Virtues of the Prophet

by Shaykh Taner Ansari

Bismillah er Rahman er Rahim, In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. All praise belongs to Allah. He owns everything. All power belongs to Him and not to us. May His peace and blessings be on his Prophet Muhammad and his family and on all the other prophets and their families.

Allah created everything for a purpose, and each individual thing manifests its purpose. For example, an apple tree's purpose is to grow apples. A dog's job is to act like a dog, to bark and to protect. A human being's purpose is also defined by Allah. Allah said, "I created humans and jinns only to worship me." This means getting to know Allah.

In order to do our job of getting to know Allah, we must study His attributes and get closer to Him. We get closer to Allah by doing the things He likes us to do and having the manners He likes us to have. For this He gave us Muhammad (peace be upon him) as an example. He made him His lover. If we follow Muhammad's example, we will also be Allah's lovers because we will be doing the things that He likes us to do. There are at least two hundred virtues of the Prophet (saws) which Sufis should have. In fact, every human being should manifest these.

What is a Virtue?

An action that is done for Allah's sake, which is acknowledged and praised by Allah, is a virtue. In order to have more virtues in your life, you have to first know what virtues you want and then ask Allah to give them to you. Then as you get the virtues, you have to practice using them. Allah will set the stage for you to do this. As you exercise a virtue, you will get more and more of it. For example, patience is a virtue which you may want to develop. First you want to be patient. Then Allah will help you to be patient. There will be an incident in which you will need patience, but you will not have enough. With each new incident you will be a little more patient. In this way your patience will increase.

There are two categories of virtues: the manners or attributes of God, and the attributes of human beings. We have to manifest both of them. We have to be just, patient, soft. At the same time we must be humble. Humility is a human attribute. We must also be obedient and serve Allah. We serve Allah by knowing Him and surrendering to Him.

Follow the Prophet's Example

Our Prophet had all these virtues. Before he was a prophet, he was known as amin, safe. People trusted him with their issues. He was a hakim, a problem solver. He used to help people solve their problems, and acted as referee because he was unbiased. We must also be unbiased and only speak what is just and right. Our Prophet (saws) also never lied. We should also be like him and not lie or cheat. We should not bear false witness, even against ourselves. He was kind and soft-spoken. He was kind to women and children, to everyone. He did get angry, but he never let his anger get control of him. He had control over his anger. One could only tell that he was angry when his cheeks turned a little rosy. He kept Allah in his mind, heart, and soul at all times. He was always with Allah. That's how he could be more patient and do the right thing.

Each human being should manifest the virtues of the Prophet Muhammad, may peace and blessings be upon him. We should be thinking of each other and not ourselves. In this world today everyone is thinking of himself/herself and has no respect for the other. You can be killed for fifty cents. We should share, but instead we act like pigs. We are greedy and want everything for ourselves. Love between mother and child, husband and wife, between two human beings just because they are human beings has to be manifested. Helping each other has to be manifested. These are some of the things we need to pay attention to, to manifest, in order for us to fulfill our purpose on this earth.