His day ﷺ
The witnesses left no timetable, but their accounts sketch one.
At night, he ﷺ slept in the first part and rose in the last. “He would rise when he heard the rooster” (Aisha, Bukhari 1132). He prayed, went back to his bed, and, at the call of the muezzin, he sprang up and went out (Bukhari 1146).
After the dawn prayer, he ﷺ stayed seated in his place until sunrise, and his Companions talked around him (Muslim 670; Muslim 2322).
During the day, he ﷺ could be found at the mosque, with people, or at home. Aisha answers someone who asks her what he did there: “He would be in the service of his family, and when the prayer came, he went out to the prayer” (Bukhari 676). Another answer, more precise, is attributed to her: “He was a man among men: he would pick the lice from his garment, milk his ewe and serve himself” (al-Tirmidhi, al-Shama’il, 341, graded authentic by al-Albani).
After the afternoon prayer, he ﷺ called on his wives (Bukhari 5216). He took a midday rest, sometimes at the home of Umm Sulaym, on a leather mat (Bukhari 6281).
He ﷺ disliked both sleeping before the last prayer and talking after it (Bukhari 568).
His home ﷺ
His rooms, beside the mosque, were nothing like a palace. Aisha slept in front of him ﷺ while he prayed, her legs across his direction of prayer. When he prostrated, he touched her, and she drew back her feet. “In those days, houses had no lamps” (Bukhari 382).
“The bed of the Messenger of God ﷺ was of leather, stuffed with palm fibre” (Aisha, Bukhari 6456).
Umar saw him on the day he ﷺ had withdrawn from his wives, in an upper room. He was lying on a bare mat, a leather cushion under his head, hides hanging near him. The mat had marked his side. Umar began to weep:
“Chosroes and Caesar have what they have, and you are the Messenger of God!” He ﷺ answered: “Are you not content that they should have this world, and we the next?” (Bukhari 4913).
Ibn Mas’ud saw the same mark, and his Companions offered him ﷺ a mattress. “What have I to do with this world? In this world I am only a traveller who shelters in the shade of a tree, then moves on and leaves it” (Tirmidhi 2377, graded authentic by al-Albani).
His sleep ﷺ
He ﷺ lay down with the mention of God. “In Your name I die and I live”, he would say, and, on waking: “Praise be to God, who has given us life after making us die, and to Him is the resurrection” (Bukhari 6312).
He ﷺ taught al-Bara how to lie down to sleep: make his ablutions, lie on his right side, entrust himself to God, and let that be the last word of the night (Bukhari 247). He also advised shaking out one’s bed before stretching out on it, because one does not know what is there (Bukhari 6320).
His journeys ﷺ
He ﷺ loved to set out on a Thursday, as for Tabuk (Bukhari 2950). Before a journey, he drew lots among his wives for who would come with him (Bukhari 2593).
On his mount, he ﷺ would say: “Glory be to Him who has placed this at our service; we could not have managed it ourselves, and to our Lord we shall return.” He added: “O God, You are the companion on the journey, and the One who watches over the family” (Muslim 1342).
On the road, he ﷺ kept to the rear: “He would stay at the back of the march, urge on the weak, take them up behind him and pray for them” (Jabir, Abu Dawud 2639, graded authentic by al-Albani).
On his return, he ﷺ went first to the mosque to pray two units before sitting down (Bukhari 3088).
His mounts are known by name: the she-camels al-Qaswa, at Hudaybiya (Bukhari 2731), and al-Adba (Bukhari 2871); the white mule of Hunayn (Bukhari 2864); the donkey Ufayr, on which he ﷺ took Mu’adh up behind him (Bukhari 2856).
How this page connects to the others
- His nights of prayer ﷺ: His worship.
- His conduct at home: With people.
- What was eaten in this house: His table.