Understanding The Prophet's Life
From Issue: 756 [Read full issue]
Austere Living
One day Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, came into the house of the Prophet, peace be upon him, to find him lying on a simple mattress which left its marks on his body. Umar started to sob.
'Why are you crying, O Umar', said the Prophet.
'I thought of Caesar and Chosroes sitting on thrones of gold, wearing silk. And you are the Messenger of God, yet here you are sitting on this simple mattress.'
'O Umar', said the Prophet, 'are you not satisfied that they have this world and we have the next?'
So simple and austere were his living habits that he went half-hungry most of the time. Aishah, may Allah be pleased with her, reported that for three consecutive nights, a fire was not kindled in the homes of the Prophet because there was nothing to be cooked. When asked how they managed, she said they depended on water and dates (the two blacks).
Where is the basis for the image of a self-indulgent, luxury-loving ruler with his 'harem' which some critics of the Prophet have contrived to draw for him?
Despite the austere simplicity of his life, the Prophet's homes were by no means unhappy or devoid of pleasure and delight. It is a great tribute to the personality of the Prophet that those homes, lacking any comfort or even abundance of food, were yet full of love and happiness.
Compiled From:
"Sunshine At Madinah" - Zakaria Bashier, pp. 154, 155