This hadith has been narrated by Ibn Bishr with the same chain of transmitters (but with a slight variation) that he (the Holy Prophet) inquired of them (Jews) about it (fasting on the day of 'Ashura).

Allah's Apostle told me, "The most beloved prayer to Allah is that of David and the most beloved fasts to Allah are those of David. He used to sleep for half of the night and then pray for one third of the night and again sleep for its sixth part and used to fast on alternate days."

When the Prophet arrived at Medina, he noticed that some people among the Jews used to respect Ashura' (i.e. 10th of Muharram) and fast on it. The Prophet then said, "We have more right to observe fast on this day." and ordered that fasting should be observed on it.

The people doubted whether the Prophet was fasting on the day of `Arafat or not, so I sent milk while he was standing at `Arafat, he drank it and the people were looking at him.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi that Abdullah ibn Umar did not pray either before the prayer or after it on the day of Fitr.

The people doubted whether the Prophet was observing the fast on the Day of `Arafat, so I sent something for him to drink and he drank it.

Sometimes Allah's Apostle would not fast (for so many days) that we thought that he would not fast that month and he sometimes used to fast (for so many days) that we thought he would not leave fasting throughout that month and (as regards his prayer and sleep at night), if you wanted to see him praying at night, you could see him praying and if you wanted to see him sleeping, you could see him sleeping.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi that Abdullah ibn Umar used to do ghusl on the day of Fitr before going to the place of prayer.

The Prophet (saws) used to say on the day of the breaking of the fast seven takbirs in the first rak'ah and then recite the Qur'an, and utter the takbir (Allah is most great). Then he would stand, and utter the takbir four times. Thereafter he would recite the Qur'an and bow.

Abu Dawud said: This has been narrated by Waki' and Ibn al-Mubarak. Their version goes: "Seven (in the first rak'ah) and five (in the second)."

The Prophet (saws) said: The month consists of twenty-nine days, but do not fast till you sight it (the moon) and do not break your fast till you sight it. If the weather is cloudy, calculate it thirty days. When the twenty-ninth of Sha'ban came, Ibn Umar would send someone (who tried) to sight the moon for him. If it was sighted, then well and good; in case it was not sighted, and there was no cloud and dust before him (on the horizon), he would not keep fast the next day. If there appeared (on the horizon) before him cloud or dust, he would fast the following day. Ibn Umar would end his fasting alone with the people, and did not follow this calculation.

I asked `Aisha "Did Allah s Apostle, use to choose some special days (for fasting)?" She replied, "No, but he used to be regular (constant) (in his service of worshipping). Who amongst you can endure what Allah's Apostle used to endure?"

We set out with Allah's Apostle on one of his journeys on a very hot day, and it was so hot that one had to put his hand over his head because of the severity of heat. None of us was fasting except the Prophet and Ibn Rawaha.

A woman came to the Prophet (saws) while we were with him.

She said: Messenger of Allah, my husband, Safwan ibn al-Mu'attal, beats me when I pray, and makes me break my fast when I keep a fast, and he does not offer the dawn prayer until the sun rises.

He asked Safwan, who was present, about what she had said. He replied: Messenger of Allah, as for her statement "he beats me when I pray", she recites two surahs (during prayer) and I have prohibited her (to do so).

He (the Prophet) said: If one surah is recited (during prayer), that is sufficient for the people.

(Safwan continued:) As regards her saying "he makes me break my fast," she dotes on fasting; I am a young man, I cannot restrain myself.

The Messenger of Allah (saws) said on that day: A woman should not fast except with the permission of her husband.

(Safwan said:) As for her statement that I do not pray until the sun rises, we are a people belonging to a class, and that (our profession of supplying water) is already known about us. We do not awake until the sun rises. He said: When you awake, offer your prayer.

Allah's Apostle said, "O `Abdullah! Have I not been formed that you fast all the day and stand in prayer all night?" I said, "Yes, O Allah's Apostle!" He said, "Do not do that! Observe the fast sometimes and also leave them (the fast) at other times; stand up for the prayer at night and also sleep at night. Your body has a right over you, your eyes have a right over you and your wife has a right over you."

Allah's Apostle mentioned Ramadan and said, "Do not fast unless you see the crescent (of Ramadan), and do not give up fasting till you see the crescent (of Shawwal), but if the sky is overcast (if you cannot see it), then act on estimation (i.e. count Sha'ban as 30 days).

