GCSE B OCR/ Philosophy 1/ Good & Evil/ Making Moral Decisions/ Islam.
Here you will find 8 stories from the life of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) which have
been told within the Islamic tradition. It is believed that they were first told by the earliest
companions of Muhammad.
Stories were told in early Islam so that the listeners would be encouraged to
practise ijtihad, this means ‘independent reasoning’. Another Islamic concept is
maslaha which means ‘in the public interest’, once applying ijtihad Muslims
should consider maslaha when making moral decisions.
Below are some teachings recorded to have been said by the Prophet Muhammad
himself. These teachings are recorded in the Hadiths.
The strong man is not the good wrestler; the strong man is only the one
who controls himself when he is angry. (Bukhari)
God will not show mercy to him who does not show mercy to others.
(Bukhari).
Sadqa given to a poor man is just Sadqa, but when given to a relative it
serves a double purpose, being both Sadqa and a connecting link.
(Tirmidhi).
Do not wear silk, for those who wear it in this life shall not wear it in the
Hereafter. (Muslim)
When one of you becomes angry while standing, he should sit down. If the
anger leaves him, well and good; otherwise he should lie down. (Ahmad)
Spread the salaam amongst yourselves. (Muslim)
Muslims today are inspired by such stories and such sayings of the Prophet Muhammad.
Of course for a Muslim Muhammad’s life is the ultimate example of moral behaviour.
Your task in groups of three:
1. Select one person to read the story aloud.
2. Discuss what you think the story teaches Muslims about the Prophet Muhammad.
3. Best match the story to a Hadith.
4. Decide how the story and Hadith may inspire a Muslim teenager to act (you will need
to be creative and invent a scenario)
5. Decide how ‘good’ you think the moral guidance is today in the 21 st century.

Debate at the end of the lesson: ‘Stories are the best form of moral guidance’
E.Messinger Jan’ 2015
1. Sour Grapes
One day a poor man brought a bunch of grapes to the
holy prophet Muhammad (peace be upon Him) as a
gift.
The holy prophet (pbuh) ate one, two, three and then
the whole bunch of grapes by himself. He did not
offer grapes to anyone present. The poor man who
brought those grapes was very pleased and left. One
of the companions asked, "O prophet of Allah (peace
be upon Him) ! How come you ate all the grapes by
yourself and did not offer to any one of us present?
The holy Prophet (peace be upon Him) smiled and
said, "I ate all the grapes by myself because the
grapes were sour. If I would have offered you, you
might have made funny faces and that would have
hurt the feelings of that poor man. I thought to
myself that it's better that I eat all of them
cheerfully and please the poor man. I did not want to
hurt the feelings of that poor man."
Such were the manners of this most noble prophet of
Allah.
2. Sacrificing the Lamb
Just as the Prophet (pbuh), and his companions
landed from their rides, and laid the loads down, it
was decided that they would sacrifice a lamb for
dinner.
One of the companions volunteered: "I will sacrifice
the lamb."
Another: "I will skin it."
Third: "I will cook it."
Fourth: " I will...."
The Prophet (pbuh): "I will gather the wood from the
desert."
The group: "O Messenger of Allah, it is not becoming
of you to discomfort yourself as such. You rest. We
will be honored to do all this on our own."
The Prophet (pbuh): "I know that you are eager to do
it all, but Allah isn't pleased with the slave who
distinguishes between himself and his companions,
and considers himself better than others."
Then he went to the desert, and gathered some
wood, and brought it to the group.
3. The Rubbish Thrower
She thought till late at midnight and finally decided how to take revenge from him. She
could not sleep all night, because she was too eager to take revenge for the idols she
worshiped. Even before the first ray of sunlight had entered her window, she was busy
sweeping her house. She saved all the garbage in a basket, placed it on the roof of her
house and proudly looked at it for a while, then with an impatient look on her face, she
looked at the street that she lived on, and thought, "No one has ever seen him angry.
Everybody will praise me when they will see him shouting at me and getting mad. They
will laugh at him and make fun of him." She looked at the basket again and grinned.
Meanwhile, she heard footsteps, announcing the approach of the end of her waiting.
"Finally my prey has arrived," she thought, as she saw a man dressed in clean, white
clothes coming that way. She picked up the basket in her hands and threw all the
garbage on him when he passed by. Much to the woman's disappointment, he did not say
anything and continued on his way.
She did the same the following day thinking, "Maybe this time I will be able to annoy
him." But he was too gentle to shout at a woman. She misinterpreted his attitude as
fear and decided to repeat the same mischief everyday in order to keep him
frightened, so that he might stop preaching the Oneness of God.
This gentleman whom the woman hated so much was Muhammad (pbuh), the last prophet
of Allah Almighty. He did not want to disappoint the woman and so continued to walk
down the street everyday, instead of picking an alternate route, and prayed for the
woman to recognize the Truth.
One day, the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) did not find the woman to be on the roof
of her house with the basket. This worried him, because he thought something must
have happened to her for not being over there. So he knocked at the door. "Who is it?"
asked a feeble voice. "Muhammad bin Abdullah," was the reply, "can I come in?" The
woman feared, "I am sick, and too weak to fight or talk back, therefore Muhammad has
come to take revenge for what I have been doing to him." But the permission to enter
her house was in such a gentle voice that she allowed him in.
