He was known for

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) had many good qualities, but he was specially known for his honesty, tolerance, enforcement of justice and sense of equality. He preached that in the presence of God, nothing could justify discrimination, social injustice, or racism. He had transformed the community, where a black man called the believers to prayer, and a slave's son commanded the army. Faith had freed the believers from judgments based on race and social status.

We are not talking about today's society, but the one he lived in, 1400 yeas back, as the transformation had happened in his lifetime itself.

He listened to women in his society, who often experienced denial of their rights, exclusion, and ill-treatment. Their presence in society, in public space and in social, political, economic, and even military action, was an objective fact that the Prophet not only never denied or rejected but clearly encouraged. [2, pp. 213]

As well as calling people to pray, fast and give charity, the Prophet (peace be upon him) taught that one's faith in God should also affect one's treatment of others.
He said: "The best of you are they who have the best character."

Many sayings of the Prophet (peace be upon him) emphasis the relationship between belief and action, for example: "Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, should not hurt his neighbor, and whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, should serve his guest generously, and whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, should speak what is good or keep quiet."[11]

As a result, for Muslims to be true Muslims, they are ordered to have honesty and tolerance in their behavior and implement justice and equality in their day-to-day life. Their religion is not complete without these principles, they cannot attain salvation without practicing them.

To demonstrate how the Prophet (peace be upon him) implemented these principles, a few selected incidents are mentioned in the coming sections.

His tolerance

One day a Bedouin came and urinated in one corner of the mosque, and the people shouted at him. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) stopped them, and when the Bedouin finished urinating, the Prophet (peace be upon him) ordered for a bucket to be spilled over it. He then said to his companions, "You have been sent to make things easy and not to make them difficult."

Can you imagine anyone of us reacting in such a tolerant fashion, against such a disrespectful act? But the Prophet (peace be upon him) displayed it in small and big acts in his life. Imagine if the Prophet (peace be upon him) had allowed the companions to rebuke the man. Do you think he would have returned to the mosque again? The Prophet let him finish because he didn't want to terrify him; he wanted him to feel unthreatened. [1, pp. 82]

Another example is of the story of Ubaydallah ibn Jahsh. He was a man in Makkah who had become a Muslim in the early days of Islam and had immigrated to Abyssinia with other new Muslims. But he had later converted to Christianity and had abandoned his wife. Neither the Prophet (peace upon him), from Mecca, nor any of the Muslims who lived in Abyssinia took any measure against him, he remained a Christian until he died without ever being harassed or ill-treated.

This attitude of respect for everyone's freedom remained constant throughout the Prophet's life, and the authoritative accounts of his life contain no mention whatsoever of a different attitude.

Later on, in Medina, he was to speak out harshly and take firm measures against those who falsely converted to Islam for the sole purpose of gathering information about the Muslims, then denied Islam and went back to their tribes to bring them the information they had managed to obtain. These were in fact war traitors, who incurred the penalty of death because their actions were liable to bring about the destruction of the Muslim community. [2, pp. 78]

Another relevant story in the same sphere is that of a group of Christians who had come to Medina to ask about Islam. They inquired about the message, listened to the contents of the new religion, put forward their arguments, prayed inside the mosque itself, then went back without suffering any harm, remaining Christians and perfectly free.

The companions of the Prophet (peace be upon him) did not forget the Prophet's attitude. They drew from it the substance of the respect that lslam demands of its faithful, whom it invites to go beyond tolerance, to learn, listen, and recognize others' dignity. The command "No compulsion in religion" is in keeping with this respectful approach to diversity. [2, pp. 116]

His compassion

He loved; he forgave. Every day he begged God to forgive his own failings and oversights, and when a woman or a man came to him burdened with a mistake, however serious, showed her or him the way to forgiveness, support, and dialogue with God. He covered other people's mistakes from the sight of others, while teaching everyone the need for personal discipline.

When laziness moved anyone to ask him for minimal practice, he always answered positively and invited them to use their intelligence, and their qualities. To understand, improve, and free themselves from their own contradictions while accepting their own fragility. He taught responsibility without guilt and adherence to ethics as the conditions for freedom.

Justice is a condition for peace, and the Prophet (peace be upon him) kept insisting that one cannot experience the taste of equity if one is unable to respect the dignity of others. He set slaves free and encouraged the Muslims to do so too. Revelation showed him the way, and, he never ceased to give particular attention to slaves, the poor, and the lowly in society. He invited them to assert their dignity, to demand their rights, and to get rid of feeling of inferiority; the message was a call for religious, social, and political liberation. [2, pp. 212]

His character

The story of Zayd ibn Harithah is a perfect example to establish the character of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). It is an amazing story, and it alone is enough to tell us about the personality of the Prophet, it speaks volumes about who he was.

Zayd ibn Harithah was the adopted son of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and the story of his adoption is a peculiar one. This is the era where slavery was prevalent, and the Prophet (peace be upon him) was gifted a slave when he was in his 20s, it was the same boy who was to become his adopted son.

After a few years, the real father of Zayd traced him to the Prophet and asked him to give his son back. The Prophet (peace be upon him) left the choice with Zayd, that is if he wishes to return, he can do so without any cost. However, to the surprise of his father, Zayd chose to live with the Prophet as a slave, rather than return to his real family. He said, "I can never choose anyone over you, for you are to me more than a father and uncle combined".

Zayd's father said, "O Zayd, have you gone crazy? You will choose to be a slave in a strange land, and refuse to come with your own father to your own people?". Zayd said, "I know what I have said. I have seen from this man that which no other man has done."

