For that reason the Prophet, ﷺ, loved to make things easy for his community. Whenever he was given a choice between two courses of action, he would choose the easier of the two—provided it was not sinful. Out of compassion for his ummah, he would sometimes perform a righteous deed and then leave it, even though he wished to persist in it, lest it prove taxing for them. Such were his qualities: whatever weighs upon his community weighs upon him; their gladness gladdens him; their joy brings him joy. A man of these traits can bring nothing but goodness and mercy, ﷺ.

“Concerned for you” means anxious for your guidance, eager to bring you out of darkness into light. Because of that solicitude he bore great hardships in inviting people to faith, striving to lead them from obscurity to illumination, until Allah said to him, “You would perhaps destroy yourself with grief because they will not be believers” (Q 26:3). In other words: you might wear yourself out from sorrow over their refusal to believe—so do not grieve for them. Such intensity of concern is the perfection of his counsel, ﷺ.

“With the believers he is compassionate and merciful”: ‘compassionate’ (ra’ūf) conveys gentleness and tenderness, while ‘merciful’ (rahīm) describes his mercy; he is by no means harsh. “It is by a mercy from Allah that you dealt gently with them; had you been rough and hard-hearted, they would have scattered from around you” (Q 3:159).