The Prophet Muhammad is said to have been patient and trustworthy. Write about events in his life that illustrate these qualities.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (May/June 2014). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. [10] (a) Candidates should write about events that show these traits in the Prophet, and they should give a detailed narration of the event rather than list a few occurrences. His patience: This was shown through the persecutions, when he was abused and ridiculed, but he did not give up preaching; he did not react when rubbish was thrown on him; when he was offered bribes by the Quraysh he refused and persevered, even through the boycott; he waited until God guided him to migrate; he was patient when revelations stopped for periods of time; he showed patience when the Quraysh ridiculed him after the death of his son. Trustworthiness: He had always been trusted by the Quraysh even before prophethood, being called al-amin; the Quraysh kept their belongings with him even after prophethood; when he migrated to Madina he returned the belongings to their owners (through ‘Ali); he kept his promises, e.g. as part of the Treaty of Hudaibiya, the Prophet sent back Muslims to Makka who had not sought consent to leave. These are some answers that could be offered but candidates may have others that they can develop.
2. [4] (b) Candidates should choose one of the above qualities and give reasons as to why it was necessary for the Prophet to have that quality. For example, the Prophet needed to be patient because he was going to endure years of hardships and becoming angry or giving up would not have been suited to a Prophet and would not have allowed Islam to endure. Or, being trustworthy at all times allowed people to have faith in him and his message when he started to preach as they knew that his quality of being trustworthy was unshakeable. Candidates could give any relevant example of why the Prophet should have had that quality but the development of the answer is what will give the candidate higher marks.