Prophet SAWS: Allah, make me amongst the miskeen…
The Prophet SAWS said, ‘O Allah, have me live like miskinan (like a poor person) and have me die miskinan and gather me [in the Hereafter] in the company of the miskin. [Ibn Majah].
Regarding what is meant by al-maskanah, Ibn al-Athir said: ‘He meant by its lowliness and humility before Allah, and lest one should become one of the oppressors and the arrogant.’
That is how the Prophet SAWS lived – far from the life of the arrogant ones, whether in look or form: he dressed as the slaves and the poor dressed; and he ate what they ate; and when a stranger came he (the stranger) did not distinguish him from his Companions for he was with them as one of them; and at home he mended his shoe with his own hands; and he patched his cloak; and he milked his sheep; and he turned the millstone to grind grains alongside the woman neighbor and the slave.
When a man entered upon him and, being in awe, was trembling, the Prophet SAWS said: ‘Be at ease, for I am not a king. rather, I am the son of a woman of the Quraysh who used to eat dried meat in Makkah.’
Approaching the Sunnah, Qaradawi, p 33.
