Yahya related to me from Malik from Abu'n Nadr, the mawla of Umar ibn Abdullah that Abu Salamaibn Abdar-Rahman ibn Awf related that he had asked A'isha, the wife of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, what made ghusl obligatory. She said, "Do you know what you are like, Abu Salama? You are like a chick when it hears the cocks crowing and so crows with them. When the circumcised part passes the circumcised part, ghusl is obligatory."

Yahya related to me from Malik that Muhammad ibn Uqba, the mawla of az Zubayr, asked al-Qasim ibn Muhammad whether he had to pay any zakat on a large sum given to him by his slave to buy his freedom. Al- Qasim said, "Abu Bakr as-Siddiq did not take zakat from anyone's property until it had been in his possession for a year."

Al- Qasim ibn Muhammad continued, "When Abu Bakr gave men their allowances he would ask them, 'Do you have any property on which zakat is due?' If they said, 'Yes,' he would take the zakat on that property out of their allowances. If they said, 'No,' he would hand over their allowances to them without deducting anything from them."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Yazid ibn Ziyad that Abdullah ibn Rafi, the mawla of Umm Salama, the wife of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, asked Abu Hurayra about the time of the prayer. Abu Hurayra said, "Let me tell you. Pray dhuhr when the length of your shadow matches your height, asr when your shadow is twice your height, maghrib when the sun has set, isha in the first third of the night, and subh in the very first light of dawn," i.e. when the dawn has definitely come.

AbuHind cupped the Prophet (saws) in the middle of his head. The Prophet (saws) said: Banu Bayadah, marry AbuHind (to your daughter), and ask him to marry (his daughter) to you. He said: The best thing by which you treat yourself is cupping.

Once Jabir prayed with his Izar tied to his back while his clothes were Lying beside him on a wooden peg. Somebody asked him, "Do you offer your prayer in a single Izar?" He replied, "I did so to show it to a fool like you. Had anyone of us two garments in the lifetime of the Prophet?"

Al-Bara' reported that Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) was of medium height, having broad shoulders, with his hair hanging down on the lobes of his ears. He put on a red mantle over him, and never have I seen anyone more handsome than Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him).

The Prophet (saws) wrote a letter to Heraclius: "From Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, to Hiraql (Heraclius), Chief of the Byzantines. Peace be to those who follow the guidance." Ibn Yahya reported on the authority of Ibn Abbas that AbuSufyan said to him: We then came to see Hiraql (Heraclius) who seated us before him. He then called for the letter from the Messenger of Allah (saws). Its contents were: "In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful, from Muhammad the Messenger of Allah, to Hiraql, chief of Byzantines. Peace be to those who follow the guidance. To proceed."

I saw the Prophet near the Jamra and the people were asking him questions (about religious problems). A man asked, "O Allah's Apostle! I have slaughtered the Hadi (animal) before doing the Rami." The Prophet replied, "Do the Rami (now) and there is no harm." Another person asked, "O Allah's Apostle! I got my head shaved before slaughtering the animal." The Prophet replied, "Do the slaughtering (now) and there is no harm." So on that day, when the Prophet was asked about anything as regards the ceremonies of Hajj performed before or after its due time his reply was, "Do it (now) and there is no harm."

A lady came to Allah's Apostle and she talked to him about something, and he gave her some order. She said, "O Allah's Apostle! If I should not find you?" He said, "If you should not find me, then go to Abu Bakr." Ibrahim bin Sa`d said, "As if she meant the death (of the Prophet).

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that a man came to Abdullah ibn Umar, and said, "Abu Abd ar-Rahman! I placed the command of my wife in her hand, and she divorced herself, what do you think?" Abdullah ibn Umar said, "I think that it is as she said." The man said, "Don't do it, Abu Abd ar-Rahman!" Ibn Umar said, "You did it, it has nothing to do with me."

The Prophet used to teach us the Istikhara for each and every matter as he used to teach us the Suras from the Holy Qur'an. (He used to say), "If anyone of you intends to do something, he should offer a two-rak`at prayer other than the obligatory prayer, and then say: 'Allahumma inni astakhiruka bi'ilmika, wa astaqdiruka biqudratika, wa as'aluka min fadlika-l-'azim, fa innaka taqdiru wala aqdiru, wa ta'lamu wala a'lamu, wa anta'allamu-l-ghuyub. Allahumma in kunta ta'lamu anna hadha-lamra khairun li fi dini wa ma'ashi wa 'aqibati `Amri (or said, fi 'ajili `Amri wa ajilihi) fa-qdurhu li, Wa in kunta ta'lamu anna ha-dha-l-amra sharrun li fi dini wa ma'ashi wa 'aqibati `Amri (or said, fi ajili `Amri wa ajilihi) fasrifhu 'anni was-rifni 'anhu wa aqdur li alkhaira haithu kana, thumma Raddani bihi," Then he should mention his matter (need).

The Messenger of Allah (saws) came upon us when my mother and I were plastering a wall of mine. He asked: What is this, Abdullah ? I replied: It is something I am repairing. He said! The matter is quicker for you than that.

Some people from the Ansar asked Allah's Apostle (to give them something) and he gave to everyone of them, who asked him, until all that he had was finished. When everything was finished and he had spent all that was in his hand, he said to them, '"(Know) that if I have any wealth, I will not withhold it from you (to keep for somebody else); And (know) that he who refrains from begging others (or doing prohibited deeds), Allah will make him contented and not in need of others; and he who remains patient, Allah will bestow patience upon him, and he who is satisfied with what he has, Allah will make him self-sufficient. And there is no gift better and vast (you may be given) than patience."

