The necessities of daily life may be classified as under:
1.Those which are best in minimum quantities;
2.Those whose abundance is preferable; and
3.Those whose quantum varies from time to time.
We will study the manner of utilisation of the necessities of life by the Prophet, may Allah bless and grant him peace, under three categories.
1.When the Best in the Minimum Quantity
Primarily the Prophet led a life of managing his day to day physical needs at the bare minimum level, a level that was enough for. His practiced himself this approach of life and preached the same to his companions in words too, although he was not against using the bounties of Allah properly available to a person to its full capacities.
In other words, despite not being against consumption of halal (permitted) things in principle, he preferred this to its lowest degree. Allah provided His Prophet many bounties of life which he passed on to other needy persons, keeping the least possible portions for self-use.
This is true not only about items of consumption like food, drink, dress, live-stocks and other forms of wealth, but also about the bodily enjoyment of long sleeps. The Prophet, may Allah bless and grant him peace, slept for a small portion of nights and utilised the rest time for standing in prayers (salat) to Allah and recitation of long parts of the Qur’an therein. At times he was awake for prayers at night for so long periods that Allah regulated his hours of sleep through commandment as half of the nights, something less or more (The Qur’an 73:3-4).
The Prophet taught this night-prayer to his companions. This is not an obligatory prayer but advisable to sleep as less as possible, even to the extent of half of the nights and utilise the rest to stand in prayers (salat) to Allah and recite the Qur’an. He slept on the left side. As the heart is on the left side, the sleep on the side is not deep and it makes it easier to wake up quickly. He rightly said, “My eyes sleep, not my heart.”
Regarding food and drinks, he once said, “The son of Adam does not fill any container worse than his belly: a little is sufficient for him to keep his back straight; if there must be more, a third for his food, a third for his drink and a third for his breadth is sufficient.”
His wife Ayesha, may Allah be pleased with her, while describing the practices of the Prophet, reported that he never filled his stomach completely; he never asked his family members for food neither he desired it; whatever he ate and drank whatever was given. He never ate food in a reclining position, or sitting cross-legged in a comfortable posture, as if he was ready to stand up straight away.
2.Where Abundance is Preferable
Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless and grant him peace, forbade celibacy and said, “Whoever is able to marry should marry, it lowers the eyes and protects the private parts.” He himself had a number of wives, so had a number of his companions. Contrary to the thought that marriage may distract from worship, the example of the Prophet is that of having several wives and worshipping Allah in the best of the manner possible by any human being. He said, “Allah caused me to love women and perfume in this world, but the coolness/serenity of my eyes is in prayer.”
At the time of the Prophet, it was a common practice for men to have a number of wives without any limit. The Prophet permitted his followers to go with this; this abundance in the case of wives with two provisos: one that the upper limit will be four and the second that when marrying more than one wife, it should not be at the cost of justice as each of the wives must be treated uniformly. If a man cannot ensure this justice, he should be contented with one wife.
3.When Quantum Varies according to situations
The Prophet, may Allah bless and grant him peace, adopted varying approaches in dealing with money and commodities, in accordance with the demand of circumstances. He accepted the wealth received at different times and used them instantly without leaving anything left over for his personal use. He conquered a vast land comprising Hejaz, Yemen and all of the Arabian Peninsula in addition to the areas bordering Syria and Iraq. A fifth of war booties was brought to him. He received gifts from kings. Obligatory and non-obligatory charities (zakat and sadaqah) and jizya amounts came under his possession. However, all this wealthwas distributed among the needy and utilised for necessary purposes. The Prophet did not make his person the beneficiary of the wealth so accumulated at times and disbursed the next moment. So much so that when he died, his armour was in pledge for arranging food for his family.
His approach towards wealth is evident from an incident reported by his companions. One day the Prophet stood up just after the congressional prayer and went quickly to one of his rooms and came back after a while. The followers were curious as to the cause of the unusual haste of the Prophet which he explained, “I remembered that I have a piece of coin (silver or gold) left and this disturbed me, but now I have arranged for its distribution.”
At another occasion, he said, “I do not feel easy if any gold dinar remains with me overnight, except for a dinar that I have set aside for payment of a debt.”
His lifestyle with regard to clothes worn by him was similar. He received as gift valuable items of clothing, including robes of brocades and garments with embroidery which he gave to persons in his company or sent them to other. He remained satiated with the cloak or coarse and thick clothing available to him.