Can Prophet Muhammad be taken as a Model for Muslims to follow?

Being
the final Prophet of Allah, Prophet Muhammad pbuh has been endowed with
a life that is an epitome of success. He was born an orphan and rose to
become a ruler of integrity. Each of the different phases of his life
provides examples for anyone who wishes to emulate it for righteous
living.
The
Prophet's character alone is a paragon of virtue, a model for all men.
Allah says to the reader of the Quran: "You have indeed in the Messenger
of Allah (Muhammad) a beautiful pattern (of conduct) for any one whose
hope is God and the Final Day." (33:21)
Ali
Akbar, in his book "God and Man", says: "Great minds and teachers like
Buddha and Christ could not present their lives as models for mankind to
follow. One left the family while the other had none. One severed his
connections with the worldly affairs altogether and the other had never
entered into them. Their teachings are lofty but can be followed only by
those who live an ascetic life like them. The human progress in
acquiring knowledge of the Creator and the Universe and mastering
elements and scientific research could never be possible if all people
lived ascetic lives, and the world would come to an end in one
generation as far as human beings are concerned if all practised
celibacy. God Who is the Creator of mankind could not depute persons to
advocate principles contrary to the laws laid down by Him for the
procreation of His creatures.
"But
the great model Muhammad pbuh presents all phases of life to follow. As
an orphan, as a shepherd, as a son, as a nephew, as father, as
grandfather, as husband, as a citizen, as a neighbour, as a humanitarian
and lover to children and orphans, as supporter and free worker for
poor widows and needy persons, as tolerant teacher never offending
susceptibilities or beliefs of others, as conqueror, as forgiver of
those who persecuted him after they came under his power by his example
of forgiving the people of Makkah who had ruthlessly persecuted him, as
master of those who came to him as slaves by freeing them at once, as a
ruler and a teacher of good treatment which should be meted to those who
differ from you in religion when they come under your protection by his
own example, as the first giver in the world to women a right of full
possession of property and inheritance from parents, sons, brothers and
sisters and other relations; and in many other respects a model to
follow."