Muhammad (pbuh) entered the house and told the woman that not finding her on the
roof had worried him and he thus wanted to inquire about her health. On finding out
how ill she was, he gently asked if she needed any help. Hypnotized by the affectionate
tone in the Holy Prophet's (pbuh) blessed voice, she forgot all fear and asked for some
water. He kindly gave her some in a utensil and prayed for her health, while she
quenched her thirst. This made her feel very guilty for being so cruel to him in the past
and she apologized for her mean behavior. He forgave her and came to her house
everyday to clean it, to feed her and to pray for her, till she was on her feet again. The
kind attitude of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) inspired her into the recognition of the Truth,
and his prayers were answered in the form of yet another addition into the growing
number of Muslims
4. The Humble One
One day Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was going somewhere at noon and
it was too hot in the desert when He (pbuh) saw an old woman
carrying her luggage on her head. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) helped
her and took the luggage from the woman and carried it for her..
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) asked the woman that where she was
going and why? She said that I am leaving this town as I have heard
that a magician named Muhammad (pbuh) is in town.
As Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was very patient and kind, He
(pbuh) didn't say a word and kept listening. The old lady kept
complaining that why she was leaving the town.
In short the basic reason of her to leave the town was her
misconception about Muhammad (pbuh), who was walking beside her
and she didn't knew it.
While walking with the Holy Prophet (pbuh), that old women noticed
that this young man have a brightness on his smiling and humble
face. And she also noticed that His sweat is perfumed. She was very
impressed.
When they reached the destination, Muhammad (pbuh) put down the
bag and was about to leave when the old woman said,"O, kind person!
At least tell me your name!". Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) replied,"I
am the person because of whom you left the town."The old lady was
amazed to listen that and said that such a kind, helping and true
person can never be wrong and therefore she also accepted Islam.
5. Helping Hand
Once Muhammad (peace be upon him) saw a
slave grinding some grain on a grinding mill
driven by hand. As he ground the grains he was
crying. On seeing this Prophet became anxious.
He asked the slave the reason why he was
weeping. The slave said, "I am sick. I cannot
grind the grain. My master is very cruel and he
will beat me if I cannot finish my job." At this,
the Prophet stepped forward and ground the
rest of the grain saying, "Always call me if you
have any grain to grind. I will do it for you."
Another time, the Prophet (peace be upon him)
saw an old man walking and trembling under the
weight of water which he carried in a leather
jacket. The old man walked a few steps and
rested a bit. Seeing this, the Prophet took the
load and carried it to his place.
6. Tying the Camel
The caravan had been traveling for few hours now. Signs of
fatigue were obvious on their faces. They arrived at a point
and stopped. The Prophet (pbuh) who was also in the
caravan, stopped the camel, and landed. Prior to anything,
they were in search of water to prepare for prayer.
The Prophet (pbuh) also started searching for water. But
soon, returned to his camel, without saying anything to
anyone. The companions were surprised that the Prophet
(pbuh) had ordered stopping here, and now perhaps he would
like to move again? Eyes and ears were awaiting his order.
But the surprise of the group increased as they saw him
approach his camel, and tied its knees, and returned back in
search of water.
Noises were raised from every corner:
" O Prophet of Allah! Why didn't you order us to do this for
you, and insteadyou put yourself in discomfort? We would
have proudly done that service for you."
The Prophet (pbuh) responded: "Never seek others' help in
your affairs, don't lean on others, even if it is a small piece
of Miswak (the wood used for brushing teeth)."
8. Wealth and Poverty
It was a usual meeting. The Holy Prophet (pbuh) was in his place and his
companions gathered around him to hear the words of wisdom and guidance.
Suddenly a poor man in rags appeared, saluted the assembly:
"Salamun Alaikum" (Peace be on you)
And finding a vacant place comfortably sat down.
The Prophet (pbuh) had taught them that all Muslims were brothers and in an
assembly one should sit wherever one finds a place, regardless of any status.
Now, it so happened that this poor man was seated next to a very rich man.
The rich man felt very disturbed and tried to collect the edges of his dress
around himself, so that the poor man didn't touch them. The Prophet (pbuh)
observed this and addressing the rich man he (pbuh) said:
" Perhaps you are afraid that his poverty would affect you?"
" No, O Messenger of Allah," he said.
"Then perhaps you were apprehensive about some of your wealth flying away to
him?"
" No, O Messenger of Allah."
"Or you feared that your clothes would become dirty if he touched them?"
" No, O Messenger of Allah."
" Then why did you draw yourself and your clothes away from him?"
The rich man said:
"I admit that was the most undesirable thing to do. It was an error and I
confess my guilt. Now to make amends for it I will give away half of my wealth
to this Muslim brother so that I may be forgiven."
Just as he said this, the poor man rose and said,
" O Prophet of Allah, I do not accept this offer."
People present were taken by surprise, they thought that the poor man was a
fool, but then he explained:
" O Prophet of Allah, I refuse to accept this offer because I fear that I might
then become arrogant and ill-treat my Muslim brothers the way he did to me."