Jabir bin Samra reports that he used to offer prayers with the Prophet ﷺ His prayer as well as his sermon were moderate, neither too long nor too short. (Muslim)

Abu Qatada reports that the Prophet ﷺ had said that when he came to lead the prayer he wished to prolong it but on hearing a child's cry shortened the prayer as he did not like to put the child's mother to hardship by prolonging the prayer. (Bukhari)

Anas says that for the companions of the Prophet ﷺ none was dearer than he was, but they did not stand up on seeing him as they knew that the Prophet ﷺ did not like it. (Tirmidhi) 

Devotion

Ziad reports that he heard from Mughira that in Tahajjud prayer the Prophet ﷺ used to stand so long that both of his feet were swollen. When he was asked why he was putting himself to so much trouble, he replied, "Shall I not be a thankful servant of God." (Bukhari)

Mutarrif bin Abdullah bin Shikhkhir reports from his father that once he went to the Prophet ﷺ when he was engaged in prayer and the voice of weeping came from his breast as if a kettle was boiling. In another report, it is said that he saw the Prophet ﷺ praying and the sound, which emanated from his breast was like that of a grinding wheel. (Ahmad, Nasai & Abu Daud)

Abu Musa Ash'ari reports that once there was an eclipse of the sun. The Prophet ﷺ rose anxiously. He feared that the end of the world had come. Therefore, he came to the mosque and offered a long prayer, taking a lot of time in standing, bowing and prostration such as he had never seen before. After the prayer, he said that these signs of God had nothing to do with any body's life or death, but were meant to inspire fear (of His Displeasure) in His servants. So when they saw any such thing they should make haste to remember God and pray and seek His forgiveness. (Bukhari & Muslim)

Preferred Poverty

Abu Umama reports that the Prophet ﷺ had said that God offered to him to make the valley of Makkah full of gold, but he refused and said that he wanted to remain hungry one day, or he said three days, so that he might express his humility and remember Him, and be fed the next day so that he might praise and thank Him. (Ahmad & Tirmidhi)

A'isha reports that the Prophet ﷺ had said that if he so wished mountains of gold would move with him. However, once an angel came to him whose waist was the girth of Ka'ba and said, 'God sends you His greetings and asks you to choose between a Servant Prophet and a King Prophet.' The Prophet ﷺ looked at angel Gabriel who gestured that he should be humble. In the report of Abdullah bin Abbas, it is said that on hearing the angel's message the Prophet ﷺ turned to angel Gabriel as if to consult him, then said that he wanted to be a Servant Prophet. A'isha says that after that the Prophet ﷺ never took his food reclining and said that he took food like a slave and sat like a slave. (Sharh-us­Sunna)

Mode of Teaching

 A'isha reports that the Prophet ﷺ gave work to the people that they could do and was not beyond their strength. (Bukhari)

 Mu'awiya bin Hakam Sulami says, "I was offering prayer with the Prophet ﷺ When someone sneezed and I said while yet in prayer, 'May God have mercy on you.’ People began to stare at me and I asked, "For God's sake, why do you stare at me like that?" Nevertheless, they asked me to keep quiet. When the Prophet ﷺ finished his prayer, he admonished me in a manner that was unique. By God, I never saw a teacher better than him. He neither scolded me nor snubbed, but only said, "This is prayer in which talking is not proper, for prayer means mentioning the purity and greatness of God and recitation of the Qur'an (with undivided attention)." (Muslim)

Abu Huraira reports that a villager urinated in the mosque and people were about to beat him but the Prophet ﷺ asked them to leave him alone and just pour a bucket of water on the urine. Moreover, he admonished, "You have been raised to attract people towards the faith and to make it easy for them. God has not sent you to make it difficult for the people coming into the faith by your unwise acts." (Bukhari)

