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.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab, and he had heard from al-Qasim ibn Muhammad that they said, "When a free man marries a slave-girl and consummates the marriage, she makes him muhsan."

Malik said, "All (of the people of knowledge) I have seen said that a slave-girl makes a free man muhsan when he marries her and consummates the marriage."

Malik said, "A slave makes a free woman muhsana when he consummates a marriage with her and a free woman only makes a slave muhsan when he is freed and he is her husband and has had sexual relations with her after he has been set free. If he parts from her before he is free, he is not a muhsan unless he marries her after having been set free and he consummates the marriage."

Malik said, "When a slave-girl is married to a free man and then he separates from her before she is set free, his marriage to her does not make her muhsana. She is not muhsana until she has married after she has been set free and she has had intercourse with her husband. That gives her ihsan. If she is the wife of a freeman and then she is set free while she is his wife before he separates from her, the man makes her muhsana if he has intercourse with her after she has been set free."

Malik said, "The christian and jewish free women and the muslim slave-girl all make a muslim free man muhsan when he marries one of them and has intercourse with her."

Allah's Apostle was inspired Divinely at the age of forty. Then he stayed in Mecca for thirteen years, and then was ordered to migrate, and he migrated to Medina and stayed there for ten years and then died.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Zayd ibn Aslam from his father that he said to Umar ibn al-Khattab, "There is a blind she- camel behind the house,'' soUmar said, "Hand it over to a household so that they can make (some) use of it." He said, "But she is blind." Umar replied, "Then put it in a line with other camels." He said, "How will it be able to eat from the ground?" Umar asked, "Is it from the livestock of the jizya or the zakat?" and Aslam replied, "From the livestock of the jizya." Umar said, "By AIIah, you wish to eat it." Aslam said, "It has the brand of the jizya on it." So Umar ordered it to be slaughtered. He had nine platters, and on each of the platters he put some of every fruit and delicacy that there was and then sent them to the wives of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and the one he sent to his daughter Hafsa was the last of them all, and if there was any deficiency in any of them it was in Hafsa's portion.

"He put meat from the slaughtered animal on the platters and sent them to the wives of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and he ordered what was left of the meat of the slaughtered animal to be prepared. Then he invited the Muhajirun and the Ansar to eat it."

Malik said, "I do not think that livestock should be taken from people who pay the jizya except as jizya."

It is a sign of having knowledge that, when you do not know something, you say: 'Allah knows better.' Allah said to his Prophet: 'Say: No wage do I ask of you for this (Qur'an), nor am I one of the pretenders (a person who pretends things which do not exist)' (38.86) When the Quraish troubled and stood against the Prophet he said, "O Allah! Help me against them by afflicting them with seven years of famine like the seven years of Joseph." So they were stricken with a year of famine during which they ate bones and dead animals because of too much suffering, and one of them would see something like smoke between him and the sky because of hunger. Then they said: Our Lord! Remove the torment from us, really we are believers. (44.12) And then it was said to the Prophet (by Allah), "If we remove it from them. they will revert to their ways (of heathenism)." So the Prophet invoked his Lord, who removed the punishment from them, but later they reverted (to heathenism), whereupon Allah punished them on the day of the Battle of Badr, and that is what Allah's Statement indicates: 'Then watch for the day that the sky will bring forth a kind of smoke plainly visible...we will indeed (then) exact retribution.' (44.10).

Allah's Apostle forbade Muzabana; and Muzabana is the selling of fresh dates for dried old dates by measure, and the selling of fresh grapes for dried grapes by measure.

The Messenger of Allah (saws) performed four umrahs, viz. umrah al-Hudaybiyyah; the second is the one when they (the Companions) were agreed upon performing umrah next year; the third is umrah performed from al-Ji'ranah; the fourth is the one which he combined with his hajj.

The Prophet used to offer prayer at night (for such a long time) that his feet used to crack. I said, "O Allah's Apostle! Why do you do it since Allah has forgiven you your faults of the past and those to follow?" He said, "Shouldn't I love to be a thankful slave (of Allah)?' When he became old, he prayed while sitting, but if he wanted to perform a bowing, he would get up, recite (some other verses) and then perform the bowing.

