The intensity of the prayers of Prophet Muhammad, may Allah grant and bless him peace, emanated from his knowledge and awareness of Allah. No one else did or can know and be aware of the Creator and His creations, more than the Prophet. This informationis unseen and unheard to the rest of the Creations. Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, reported the Prophet as saying, “If you know what I know, you will laugh a little and weep a lot.” Another companion of the Prophet Abu Dharr, may Allah be pleased with him, related that the Prophet said, “I see what you do not see and hear what you do not hear. The heavens cry out and it has the right to cry out. There is not a single place therein of four fingers’ width where an angel is not prostrating before Allah. By Allah! If you know what I know, you will laugh a little and weep a lot, and you have not have enjoyed women in your beds, rather you would go out to the mountains crying in order to draw closer to Allah.” Experts opine that some parts of the stress in this narration may have been added by its narrator. However, the message is crystal clear.
The concentration with which the Prophet prayed to Allah has been reported by a number of companions, including his wives. He would stand in prayer for long, so much so that his feet would be swollen. He was asked as to why he burdened so much when Allah already provided him forgiveness and assured a high place for him. His reply was, “Shouldn’t I worship in gratefulness?” The same was the case of his fasting for several days without break. Lady Ayesha, may Allah be pleased with her, has described this phenomenon in a beautiful manner. She reported, “He would fast until we said he will not stop fasting!” These were non-obligatory prayers, but he performed them extraordinarily. Some companions, when they heard about this severity of the Prophet’s Prayers, intended to do the same, but failed as this was not possible in that degree for anyone else to practise. To this the Prophet said, “Who among you can do what I can do?”
Awf, may Allah bestow His kindness on him, reported that once his father Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, prayed alongside the Prophet who recited the Chapters Al-Baqra in the first Rakat (one unit of the prayer) and Ale-Imran of the Qur’an in the second Rakat. In between the recitations the Prophet would stop and supplicate to Allah on the verses pertaining to mercy and seek refuge with Allah on verses pertaining to punishments. His Ruku (bowing in the prayer) was as lengthy as that of his standing. [Al-Baqra is the longest chapter of the Qur’an comprising 284 verses and Ale-Imran is the second longest chapter comprising 200 verses].
As to seeking refuge with Allah, the Prophet said to his companions that he sought the forgiveness hundred times a day. In other narrations seeking forgiveness several times a day has been described.
Lady Ayesha, may Allah be pleased with her, reported that the Prophet, at times, stood throughout the entire night repeatedly reciting a single verse of the Qur’an. Another companion informed about the sound of sobbing coming out of the chest of the Prophet like that of boiling of water in a large pot.
The Prophet described his own condition in several narrations. In one such apt narrations, he said, “The fruit of my heart lies in His remembrance, my sorrow is for the sake of my nation, my yearning is for my Lord, the Mighty.”