Chapter IX: Evils of Pride and Vanity
His nature was modest, his mind was kind. His face was pleasant. He used to smile, not laugh. He became sorry without despair, stern without harshness, modest without meanness, charitable without misuse and kind to his relatives and Muslims.
He never ate to his heart's content. Hazrat Ayesha supported the above statement of Abu Sayecd Khodri. Hazrat Ayesha said : I tell.you that the Prophet never ate belly-full with satisfaction and did not complain of hunger to anybody. Poverty was dearer to him than solvency and wealth. If he remained hungry at night, he kept fast the next day. If he prayed to his Lord, he would have been given, the treasures of the world but he rejected them all.
Many a time, I pitied him seeing him hungry. I passed my hand over his belly and said : My life is dedicated to you. If you got what is sufficient for your hunger ! He said : O Ayesha, the great apostles of patience before me bore greater patience than this trouble. They died in this condition and went near their Lord.
They are now living in the most honourable places. I feel ashamed to go to a lower rank for being engaged in worldly enjoyments. I love to have patience for these few days than to have lesser rank in the next world. I don't consider anything more valuable than to live with my brethren and finds-the apostles. Hazrat Ayesha said : Hardly had one week passed after these talks when Cod took his life.
You will find the conducts and behaviours of a modest man in the above ways of his life. So whoso wants to be modest should follow him. He who considers himself greater than the Prophet and is not pleased with what the Prophet remained pleased with, is a great fool. The Holy Prophet is the owner of the greatest rank both in this world and the next. There is no honour and progress
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except in following him. For this reason. Hazrat Omar said : We are such a people who have been honoured by the religion of Islam. So we should not seek honour by following others. When Hazrat Omar entered Syria, he uttered the above words when a man objected to his humility and modesty.