Abdullah, son of Hamza, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that once he sold some items to Prophet Muhammad, may Allah grant and bless him peace. As the items sold were not complete, he promised the Prophet to bring those items at the same place. He went back and forgot this. He remembered after three hours and came back with those goods. The Prophet did not express any anger and simply complained, “Boy, you were hard on me. I have been waiting for you for three hours.”
Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that once some gifts were brought which the Prophet asked to be delivered to a lady who was a friend of his late wife Khadija, may Allah be pleased with her. His wife Ayesha, may Allah be pleased with her, said that she was not jealous of any other wife of the Prophet except late Khadija whenever the Prophet mentioned her name. He loved his deceased wife Khadija so much that whenever a sheep was slaughtered he would send some meat to any of her friends. Once a lady came to the Prophet whom he welcomed and enquired things at length. When the lady went away, the Prophet informed his wife Ayesha that she used to visit when his wife Khadija was alive and added, “Maintaining ties is part of belief.”
The Prophet was very particular in maintaining kinships. He once said that he maintains relationships and acts with kindness with a particular tribe because of kinship with them, although they were not his friends.
He used to carry Umama, his grand-daughter (the daughter of his daughter Zainab), may Allah be pleased with her, on his shoulder. At the time of prostration in prayers he would put her down and thereafter put her back on his shoulder.
When a delegation from the Negus of Abyssinia came, the Prophet himself stood up to serve them. The companions requested to let them do the job but he declined saying, “They were generous and honoured our companion, and I intend to do the same to them.”
The Prophet was breast-fed by his foster-mother Halima in his childhood and her daughter Shaymah was his milk-sister. Shymah was taken captive in the battle of Hunain and disclosed her identity. The Prophet immediately stood up, spread out his cloak for her and offered her the option of staying with him with honour or going back to her tribesmen with her belongings. She preferred to get back her supplies and go back to her people. At another occasion his foster parents and brother visited and the Prophet spread out his cloak for them in their honour. It is reported that as the garment on which he was sitting was not large enough to accommodate all four of them; foster parents, their son along with him; the Prophet stood up and made room for them to sit. Sharing or offering one’s cloaks for any person was an act of honouring the guest.
Thuwayba was another wet-nurse of the Prophet. He used to send her gifts. After her death, the Prophet enquired about her any other relative so that he may continue to serve that person. But none of her relative was alive.
An apt description of the character of the Prophet in dealing with and serving other human beings is contained in the manner his wife Khadija, may Allah be pleased with her, consoled after he came back to his house shaken by the experience of the visit of Angel Jibrael. She said, “By Allah, be happy, Allah will never cause you to grieve. You keep the ties of kinships, you bear all, you help those who are in need, you give hospitality to the guest and you get people to get what is due to them.”