The modesty of the Prophet Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, was the most prominent trait of his personality.\u00a0 Even from an early age, his sense of shame in an open society of the Arabs prior to Islam was remarkable.\u00a0 In one instance, after the treasures had been stolen from inside,\u00a0 the people were rebuilding the \u00a0the Kaaba with a roof in order to prevent thieves from entering it again. Muhammad, while, still a young man, took part.\u00a0 He went with his uncle, al-Abbas, to carry blocks of stone. \u00a0His uncle told him to put his sarong[1]<\/a> around his neck to protect himself from the sharp edges of the heavy rocks.<\/p>\n As he moved to comply with this sensible advice, he was overcome with dizziness, and he collapsed in a dead faint. \u00a0His eyes gazed fixedly skywards as he lay on his back on the ground, his sarong loosened but still covering his privates. \u00a0A few moments later, he came round, yelling, \u201cMy clothing – my clothing!\u201d<\/p>\n Hastily, he wrapped his sarong securely around himself again.\u00a0 Never again in his life would anyone outside the family ever even catch a glimpse of his loins.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The story above was told by one of the Prophet\u2019s companions, Jabir bin Abdullah, and shows Mohammad\u2019s strong sense of shame and propriety about his body was ingrained, even before prophethood. \u00a0He was known to be more modest than a cloistered virgin both before and<\/em> after receiving revelation from God.<\/p>\n Another story about Moses, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, demonstrates that he was as equally bashful and shy about his own body as young Muhammad.\u00a0 He never appeared in front of anyone without fully covering himself, which led some of his people (the Children of Israel) to disparage him hurtfully.\u00a0 They said, \u201cHe covers his body in this way only because of some defect in his skin, either leprosy or scrotal hernia, or he has some other defect.\u201d<\/p>\n God wished to clear Moses of what they said about him. \u00a0One day, when Moses had \u00a0taken off his clothes and put them on a stone while in seclusion, he started taking a bath. \u00a0When he had finished the bath, he moved towards his clothes in order to take them and put them on again, but the stone took off with his clothes and fled. \u00a0Despite his nakedness, Moses picked up his stick and ran after the stone saying, \u201cO stone! \u00a0Give me my clothes!\u201d<\/p>\n But the stone continued to flee until it reached a group of Israelites, where it stopped. \u00a0That is how they were able to see him naked, finding in his form the best of what God had created.<\/p>\n Thus God cleared him of what they had accused him of. \u00a0Moses, however, was rather upset.\u00a0 He took his clothes and hastily put them on, and then started hitting the stone with his stick. \u00a0The Prophet of Islam, the one who narrated the story, swore that the stone still had some traces of the hitting, even today; three, four or five marks. \u00a0That was what God refers to in His Saying:<\/p>\n \u201cO you who believe! \u00a0Be not like those who annoyed Moses, but God proved his innocence about that which they alleged.\u00a0 And he was honorable in God\u2019s Sight.\u201d (Quran 33:69)<\/p>\n This story shows how shy Moses was about letting his body be seen in public.\u00a0 In fact, only his anger at being deprived of the barrier between his body and the world led him to allow the whole of his body to be seen, the exposure of which was by God\u2019s Will in order to clear him of the slander applied by his detractors. \u00a0Of course, he could not hold that exposure against God, so he took it out on the rock \u2013 the means by which his exposure was engineered, and hence his innocence was established from what his slanderers alleged.<\/p>\n What is respectable to view between people of course varies.\u00a0 How much of a woman\u2019s body can be exposed to a husband is different from what she can expose to her brother, which in turn differs from what can be seen by a complete stranger, and vice-versa.\u00a0 This is true concerning what is permissible to see between people of the same sex, too.\u00a0 What a father, brother or son can respectably view of each other is different from what a man outside the family circle is permitted to see, as what a mother, daughter or sister can of each other in contrast to a strange woman.<\/p>\n Once, when the Prophet went into a garden, he asked his companion, Abu Musa al-Asharee, to guard its gate.\u00a0 In the garden was a well, and he sat upon its wall dangling his legs inside it.\u00a0 After a while, Abu Bakr came by, wanting to enter the garden. \u00a0Abu Musa went to tell the Prophet that his father-in-law wanted to share the garden with him, so the Prophet said, \u201cTell him the good news that the gardens of Paradise await him, and let him in.\u201d<\/p>\n So Abu Bakr, Aisha\u2019s father, went into the garden and sat beside the prophet, whose sarong was pulled up to just above his knees, and dangled his legs in the well with him.\u00a0 A little later, Umar al-Khattab turned up.\u00a0 He wanted to relax in the garden, too.\u00a0 Again Abu Musa sought the Prophet\u2019s permission for him, informing him of another of his father-in-law\u2019s presence at the gate.\u00a0 He said, \u201cTell him the good news that the gardens of Paradise await him, and let him in.\u201d<\/p>\n Umar, Hafsa\u2019s father, took the free place beside the Prophet, and dangled his legs in the water next to him.<\/p>\n Both of these men had had the sensitivity to sit next to the prophet, and thus the prophet was able to preserve propriety without having to pull his lower garment over his knees.<\/p>\n Some time after that, his son-in-law, Uthman al-Affan, whom his daughter Ruqayyah had married, also sought entrance to the garden.\u00a0 When Abu Musa transmitted the Prophet\u2019s message by saying, \u2018The gardens of Paradise await you after some trials,\u2019 and let him in, Uthman observed that the only free spaces on the wall were on one of the three walls that the Prophet and his fathers-in-law were not occupying, which meant he might see more of the Prophet\u2019s legs than they.\u00a0 As he hesitated, the Prophet pulled his sarong down over his knees, so Uthman took the place opposite him.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Islam teaches that there are some parts of the body that should not be revealed in public, and the closer these parts are to one\u2019s privates, the more they are prohibited to reveal.\u00a0 Although all three men who sat with him had close family ties with him, which is why he let his knees be seen, when the Prophet\u2019s thighs were threatened by exposure, he took steps to hide them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Footnotes:<\/p>\nMoses and the Mockers<\/h2>\n
Muhammad and the Garden Well<\/h2>\n
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