I once asked ʿĀʾishah, “How was the Messenger of Allah ﷺ when he was among his family?” She replied, “He was the gentlest of people and the most generous of people; ever cheerful and quick to smile.”

Abū Dāwūd al-Ṭayālisī said: Shuʿbah narrated to us; Muslim Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Aʿwar narrated to me; he heard Anas say: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ remembered Allah frequently, spoke little idle talk, rode a donkey, wore wool, and accepted the invitation of a servant. I actually saw him on the day of Khaybar riding a donkey whose bridle was made of palm-fiber.” (1)

Al-Tirmidhī and Ibn Mājah (2) have transmitted part of this report through Muslim ibn Kaysān al-Mulāʾī from Anas.

Al-Bayhaqī (3) said: Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥāfiẓ dictated to us; Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar al-Ādamī the Qurʾān-reciter in Baghdad narrated to us; ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Dawraqī narrated to us; Aḥmad ibn Naṣr ibn Mālik al-Khuzāʿī narrated to us; ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Wāqid narrated to us, from his father, who said: I heard Yaḥyā ibn ʿAqīl say: I heard ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Awfā say: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ remembered Allah much, spoke little idle talk, lengthened the prayer, shortened the sermon, and did not disdain to walk with a slave or a widow until he had fulfilled their needs.”

Al-Nasāʾī (4) likewise recorded it, through Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, from Abū Zurʿah, from al-Faḍl ibn Mūsā, from al-Ḥusayn ibn Wāqid, from Yaḥyā ibn ʿAqīl al-Khuzāʿī al-Baṣrī, from Ibn Abī Awfā, in similar terms (5).

Al-Bayhaqī (6) further said: Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥāfiẓ informed us; Abū Bakr Ismāʿīl ibn Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl, the jurist of Rayy, narrated to us; Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn al-Faraj al-Azraq narrated to us; Hāshim ibn al-Qāsim narrated to us; Shaybān Abū Muʿāwiyah narrated to us, from Ashʿath ibn Abī al-Shaʿthāʾ, from Abū Burdah, from Abū Mūsā, who said: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ would ride a donkey, wear wool, tether a sheep himself, and personally attend to the comfort of his guests.”