Right there and then, the Prophet (peace be upon him) stood up and said, "O people of Makkah, I want you all to testify that from this day, Zayd is a free man and I adopt him as my son and he will inherit from me, and I from him." He did this in front of the father to bring peace to his heart that his son is a free man. Thus, the Prophet (peace be upon him) adopted Zayd, and Zayd was called Zayd ibn Muhammad.[5], [1, 680], [2, pp. 24]

His honesty

Young Muhammad (peace be upon him) became a shepherd to earn his living, looking after flocks on the outskirts of Makkah. He had started to earn his own living very early, and he was always trying to help the members of his family [2, pp. 19]. After being a shepherd, he became a trader and built a reputation for honesty and efficiency acknowledged all over the area. When he was only about twenty, people gave him the title of "As-Sadiq al-Amin" which means the truthful, the trustworthy [2, pp. 22].

In his later years, when he had become a Prophet and had migrated to Madinah, he was known to take part in any kind of labor work that his companions were involved in, like during the construction of his masjid he too was involved in carrying stones or during a battle he was like any other soldier, he dug trenches and participated in fights against the enemy soldiers.

Even after the people of Makkah started opposing and oppressing him for his message, they ironically continued to leave their deposits with him for protection. As in those days, they didn't have banks for safekeeping and trustworthy individuals in every society would assist in this responsibility.

But now consider this situation, when the persecution reached an intolerable level, the Prophet (peace be upon him) had to migrate to Madinah, the event of his migration was a very sensitive one, as the people of Makkah had decided to kill him and stop the migration at all costs. But even in this difficult time, he had made sure that the deposits of everyone were to be returned to their owners and had made arrangements for it [2, pp. 77]. Meaning that he gave priority to "upholding trust" over his own survival.

This ties up to another incident that proclaims his honesty. The Prophet had decided to immigrate to Madinah with his best friend Abu Bakr who had provided him with a camel, but the Prophet insisted on paying for it, and did not accept it as a gift. Similarly, he refused the gift of a patch of land that two orphans wanted to give him when he arrived in Madinah to build his mosque. [2, pp. 82]

His equality

He treated the people around him with equality and without any discrimination, a classic example of this is this story.....

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was greatly humble, he frequently rode donkeys, even though he had a camel. And, during the Battle of Badr, the Muslim army was under resourced so people had to share such that there were 3 to 4 people per camel. And so, the Prophet assigned Ali and Abu Lubaba as his own companions.

Of course, put yourself in their shoes - you would say to the Prophet, "Take it!" And of course, they said to him, "We are young men in our 20s, we can walk, and you take the camel!" - Indeed, the leader and commander deserve extra respect and extra protection - the commander is someone who isn't treated like the public. So, the Prophet could have said, "Okay, fine." Or he even could have said, "No. Let's all share it." But he didn't want to make them feel that he was doing them a favor by doing this. So, he smiled and said, "Neither are the two of you any stronger than me, and nor am I in any lesser need of the reward than you two, so we are going to share." [6].

Due to such values Islamic civilization was way ahead of its time, like for example, there were many instances when a blind person, Ummi Maktum, was left in-charge of the city of Madinah when the Prophet (peace b upon him) and the Muslim army went out. The blind man was made a temporary mayor due to his abilities and was not discriminated against due to his disability. This was something never heard of at that time.

This humbleness and honesty were practiced by the later leaders after the Prophet (peace be upon him), who followed his footsteps in every way they could. When Umar Bin Khatab, the second leader after the Prophet (peace be upon him) conquered Jerusalem, he walked in the city while his slave was on the camel as they were taking turns to ride the camel. And because of which the people of Jerusalem thought Umar was the slave and the slave was Umar! Because what leader in the world would walk leading in his slave while he is walking. Where did Umar learn this from? He has the best teacher that is the Prophet (peace be upon him).

Lastly, when the Prophet had finally conquered Makkah, the generosity he had shown had surprised even his fiercest opponents. While many had insulted him, fought against him, and even killed members of his family and his dearest Companions, he offered them forgiveness, and protection. The Messenger was the living example of such nobleness. He showed no interest in revenge, wealth, or power [2, pp. 181].

His humor

And the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was blessed with a great sense of humor - and having humor shows his humanity. And there are so many instances of the jokes. All of his jokes were pure, clean and truthful, yes, even when he was joking, he did not lie.

Once, an old lady came to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and said, "O Messenger of Allah! Make dua that Allah causes this old lady (herself) to enter Jannah." And the Prophet (peace be upon him) looked at her and said, "O my aunt, haven't you been informed that old ladies cannot enter Jannah?" And she began to wail and cry. And he told her, "Don't cry, for wallahi, old ladies cannot enter Jannah, but Allah will first make you into a young, fair girl and then you will enter Jannah." That is, you're going to be young and beautiful when you enter Jannah. And then he recited the verse: "We bring them forth with a new beginning." [56:35] [6]

Another time, it has been recorded that there was a young man by the name of Zahir whom the Prophet (peace be upon him) used to love a lot. Once, the Prophet saw him in the marketplace selling some things, and he was yelling, "Who is going to buy this from me! Who is going to buy this from me!" And so, the Prophet (peace be upon him) came from behind quietly and he grabbed him from behind and gave him a bear hug, and when Zahir saw it was the Prophet (peace be upon him), he leaned back trying to get blessing. And then as a joke, the Prophet shouted out, "Who is going to buy this 'abd' from me?" In those days if you say who is going to buy an 'abd' in a marketplace, of course it meant a slave. But here the Prophet meant abd as a slave of Allah. Again, even in his joke, he isn't lying. So Zahir said, "O Messenger of Allah, in that case you are going to get a very bad bargain. I am not going to sell very expensive." - Zahir had a very low self-esteem. And the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "You are very expensive in the eyes of Allah."