Section: His characteristics and practices:

It is authentically reported that the Prophet ﷺ used to say, “O Allah, I seek refuge in You from hunger, for it is a wretched bedfellow.”

He ﷺ was fond of sweets, honey, and meat—especially the fore-leg. He kept company with his wives, ate meat, fasted and broke the fast, slept, and applied perfume both when he entered and when he left the state of iḥrām, as well as when he went to the Friday prayer and on other occasions. He accepted gifts, rewarded them in return, and encouraged others to give. He answered the invitation of anyone who invited him. He ate whatever he found, wore whatever was at hand, never affecting preference for one thing over another. He would eat cucumber with fresh dates and melon with fresh dates. When he rode, he might seat a child in front of him, or let his servant—or whoever happened to be present—ride behind him. At times he wore wool, at other times the striped Yemeni mantles that he loved most, red and white in hue. On his right hand he wore a silver ring engraved with “Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah,” though occasionally he wore it on his left.

He practiced consecutive fasting, remaining several days without food, yet forbade others to do so, saying, “I am not like you; I spend the night with my Lord, Who feeds me and gives me drink.”

Out of hunger he once tied a stone to his stomach. Though offered the keys to all the treasures of the earth, he declined them, choosing the Hereafter instead. He smiled often, loved pleasant fragrances, and his character was the Qur’an: he was pleased with what it is pleased with and angered by what it is angered by.

He neither wrote nor read, nor had any human teacher. He grew up in a land of ignorance and idolatry, whose people possessed neither learning nor scripture, yet Allah granted him knowledge