Source: Excerpted from Ash-Shifaa (by Al-Qadi Iyaad)
© Madinah Press 1991
Translated by Aisha Abdarrahman Bewley: http://islaam.com/Article.aspx?id=589

Part of his compassion towards his community was that he made things easy for them. He disliked doing certain things out of the fear that they would become obligatory for them. He said, “If I had not been compassionate to my community, I would have commanded them to use the siwak every time they did wudu’.” (Muslim and al-Bukhari.)

There is also the tradition about the night prayer and the one forbidding them to fast continuously and the one about his dislike of entering the Ka’ba lest it became incumbent on his community and his desire that his Lord should make his curse against them a mercy to them. When he heard a child weeping, he would shorten the prayer.

An instance of his compassion was that he called on his Lord and made a compact with Him saying, “If ever I curse a man or make an invocation against him, make it zakat for him and mercy, prayer, purification and an act of drawing-near by which he will draw near to you on the Day of Rising.” (Muslim and al-Bukhari and Abu Hurayra)

When his people rejected him, Jibril came to him and said, “Allah has heard what your people say to you and how they reject you. He has ordered the angels of the mountains to obey whatever you tell them to do.” The angel of the mountains called him, greeted him and said, “Send me to do what you wish. If you wish, I will crush them between the two mountains of Makka.” The Prophet said, “Rather, I hope that Allah will bring forth from their loins those who will worship Allah alone and not associate anything with Him.” (Muslim and al-Bukhari and the Six Books)

Ibn al-Munkadir related that Jibril told the Prophet, “Allah has ordered heaven, earth and mountains to obey you.” He said, “Reprieve my community. Perhaps Allah will turn to them.” (Mursal hadith)

‘A’isha said, “The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was never given a choice between two things but that he chose the easier of the two.”

Ibn Mas’ud said, “The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was careful when he admonished us, fearing he would tire us.” (Muslim and al-Bukhari)

‘A’isha was riding an unruly camel which was recalcitrant and started to hit it repeatedly, The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “You must have compassion.” (Al-Bayhaqi)