The client of Usamah ibn Zayd said that he went along with Usamah to Wadi al-Qura in pursuit of his camels. He would fast on Monday and Thursday. His client said to him: Why do you fast on Monday and Thursday, while you are an old man? He said: The Prophet of Allah (saws) used to fast on Monday and Thursday. When he was asked about it, he said: The works of the servants (of Allah) are presented (to Allah) on Monday and Thursday.

Allah's Apostle set out with the intention of performing `Umra, but the infidels of Quraish intervened between him and the Ka`ba, so the Prophet slaughtered his Hadi (i.e. sacrificing animals and shaved his head at Al-Hudaibiya and concluded a peace treaty with them (i.e. the infidels) on condition that he would perform the `Umra the next year and that he would not carry arms against them except swords, and would not stay (in Mecca) more than what they would allow. So the Prophet performed the `Umra in the following year and according to the peace treaty, he entered Mecca, and when he had stayed there for three days, the infidels ordered him to leave, and he left.

A mukhannath (eunuch) used to enter upon the wives of Prophet (saws). They (the people) counted him among those who were free of physical needs. One day the Prophet (saws) entered upon us when he was with one of his wives, and was describing the qualities of a woman, saying: When she comes forward, she comes forward with four (folds in her stomach), and when she goes backward, she goes backward with eight (folds in her stomach). The Prophet (saws) said: Do I not see that this (man) knows what here lies. Then they (the wives) observed veil from him.

A woman belonging to the tribe of Juhaynah (according to the version of Aban) came to the Prophet (saws) and said that she had committed fornication and that she was pregnant. The Messenger of Allah (saws) called her guardian.

Then the Messenger of Allah (saws) said to him: Be good to her, and when she bears a child, bring her (to me). When she gave birth to the child, he brought her (to him). The Prophet (saws) gave orders regarding her, and her clothes were tied to her. He then commanded regarding her and she was stoned to death. He commanded the people (to pray) and they prayed over her.

Thereupon Umar said: Are you praying over her, Messenger of Allah, when she has committed fornication?

He said: By Him in Whose hand my soul is, she has repented to such an extent that if it were divided among the seventy people of Medina, it would have been enough for them all. And what do you find better than the fact that she gave her life.

Aban did not say in his version: Then her clothes were tied to her.

The Suras of Bani Israel, Al-Kahf, Mariyam, Taha and Al-Anbiya are from the very old Suras which I learnt by heart, and they are my first property.

The Prophet said, "The young should greet the old, the passer by should greet the sitting one, and the small group of persons should greet the large group of persons. "

Allah's Apostle took an oath that he would not visit his wives for one month, and he sat in an upper room belonging to him. Then, on the twenty ninth day he came down. It was said, "O Allah's Apostle! You had taken an oath not to visit your wives for one month." He said, "The (present) month is of twenty-nine days."

Malik related to me from Abu'z-Zinad from al-Araj from Abu Hurayra that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "The fire of the children of Adam which they kindle is a seventieth part of the fire of Jahannam." They said, "Messenger of Allah, this fire is certainly enough." He said, "That fire is sixty- nine times greater."

While I as in the company of Salman bin Rabi`a and Suhan, in one of the holy battles, I found a whip. One of them told me to drop it but I refused to do so and said that I would give it to its owner if I found him, otherwise I would utilize it. On our return we performed Hajj and on passing by Medina, I asked Ubai bin Ka`b about it. He said, "I found a bag containing a hundred Dinars in the lifetime of the Prophet and took it to the Prophet who said to me, 'Make public announcement about it for one year.' So, I announced it for one year and went to the Prophet who said, 'Announce it publicly for another year.' So, I announced it for another year. I went to him again and he said, "Announce for an other year." So I announced for still another year. I went to the Prophet for the fourth time, and he said, 'Remember the amount of money, the description of its container and the string it is tied with, and if the owner comes, give it to him; otherwise, utilize it.' "

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that Salim ibn Abdullah and Sulayman ibn Yasar were asked whether the husband of a menstruating woman could have sexual intercourse with her when she saw that she was pure but before she had had a ghusl. They said, "No, not until she has had a ghusl."

That her father gave her in marriage when she was a matron and she disliked that marriage. So she came and (complained) to the Prophets and he declared that marriage invalid. (See Hadith No. 69, Vol. 7)

The Prophet (saws) used to seek refuge in Allah from five things; cowardliness, niggardliness, the evils of old age, evil thoughts, and punishment in the grave.

This hadith has been narrated on the authority of Shu'ba with the same chain of transmitters, but did not mention tht doubt (expressed in his statement) That is (the goat of less than a year) is better than a goat of more than one year.

