir, the sons of Sayyiduna Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him), and then say: Whoever reaches me first will get such-and-such. So they (the children) would come running and fall upon his back and chest, and he would kiss them and hug them to himself.
Imam Ahmad recorded this narration, and its chain is hasan (good).

Sayyiduna Jabir bin Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not turn this way and that while walking. Sometimes his cloak would get caught on a tree or on something, and he would not turn round until the people freed it. The people would joke and laugh, knowing that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would not turn towards them.
Imam al-Tabarani recorded this narration in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat, and its chain is hasan (good).

Sayyiduna Imran bin Husayn (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was more modest than a secluded maiden behind her curtain. When something displeased him, we would know it from his face.
Imam al-Tabarani recorded this narration with two chains, and the narrators of one of them are the narrators of the Sahih.

Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was more modest than a secluded maiden behind her curtain. When something displeased him, we would know it from his (peace and blessings be upon him) face. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Modesty is good, all of it."
Imam al-Bazzar recorded this narration, and the narrators of this narration are the narrators of the Sahih, except for Muhammad bin Umar al-Muqaddami, whose case is different, and he is thiqah (trustworthy).

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would take his ritual bath (ghusl) behind the apartments, and his private parts were never seen.
Imam al-Bazzar recorded this narration, and its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy).