If you could meet a historical figure, who would it be and why?

From the series: ‘Reflections from Tarim’

If I could meet any historical figure from any era, any nation, any civilisation my heart would choose the same person every single time:

Prophet Muhammad ﷺ

Not because it’s the “expected” answer,
not because it’s the “religious” answer,
but because it is the answer that rises naturally from the deepest part of who I am.

He is the only person in history whose life I read and feel as though my soul remembers him even though my eyes have never seen him.

Allah described him as “a mercy to all the worlds” (Surah Al-Anbiya, 21:107),
and I often wonder what it must have felt like for the people who walked beside him to sit with someone whose very presence softened hearts and lifted burdens.

He lived in a world of conflict, hardship, disbelief and cruelty,
yet he was gentle in a way that makes even the hardest hearts ache.

He forgave when anyone else would have fought back. He smiled when others frowned.
He held dignity when insulted, calm when provoked, and filled with beauty when surrounded by ugliness.

Aisha (ra) said about him,

“His character was the Qur’an.”

And that alone answers every question about who he was.

Even the people who rejected him never accused him of dishonesty.
When he stood on Mount Safa and asked,

“If I told you an army was behind this mountain, would you believe me?” they replied,

“We have never known you to lie.”

What historical figure has ever been loved by friends and enemies testified to his truthfulness?

He was humble. So humble that strangers entering a gathering couldn’t tell which one he was.

He didn’t sit above people.
He didn’t demand to be served.
He mended his own clothes.
He said:

“The best of you is the one who is best to his family and I am the best to my family.”

And he lived simply, even when the world was offered to him. Sometimes months would pass with no cooked food in his home, only dates and water, yet his heart overflowed with gratitude.

He noticed children, animals, the broken, the overlooked. He comforted the little boy whose bird died, saying gently,

“Oh Abu Umayr, what happened to the little bird?”

He stroked the camel that cried to him and said to its owner:

“Fear Allah regarding these animals who cannot speak.”

Even creation recognised him. The tree trunk that wept when he stopped leaning on it,
the animals that approached him,
the hearts that softened at the sound of his voice.

And yet with all this beauty, all this mercy, all this gentleness…

Because he embodied patience in its purest form

There is a story that sits in my heart like a glowing lantern. A moment that reveals the unshakable gentleness of the Prophet ﷺ in a way words can hardly carry.

A Jewish man once approached the Prophet ﷺ with intentional harshness. He yanked the Prophet’s cloak so violently that it left a visible mark on his blessed neck. With anger in his voice, he demanded immediate repayment of a debt even though the due date had not yet arrived. He went further and accused the Prophet ﷺ and his entire clan of delaying their debts.

Those who loved the Prophet ﷺ could not bear the sight. One of the companions, overwhelmed with protective anger, drew his sword from its sheath and asked the Prophet ﷺ for permission to strike the man down for his disrespect.

But the Prophet ﷺ
the gentlest soul to walk this earth did not react with anger, pride, or the instinct to defend himself.

Instead he said to his companion:

“Give him his due and give him extra because you frightened him.”

What kind of heart responds to harshness with tenderness?

What kind of soul carries that level of peace?

He forgave those who hurt him.
He prayed for those who insulted him.
He visited those who plotted against him.
He stood up for the broken, the weak, the unseen.
He lifted people from darkness to light not through force, but through love.

No matter how much we read about him, we never reach the end of him.
Every description is just a single drop from an ocean.
Only Allah knows the full beauty of the one He created.

There is another moment that lives softly in my heart. A moment that shows not only his mercy, but his longing for us.

One day, the Prophet ﷺ was sitting with his companions when tears began to fall from his blessed eyes. The companions, alarmed and tender-hearted, asked him:

“O Messenger of Allah, what makes you weep?”

He ﷺ replied:

“I long for my brothers.”

They said gently:

“Are we not your brothers, O Messenger of Allah?”

And he answered with a love that reached across centuries:

“You are my companions.
My brothers are those who will come after me, who will believe in me despite never having seen me.”

Every time I read these words, something inside me stills.This is the kind of love no historical figure has ever had for those who came centuries after him. This is the kind of tenderness that transcends time, land, language, and lineage.

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So why him you still ask?

Because he is the most truthful.
The Most Merciful.
The Most Patient.
The Most Gentle.
The Most Trustworthy.
The Most beautiful both in Character, in Heart, in Presence. The Most Loving.

Because meeting him would be meeting the one whom Allah Himself Praised.

Because even thinking about him softens the heart.

If I could meet any historical figure,
anyone at all. I would choose Muhammad ﷺ,
every single time, with a certainty deeper than thought and a love older than memory.

Want to know who this historical figure who is loved and remembered by millions around the world though they haven’t seen him?

Read about his life (Seerah) and then read the Quran in your own language and you’ll see he was a walking Qur’an.

Or better yet, come to Tarim and see his beautiful life emulated by his descendants who teach about who he was not from books but by example Alhamdulilah.

Until next time…

Peace be with you.