The Messenger of Allah says: “Allah the Almighty revealed to me that “Be so humble toward each other that none of you should transgress his limits and oppress others. Again none of you should boast about himself/herself and act superior against others.” (Muslim, Jannah, 64)
Our Prophet (pbuh), who was sent to complete good moral conduct, used to accept everybody’s invitation, whether they be free or slave.
He also accepted people’s gifts even if it was as little as a cup of milk and reciprocated by showering them with gifts. He was very sensitive about the wishes of the people who were belittled in the society, such as slaves and the poor.
When the Prophet (pbuh) and companions were on their way to Badr, there were not enough camels for everybody to ride.
Hence, they were taking turns riding the camels. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) was taking turns with Hazrat ‘Ali and Abū Lubābah (r.a). When it was the Prophet’s (pbuh) turn to walk, his companions told him:
“O Messenger of Allah! Please get on the camel. We can walk in your turn, too. “
The Messenger of Allah r responded:
“You are not stronger than me to walk and I am in need of spiritual rewards as much as you are.” (Ibn Sa’d, II, 21)
The conquest of Mecca was a great victory for Muslims bestowed by Allah the Almighty after twenty years of grief, oppression, and suffering; however, the Messenger of Allah entered into Mecca not by making signs of victory, but by thanking Allah; his head was prostrating on his camel.
He was also praying that Allah protect him from the possible egoistic feelings that may have arisen out of the victory, when he said:
“O Allah! There is no life worth living except the life of the Hereafter.” (Waqidī, II, 824; Bukharī, Riqāq, 1)
On the day of the conquest of Mecca, one of the Meccans, shaking with fear, asked the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) to teach him the religion of Islam. He appeased his fellow-townsman giving an example from the weakest times of his life:
“Calm down my brother! I am not a king or an emperor. I am just the son of your old neighbor from Quraish, who used to eat dried meat.”1
Thus, he was presenting the best example of humility to his people. Again on the same day, he said to Abū Bakr (May God be pleased with him), who brought his father and asked the Messenger of Allah to teach Islam to his father:
“O Abū Bakr! Why did you trouble your old father by bringing him here? Could not we go to him?”2
He warned those who showed him too much respect, by saying:
“Do not raise me to a place that I do not deserve; because, Allah the Almighty has selected me as a servant before He selected me as a Prophet.” (Haythamī, IX, 21)
1. See Ibn Majah, Aṭ’imah, 30; Ṭabarānī, Al-Mu’jam al-Awṣaṭ, II, 64
2. See Aḥmad, VI, 349; Haythamī, IV, 174; Ibn Ṣa’d, V, 451.