Love and Generosity

Jarir bin Abdullah says that one morning while they were sitting with the Prophet ﷺ a party came armed with swords and coarse blankets wrapped round them. Most of their body was naked and they were mostly or entirely from the clan of Mudar. On seeing their ill clad emaciated bodies the Prophet's face waned and he went to his house and coming out ordered Bilal to say Adhan, call for prayer, (as the prayer time had arrived). After Adhan the Prophet ﷺ led the congregation and then addressed the people and recited the first verse of Surah an-Nisa' which says: "O mankind!  Reverence your Guardian Lord who created you from a single person, created of like nature his mate, and from them twain scattered (like seeds) countless men and women – reverence God through whom you demand your mutual (rights).   Reverence the wombs that borne you for God ever watches over you" (Surah An-Nisa, 4:1). Then he recited a verse of Surah Al-Hashr, which says: "O you who believe! Fear God and let every soul look to what (provision) he has sent forth for the morrow. Yea, fear God: for God is well acquainted with (all) that you do." (Surah Al-Hashr, 59:18) He then said that people should give charity in the name of God, be it gold coins or silver coins, clothes or cereal or dates or even if one had half a piece of date he should give that. After the Prophet's ﷺ sermon a man of the Ansar clan came holding a purse, which was too heavy to be held in his palm. He was followed by others bringing alms until there were two heaps of clothes and cereal. On seeing this generosity of the people, the Prophet's ﷺ face became bright like gold and he said, "Whosoever initiates anything good in Islam he will be rewarded for it and also for the acts of those who follow him in the line without any diminution in his reward. But whosoever initiates any evil he will commit a sin and will be punished for it and also for the sins of all those who follow him in the line without any diminution in the punishment of the followers." (Muslim)

Abdur Rahman bin Abu Bakr Siddiq reports that since the people of Suffah (the platform) were poor, the Prophet ﷺ once ordered that whosoever had food for two in his house he should take with him a third from these people and whosoever had food for three he should take a fourth from these men. Therefore, Abu Bakr brought three of these men with him while the Prophet ﷺ took ten of them. (Bukhari & Muslim)

Anas reports that for attracting people to Islam, the Prophet ﷺ gave away whatever any one asked for. Once a man came to him and the Prophet ﷺ gave him all the goats that were grazing between two hills. The man went to his clan and asked them to accept Islam, saying that the Prophet ﷺ gave away with the generosity of the man who had no fear of poverty or starvation. Anas says that in the beginning people came to Islam for worldly gains but when the teachings of the Prophet ﷺ had permeated their inner beings the world and its gains became insignificant in their eyes. (Muslim)

Endurance 

Abdullah bin Masud reports that once the Prophet ﷺ related the story of a Prophet, which was so moving that the scene was even then before his eyes. The Prophet ﷺ said that for preaching the truth a Prophet was so severely beaten by his people that his whole body began to bleed. Nevertheless, he wiped the blood from his face and prayed to God to forgive the people as they were ignorant and did not realise the truth. (Bukhari & Muslim)

Most anxious day of the Prophet's life

Most Trying Day

544. It is reported from A'isha that once she asked the Prophet ﷺ if he had a more difficult and trying day than that of Uhud. The Prophet ﷺ said he had suffered much at the hands of her people, but the most anxious day that he had experienced was at Aqaba (Ta'if). He ﷺ went to Abd Yalil, the son of Abd Kulal, but he refused to accept what he (the Prophet) told him, the Prophet ﷺ returned worried and perturbed and was only relieved when he reached Qarn al­Thalib. He looked towards heaven, and found angel Gabriel there who called to him and said that God had heard what the people told him and how they received his call and God had sent to him the angel who controlled the hills and he would do whatever he ordered him to do. Then the controller of hills called the Prophet ﷺ and said, "O Prophet ﷺ, God has heard what the people have told you." The angel further told him that he was in charge of the hills and had come to him with orders from God to carry out his orders. Therefore, if the Prophet liked he might bring the two hills so close together that these people were crushed between them. However, the Prophet ﷺ said that he did not want it but hoped that the descendants of those people would obey one God and would not assign partners to Him. (Bukhari & Muslim)