He (Muhammad) was sober and abstemious in his diet and a rigorous observer of fasts. He indulged in no magnificence of apparel, the ostentation of a petty mind; in his private life he was just. He treated friends and stranger, the rich and poor, the powerful and weak with equity, and was beloved by the common people for the affability with which he received them, and listened to their complaints.
His military triumphs awakened nor pride nor vain glory as they would have done had they been affected for selfish purposes. In the time of his greatest power he maintained the same simplicity of manners and appearance as in his days of adversity… if he aimed at universal dominion, it was dominion of faith; as to the temporal rule which grew up in his hands, as he used it without ostentation, so he took no step to perpetuate it in his family.
By Washington Irving in Mahomet and His Successors
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