Prophet Muhammad, may Allah grant and bless him peace, was the embodiment of all praiseworthy qualities of a human being, including truthfulness, justice and fair-mannered behaviour. In fact, he was referred to as a truthful person even before his prophetic period began. The inhabitants of Makkah always called him the ‘trustworthy person’.
The Quran at a place refers to a person who is obeyed and honest. “With authority there, (and) faithful to his trust.” [Al-Qur’an 81:21]. Some scholars opine that this description refers to Angel Jibrael while a majority of them say that it is an elucidation of the Prophet.
The incidence of placing the Black Stone at its place at the time of rebuilding of Ka’bah depicts the place Prophet Muhammad, may Allah grant and bless him peace, who was a young person then, had in the city of Makkah. A dispute about the honour of placing the Black Stone erupted and continued for days with swords being drawn out and the horror of a war looming high. In order to solve the dispute someone suggested that the decision should be entrusted to the first person entering the precincts of the holy place. And the person who came there first was none other than Muhammad, may Allah grant and bless him peace. The instant cry of warlords of Makkah was that of jubilation: ‘he is trustworthy; we are satisfied with him.’ This TRUSTWORTHY PERSON resolved the issue amicably and thus the danger of a blood-bath was avoided.
This role and position of the Prophet in Pre-Islamic Makkah has been reported in several other cases when he was called upon to give judgments between quarrelsome parties, and his decision was accepted by both of them without dispute.
A very interesting stand of Abu Hakkam, known as Abu Jahl, the arch enemy of the Prophet, has been reported. He addressed he Prophet and said, “I do not say that you lie, rather what you have brought is a lie.” The Prophet was saddened by this comment. Allah consoled him by the verse: “We truly know the sorrow that their words bring to you: It is not you (whom) they reject: But it is the Sign of Allah, which the evildoers deny.” [Al-Qur’an 6:33]
At another occasion Abu Jahl said to the Prophet, “We do not call you a liar and you are not a person among us who is called a liar.” Abu Jahl was killed in the battle of Badr. Abu Al Akhnas, son of Surayk, met him in the midst of the battle and enquired his opinion about the Prophet. Abu Jahl said, “By Allah, Muhammad is a truthful person, he never lies.”
An eye-opening story is that of Heraclius, the Emperor of Rome, who cross-examined Abu Sufian about the Prophet. Abu Sufian was at war with the Prophet at that time. The question of the Emperor was emphatic, “Did you ever suspect him of being a liar, before he said what he says.” The then enemy of the Prophet replied, “No.”
The majority of the tribe Qurysh of Makkah, to which the Prophet belonged, particularly its leadership, initially rejected the Prophet but they could not say that he was a liar. Instead, they coined other terms to justify their own rejection of the faith. Their one such statement was that he was a magician. To which, one of their tribesman, An Nadr, son of Harith, ridiculed them by commenting that when Muhammad, may Allah bless and grant him peace, was young he was the most pleasing truthful and honest among them and now that he had become older, with white hair around his temples they called him a magician. “By Allah! he is not a magician”, he concluded.
The daily routine of the Prophet was that he distributed his time into three: one-third for Allah, another one-third for his family and the rest one-third for himself. As regards his time for self, he split that between him and his companions. The closer companions were asked to keep themselves aware of the needs of other persons and convey those to the Prophet. He stressed the need of conveying the needs of other persons. It meant that if a person is not able to address the requirements of other persons he should convey that to the Prophet for the redressal. The idea was either help or arrange the help. The Prophet said, “If someone conveys the need of someone who is not able to do so, Allah will give him security on the Day of Greatest Terror.”
The character of the Prophet in his young days too was blemish-free. He always kept at bay all the engagements of merrymaking and indulgence practised usually by young men. He himself reported two such occasions when the aberrations were close by and he was saved by Allah. Once when he was grazing sheep outside Makkah, he provided his flock to a fellow boy and went to the town to spend a night there. He heard the sound of flutes and drums in a marriage celebration but he was overcome by sleep and woke up late after the sun had risen. Similar thing happened at another occasion. The young boy was guided by the Almighty Allah at every stage of his life, even in the days of darkness which were prior to advent of his assignment as a Prophet.