`Ata' told me that he had heard Jabir bin `Abdullah saying, "The Prophet stood up to offer the prayer of the `Id ul Fitr. He first offered the prayer and then delivered the Khutba. After finishing it he got down (from the pulpit) and went towards the women and advised them while he was leaning on Bilal's hand. Bilal was spreading out his garment where the women were putting their alms." I asked `Ata' whether it was the Zakat of `Id ul Fitr. He said, "No, it was just alms given at that time. Some lady put her finger ring and the others would do the same." I said, (to `Ata'), "Do you think that it is incumbent upon the Imam to give advice to the women (on `Id day)?" He said, "No doubt, it is incumbent upon the Imams to do so and why should they not do so?"

I came to the Prophet and he said to me, "Come near." So I went near to him and he said, "Are your lice troubling you?" I replied, "Yes." He said, "(Shave your head and) make expiation in the form of fasting, Sadaqa (giving in charity), or offering a sacrifice." (The sub-narrator) Aiyub said, "Fasting should be for three days, and the Nusuk (sacrifice) is to be a sheep, and the Sadaqa is to be given to six poor persons."

When the delegate of `Abd Al-Qais came to Allah's Apostle, he said, "Who are the delegate?" They said, "The delegate are from the tribe of Rabi`a." The Prophet said, "Welcome, O the delegate, and welcome! O people! Neither you will have any disgrace nor will you regret." They said, "O Allah's Apostle! Between you and us there are the infidels of the tribe of Mudar, so please order us to do something good (religious deeds) that by acting on them we may enter Paradise, and that we may inform (our people) whom we have left behind, about it." They also asked (the Prophet) about drinks. He forbade them from four things and ordered them to do four things. He ordered them to believe in Allah, and asked them, "Do you know what is meant by belief in Allah?" They said, "Allah and His Apostle know best." He said, ''To testify that none has the right to be worshipped except Allah, the One, Who has no partners with Him, and that Muhammad is Allah's Apostle; and to offer prayers perfectly and to pay Zakat." (the narrator thinks that fasting in Ramadan is included), "and to give one-fifth of the war booty (to the state)." Then he forbade four (drinking utensils): Ad-Duba', Al56 Hantam, Al-Mazaffat and An-Naqir, or probably, Al-Muqaiyar. And then the Prophet said, "Remember all these things by heart and preach it to those whom you have left behind."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Abu'n Nadr, the mawla of Umar ibn Ubaydullah, from Umayr, the mawla of Abdullah ibn Abbas, from Umm al-Fadl bint al-Harith, that she was present when some people were arguing on the day of Arafa about whether the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was fasting or not. Some of them said he was fasting, and some of them said he was not. So she sent a bowl of milk to him while his camel was standing still and he drank.

Allah's Apostle was informed about my fasts, and he came to me and I spread for him a leather cushion stuffed with palm fires, but he sat on the ground and the cushion remained between me and him, and then he said, "Isn't it sufficient for you to fast three days a month?" I replied, "O Allah's Apostle! (I can fast more)." He said, "Five?" I replied, "O Allah's Apostle! (I can fast more)." He said, "Seven?" I replied, "O Allah's Apostle! (I can fast more)." He said, "Nine (days per month)?" I replied, "O Allah's Apostle! (I can fast more)" He said, "Eleven (days per month)?" And then the Prophet said, "There is no fast superior to that of the Prophet David it was for half of the year. So, fast on alternate days."

Malik said, concerning someone who wishes to wear clothes that a person in ihram must not wear, or cut his hair, or touch perfume without necessity, because he finds it easy to pay the compensation, "No-one must do such things. They are only allowed in cases of necessity, and compensation is owed by whoever does them."

Malik was asked whether the culprit could choose for himself the method of compensation he makes, and he was asked what kind of animal was to be sacrificed, and how much food was to be given, and how many days were to be fasted, and whether the person could delay any of these, or if they had to be done immediately. He answered, 'Whenever there are alternatives in the Book of Allah for the kaffara, the culprit can choose to do whichever of the alternatives he prefers. As for the sacrifice - a sheep, and as for the fasting - three days. As for the food - feeding six poor men, for every poor man two mudds, by the first mudd, the mudd of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace."

Malik said, "I have heard one of the people of knowledge saying, 'When a person in ihram throws something and hits game unintentionally and kills it, he must pay compensation. In the same way, someone outside the Haram who throws anything into the Haram and hits game he did not intend to, killing it, has to pay compensation, because the intentional and the mistaken are in the same position in this matter.' "

Malik said, concerning people who kill game together while they are muhrim or in the Haram, "I think that each one of them owes a full share. If a sacrificial animal is decided for them, each one of them owes one, and if fasting is decided for them, the full fasting is owed by each one of them. The analogy of that is a group of people who kill a man by mistake and the kaffara for that is that each person among them must free a slave or fast two consecutive months."

