Good Behavior and Characteristics of the Prophet to Follow

The people of Mecca knew who Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him was, what he was like, his kind character, how he was well-trusted and loved, and how he interacted with people. However, when he came with the message of Allah and truth, they rejected him and what he was preaching. This was a test for the people of Mecca because they were used to worshipping idols. 

Allah SWT tells us about the struggle of the people of Mecca in Surah Al-Qalam (68 The Pen) which was one of the first surahs that the prophet ﷺ received. The pen was the first thing that Allah created and Allah told the pen to write and the pen wrote everything, including all events to occur throughout time. 

Allah SWT gave Prophet Muhammad ﷺ three characteristics as described in this surah; his sound intellect, his devotion to his faith which will result in great reward, and the best behavior in his interactions with others. The prophet ﷺ was very well-trusted by the people around him. When everyone in Mecca was fighting over placement of the black stone in the Ka’ba, Muhammad ﷺ was chosen to settle the argument. 

In this surah, Allah SWT lists the characteristics we should avoid. You should not give your attention to someone who spends their time swearing by Allah whether it’s true or not, talks down to people, puts people down, hears something from someone and passes it to another person while exaggerating what is said, tries to prevent people from doing good things, and someone who takes away people’s rights and sins all the time. On the day of judgement, these people will try to make sujood in prostration and they will not be able to because when they were able to, they chose not to. 

However, as perfect as Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was with his endowed three good characteristics, the people of Mecca still did not want to accept him and the message he was preaching. Allah gave Prophet Muhammad ﷺ an example to help him with the people of Mecca. In Surah Al-Qalam, Allah recounts the story of brothers who were in charge of a garden that was rich with many fruits which they inherited from their father. Their father used to let poor people pick from the garden as they pleased and they knew of their father’s generosity. Even though they knew it was the right thing to do, the brothers decided they were not going to let the poor take from their garden because they were worried about losing money. Due to these actions, their behavior began to change. They would whisper to each other, give bad looks to people, walk around like a gang, and intimidate people. So Allah destroyed their garden. That is when the brothers realized that everything had been taken away from them due to their actions, and they turned back to Allah. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ told the people of Mecca this story to guide them to do good before it is too late. 

May Allah make our behavior and manners nice and guide us to follow the Prophet’s good behavior characteristics.