Spending your day the Prophets way

 لَّقَدۡ كَانَ لَكُمۡ فِى رَسُولِ ٱللَّهِ أُسۡوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ۬ لِّمَن كَانَ يَرۡجُواْ ٱللَّهَ وَٱلۡيَوۡمَ ٱلۡأَخِرَ وَذَكَرَ ٱللَّهَ كَثِيرً۬ا
There has certainly been for you in the Messenger of Allah an excellent pattern for anyone whose hope is in Allah and the Last Day and [who] remembers Allah often.

It was around the five regular prayer times in which all other regular activities were scheduled in the life of our Nabi (saw). The Prophet (saw) would wake up for Fajr namaz, and he would wake up by thanking Allah (swt) for granting him another day of life by reciting “Alhamdulillahillazi Ahyana Ba'dama Amaathana Wa Ilaihinnushoor”. He would then proceed to make wudhu and perform namaz.  The Prophet never slept after Fajr namaz and prohibited the Sahabas (RA) from doing so also. Instead he used to stay at the mosque until sunrise and have group conversations with the sahabas. The subjects of these conversations were both religious as well as entertaining, for example, on some mornings dreams of the previous night would be related while on other mornings he would engage in dhikr until sunrise and once the sun has risen he would perform two rakat of namaz.

On days when he was not fasting, he would have breakfast afterwards. The Prophet (saw) preferred eating in a group rather than individually and also preferred to sit on the ground placing the food on a matt rather than a chair and table. Anas(RA) related that the prophet never ate off a table or in small plates.

After Zuhr namaaz, he would take a nap and encourage others to do the same, as this would help them to stay awake at night for prayers.

When greeting people he would say salaam first (regardless of knowing the person or not). Abu Umamah reported the The prophet (saw) said ‘The person most worthy of Allah is the one who greets with salam first”. And there is the hadith “He who greets first is free from pride”, and we know that pride is an attribute of shaitan and we should therefore always try to avoid it or cure it.

When meeting someone he would shake hand their hand, and if it was someone he hadn’t seen in awhile he would hug and kiss them. Anas (RA) reported: A man asked: "O Messenger of Allah! When a man meets a brother or a friend, should he bow to him?" He said, "No." The man asked whether he should embrace and kiss him? The Messenger of Allah (saw) replied, "No." He asked whether he should hold his hand and shake it? The Messenger of Allah (saw) replied, "Yes." [At-Tirmidhi]

When interacting with people would smile often as we know that smiling is a form of charity, and he was also very humble and never deemed others inferior, that brings to my mind a very famous quote by Sheik Suleiman Mulla where he says “I assume others better than myself, simply because I assume them to be sinners, while I know with certainty that I am a sinner”. He also spoke very clearly and I think it goes without saying that he never gossiped or slandered and just never engaged himself in useless talk.

After Asr namaz he would spend time with his family, whether he was taking part in the household chores or just talking about their days.

He never went out right after Maghrib because shaitan starts roaming the streets in the first portion of the night (approximately one hour after maghrib). Instead he would wait one hour and then go out, and that too only if it was something of importance.

After Isha, some nights he spent with his wife, while on others he would stay up in prayers. It is said that after Isha there a three groups of people; those who get blessings, those who get sins, and those who do not get anything. The ones that get blessings are those that spend the night in worship, while the ones that get sins are the ones who use that time to gossip or backbite, and the ones who do not receive anything, are the ones that go to sleep right after Isha.

When retiring he would put away all pots and utensils and would never keep the exposed. He would also turn off all appliances and would lock all doors. He would then apply kohl to eyes three times and perform wudhu.

When he was ready to go into bed he would dust his bed three times because you don’t know what was in your bed since the last time you lay in it. He would lay on his right side, placing the right hand below the right cheek. He would also never lie on his stomach because it is a sleeping position that is disliked by Allah (swt).

He would then make intention of waking up for tahajjud. It comes in a hadith that whoever makes intention for waking up for tahajjud and during the night sleep overwhelms them, then that sleep would be counted as a donation.

When having bad dream he would recite  and imitate the action of spitting on his left side before going back to sleep.

The point to take away from all this is not the order in which The prophet (saw) did things, but rather that he did do them. We shouldn’t take of great importance that he spent time with his family AFTER Asr, but rather that he would take a portion of his day out to spend with his family. In the time of our beloved Nabi (saw), the Sahabas used to love the actions of The prophet (saw) because they were sunnah, and today we are leaving it because it is just sunnah. Today we have sunk so low that we can’t even be bothered to say (SAW) after our Nabis name is mentioned anymore.

May Allah (SWT) grant us all the tawfeeq to act upon this Inshallah.