I enjoyed the company of Allah's Apostle for three years, and during the other years of my life, never was I so anxious to understand the (Prophet's) traditions as I was during those three years. I heard him saying, beckoning with his hand in this way, "Before the Hour you will fight with people who will have hairy shoes and live in Al-Bazir." (Sufyan, the sub-narrator once said, "And they are the people of Al-Bazir.")

My husband, Aws ibn as-Samit, pronounced the words: You are like my mother. So I came to the Messenger of Allah (saws), complaining to him about my husband.

The Messenger of Allah (saws) disputed with me and said: Remain dutiful to Allah; he is your cousin.

I continued (complaining) until the Qur'anic verse came down: "Certainly has Allah heard the speech of the one who argues with you, [O Muhammad], concerning her husband..." [58:1] till the prescription of expiation.

He then said: He should set free a slave. She said: He cannot afford it. He said: He should fast for two consecutive months. She said: Messenger of Allah, he is an old man; he cannot keep fasts. He said: He should feed sixty poor people. She said: He has nothing which he may give in alms. At that moment an araq (i.e. date-basket holding fifteen or sixteen sa's) was brought to him.

I said: I shall help him with another date-basked ('araq). He said: You have done well. Go and feed sixty poor people on his behalf, and return to your cousin. The narrator said: An araq holds sixty sa's of dates.

Abu Dawud said: She atoned on his behalf without seeking his permission.

Abu Dawud said: This man (Aws b. al-Samit) is the brother of 'Ubadah b. al-Samit.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Yahya ibn Said that a man said to Abu Musa al-Ashari, "I drank some milk from my wife's breasts and it went into my stomach." Abu Musa said, "I can only but think that she is haram for you." Abdullah ibn Masud said, "Look at what opinion you are giving the man." Abu Musa said, "Then what do you say?" Abdullah ibn Masud said, "There is only kinship by suckling in the first two years."

Abu Musa said, "Do not ask me about anything while this learned man is among you."

Ibn 'Umar said that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) prescribed Zakat-ul-Fitr one sa' of dates or one sa' of barley for every slave or freeman, young or old.

The Prophet (saws) said: I do not ride on purple, or wear a garment dyed with saffron, or wear shirt hemmed with silk. Pointing to the collar of his shirt al-Hasan (al-Basri) said: The perfume used by men should have an odour but no colour, and the perfume used by women should have a colour but no odour.

Sa'id said: I think he said: They interpreted his tradition about perfume used by women as applying when she comes out. But when she is with her husband, she may use any perfume she wishes.

That he heard Muawiya bin Abi Sufyan (talking) on the pulpit in the year when he performed the Hajj. He took a tuft of hair that was in the hand of an orderly and said, "O people of Medina! Where are your learned men? I heard the Prophet forbidding such a thing as this (i.e. false hair) and he used to say, 'The Israelis were destroyed when their ladies practiced this habit (of using false hair to lengthen their locks).

A man came and said, "O Allah's Apostle! By Allah, I keep away from the morning prayer only because So and so prolongs the prayer when he leads us in it." The narrator said, "I never saw Allah's Apostle more furious in giving advice than he was at that time. He then said, "Some of you make people dislike good deeds (the prayer). So whoever among you leads the people in prayer should shorten it because among them are the weak, the old and the needy."

One of the wives of Allah's Apostle practiced I`tikaf with him while she ad bleeding in between her periods and she would see red (blood) or yellowish traces, and sometimes we put a tray beneath her when she offered the prayer.

Malik related to me from Yaqub ibn Zayd ibn Talha from his father Zayd ibn Talha that Abdullah ibn Abi Mulayka informed him that a woman came to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and informed him that she had committed adultery and was pregnant. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to her, "Go away until you give birth." When she had given birth, she came to him. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to her, "Go away until you have suckled and weaned the baby." When she had weaned the baby, she came to him. He said, "Go and entrust the baby to someone." She entrusted the baby to someone and then came to him. He gave the order and she was stoned.

When `Abdullah bin `Umar set out for Mecca intending to perform Umra, at the time of afflictions, he said, "If I should be prevented from reaching the Ka`ba, then I would do the same as Allah's Apostle did, so I assume the lhram for Umra as Allah's Apostle assumed the Ihram for Umra in the year of Hudaibiya."