Malik said, "Anyone who stones or hunts game after stoning the jamra and shaving his head but before he has performed the tawaf al-ifada, owes compensation for that game, because Allah the Blessed, the Exalted said, 'And when you leave ihram, then hunt,' and restrictions still remain for someone who has not done the tawaf al-ifada about touching perfume and women."

Malik said, "The person in ihram does not owe anything for plants he cuts down in the Haram and it has not reached us that anyone has given a decision of anything for it, but O how wrong is what he has done! "

Malik said, concerning some one who was ignorant of, or who forgot the fast of three days in the hajj, or who was ill during them and so did not fast them until he had returned to his community, "He must offer a sacrificial animal (hady) if he can find one and if not he must fast the three days among his people and the remaining seven after that."

27 Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that Umar ibn al-Khattab, if he was travelling in Ramadan and knew that he would reach Madina at the begining of the day ,would do so fasting.

Yahya said that Malik said, "Someone who is travelling and knows that he will be reaching his people in the first part of the day, and then dawn breaks before he gets there, should be fasting when he gets there."

Malik said, "Someone who intends to go away (on a journey) in Ramadan, and then dawn breaks while he is still on his land before he has left, should fast that day."

Malik said that a man who returns from a journey in Ramadan and is not fasting may have sexual intercourse with his wife if he wishes, if she is not fasting and she has just become pure after her menses.

`Ata' said, "Jabir bin `Abdullah said, 'The Prophet went out on the Day of `Id-ul-Fitr and offered the prayer before delivering the Khutba, Ata told me that during the early days of Ibn Az-Zubair, Ibn `Abbas had sent a message to him telling him that the Adhan for the `Id Prayer was never pronounced (in the life time of Allah's Apostle) and the Khutba used to be delivered after the prayer. Ata told me that Ibn `Abbas and Jabir bin `Abdullah, had said, "There was no Adhan for the prayer of `Id-ul-Fitr and `Id-ul-Aqha." `Ata' said, "I heard Jabir bin `Abdullah saying, 'The Prophet stood up and started with the prayer, and after it he delivered the Khutba. When the Prophet of Allah (p.b.u.h) finished (the Khutba), he went to the women and preached to them, while he was leaning on Bilal's hand. Bilal was spreading his garment and the ladies were putting alms in it.' " I said to Ata, "Do you think it incumbent upon an Imam to go to the women and preach to them after finishing the prayer and Khutba?" `Ata' said, "No doubt it is incumbent on Imams to do so, and why should they not do so?"

Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to pray on the day of Fitr and the day of Adha before the khutba.

The Prophet fasted Al-Wisal on the last days of the month. Some people did the same, and when the news reached the Prophet he said, "If the month had been prolonged for me, then I would have fasted Wisal for such a long time that the most exaggerating ones among you would have given up their exaggeration. I am not like you; my Lord always makes me eat and drink."

I was with Ibn `Umar when a man asked him, "I have vowed to fast every Tuesday or Wednesday throughout my life and if the day of my fasting coincided with the day of Nahr (the first day of `Id-al- Adha), (What shall I do?)" Ibn `Umar said, "Allah has ordered the vows to be fulfilled, and we are forbidden to fast on the day of Nahr." The man repeated his question and Ibn `Umar repeated his former answer, adding nothing more.

Hunaydah al-Khuza'i reported on the authority of her mother who said: I entered upon Umm Salamah and asked her about fasting. She said: The Messenger of Allah (saws) used to command me to fast three days every month beginning with Monday or Thursday.

Kuraib, the freed slave of Ibn 'Abbas (Allah be pleased with him), reported from Maimuna, the wife of the Apostle of Allah (may peace be upon him), that people had doubt about the fasting of Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) on the day of 'Arafa. Maimuna sent him a cup of milk and he was halting at a place and he drank it and the people were seeing him.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab that A'isha and Hafsa, the wives of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, began fasting voluntarily one morning and then food was given to them and they broke their fast with it. Then the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, came in. A'isha said, "Hafsa asked, anticipating me in speech - she took after her father Umar - 'Messenger of Allah, A'isha and I began the morning fasting voluntarily and then food was given us and we broke the fast with it.' The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'Fast another day in its place.' "

"The Prophet sent a messenger to the village of the Ansar in the morning of the day of 'Ashura' (10th of Muharram) to announce: 'Whoever has eaten something should not eat but complete the fast, and whoever is observing the fast should complete it.' "She further said, "Since then we used to fast on that day regularly and also make our boys fast. We used to make toys of wool for the boys and if anyone of them cried for, he was given those toys till it was the time of the breaking of the fast."