Islam and Christianity

ig nor too small; it was three and a half meters in length. He wore
his turban without a skull-cap. However, sometimes he wore a
skull-cap with a cord and without a turban.
37– As it was customary in Arabia, he would grow his hair as
long as it reached the mid-sections of his ears, having it trimmed
when it grew longer. He applied special ointment to his hair. He
took the bottle of ointment with him whenever he went on a
voyage. When he applied the ointment, he would first cover the
ointment with a piece of muslin and then put on his headgear, so
that the ointment would not be seen from without. Sometimes he
let his hair grow long and hang before him on both sides. On the
day when he conquered Mekka he had two curls of hair hanging in
this manner.
38– He would put musk and other sorts of perfume on his
hands and head, and incense himself with aloe wood and
camphor.
39– His bed was made of tanned leather stuffed with date
threads. When they offered him a bed stuffed with wool, he
refused it, saying, “O Âisha! I swear in the name of Allah that
Allâhu ta’âlâ would keep piles of gold and silver with me
everywhere if I wished.” Sometimes he slept on felt mats, on
wooden beds, on the floor, on rugs woven with wool, or on dry
soil.
[Ibni ’Âbidîn ‘rahima-hullâhu ta’âlâ’ states in the initial part of
the chapter about fasting, “Acts which Rasûlullah and his four
Khalîfas succeeding him did steadily are called sunnat. (With
respect to importance, there are two categories of sunnat.) It is
makrûh [1]
to omit (an act which is) sunnat-i-hudâ. Yet it is not
makrûh to omit (acts that are) sunnat-i-zâida.”
Abdulghanî Nablusî ‘rahima-hullâhu ta’âlâ’ [d. 1143 (1731
C.E.), Damascus] says in his book Hadîqa, “Sunnat-i-hudâ is an
act of worship which Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa
sallam’ performed but did not admonish other Muslims for
omitting it. If it is an act of worship which he performed steadily,
it is called sunnat-i-muakkada. Acts which the Messenger of
[1] An act, behaviour, a word that the Messenger of Allah avoided
although it was not prohibited directly in the Qur’ân al-kerîm is called
makrûh. The Messenger not only avoided such behaviour, but also
recommended that Muslims should avoid it.
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