The Prophet said, "The poor person is not the one who asks a morsel or two (of meals) from the others, but the poor is the one who has nothing and is ashamed to beg from others."

Once Allah's Apostle gave a letter to a person and ordered him to go and deliver it to the Governor of Bahrain. (He did so) and the Governor of Bahrain sent it to Chousroes, who read that letter and then tore it to pieces. (The sub-narrator (Ibn Shihab) thinks that Ibn Al-Musaiyab said that Allah's Apostle invoked Allah against them (saying), "May Allah tear them into pieces, and disperse them all totally.)"

Malik related to me from Yahya ibn Said that Abd ar-Rahman ibn al-Qasim ibn Muhammad heard Makhul ad-Dimashqi ask al-Qasim ibn Muhammad about the life pension and what people said about it. Al- Qasim ibn Muhammad said, "I have only come upon people who keep to the conditions they make about their property and what they are given."

Yahya said that he heard Malik say, "What is done in our community is that the life pension reverts to the one who makes it a life pension unless he says, 'It belongs to you and your posterity.' "

The Prophet said, "Between the two blowing of the trumpet there will be forty." The people said, "O Abu Huraira! Forty days?" I refused to reply. They said, "Forty years?" I refused to reply and added: Everything of the human body will decay except the coccyx bone (of the tail) and from that bone Allah will reconstruct the whole body.

Abu Bakr wrote to me what Allah had instructed His Apostle (p.b.u.h) to do regarding the one who had to pay one Bint Makhad (i.e. one year-old she-camel) as Zakat, and he did not have it but had got Bint Labun (two year old she-camel). (He wrote that) it could be accepted from him as Zakat, and the collector of Zakat would return him 20 Dirhams or two sheep; and if the Zakat payer had not a Bint Makhad, but he had Ibn Labun (a two year old he-camel) then it could be accepted as his Zakat, but he would not be paid anything .

A woman came to the Prophet and spoke to him about something and he told her to return to him. She said, "O Allah's Apostle! If I come and do not find you?" (As if she meant, "...if you die?") The Prophet said, "If you should not find me, then go to Abu Bakr."

The Prophet (p.b.u.h) used to teach us the way of doing Istikhara (Istikhara means to ask Allah to guide one to the right sort of action concerning any job or a deed), in all matters as he taught us the Suras of the Qur'an. He said, "If anyone of you thinks of doing any job he should offer a two rak`at prayer other than the compulsory ones and say (after the prayer): -- 'Allahumma inni astakhiruka bi'ilmika, Wa astaqdiruka bi-qudratika, Wa as'alaka min fadlika Al-`azlm Fa-innaka taqdiru Wala aqdiru, Wa ta'lamu Wala a'lamu, Wa anta 'allamu l-ghuyub. Allahumma, in kunta ta'lam anna hadha-lamra Khairun li fi dini wa ma'ashi wa'aqibati `Amri (or 'ajili `Amri wa'ajilihi) Faqdirhu wa yas-sirhu li thumma barik li Fihi, Wa in kunta ta'lamu anna hadha-lamra shar-run li fi dini wa ma'ashi wa'aqibati `Amri (or fi'ajili `Amri wa ajilihi) Fasrifhu anni was-rifni anhu. Waqdir li al-khaira haithu kana Thumma ardini bihi.' (O Allah! I ask guidance from Your knowledge, And Power from Your Might and I ask for Your great blessings. You are capable and I am not. You know and I do not and You know the unseen. O Allah! If You know that this job is good for my religion and my subsistence and in my Hereafter--(or said: If it is better for my present and later needs)--Then You ordain it for me and make it easy for me to get, And then bless me in it, and if You know that this job is harmful to me In my religion and subsistence and in the Hereafter--(or said: If it is worse for my present and later needs)--Then keep it away from me and let me be away from it. And ordain for me whatever is good for me, And make me satisfied with it). The Prophet added that then the person should name (mention) his need.

Ibn Maslamah and Ibn 'Isa reported from Muhammad b. al-Munkadir on the authority of Jabir.

Muhayyisah asked permission of the Messenger of Allah (saws) regarding hire of the cupper, but he forbade him. He kept on asking his permission, and at last he said to him: Feed your watering camel with it and feed your slave with it.

AbuZumayl said: I asked Ibn Abbas, saying: What is that I find in my breast? He asked: What is it? I replied: I swear by Allah, I cannot speak about it. He asked me: Is it something doubtful? and he laughed. He then said: No one could escape that, until Allah, the exalted, revealed: "If thou went in doubt as to what we have revealed unto thee, and ask those who have been reading the Book from before thee." He said: If you find something in your heart, say: He is the first and the Last, the Evident and the Immanent, and He has full knowledge of all things.

Salama said, "I gave the Pledge of allegiance (Al-Ridwan) to Allah's Apostle and then I moved to the shade of a tree. When the number of people around the Prophet diminished, he said, 'O Ibn Al-Akwa` ! Will you not give to me the pledge of Allegiance?' I replied, 'O Allah's Apostle! I have already given to you the pledge of Allegiance.' He said, 'Do it again.' So I gave the pledge of allegiance for the second time." I asked 'O Abu Muslim! For what did you give he pledge of Allegiance on that day?" He replied, "We gave the pledge of Allegiance for death."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Hisham ibn Urwa that his father, Urwa ibn az-Zubayr made an aqiqa for his male and female children of a sheep each.

Malik said, "What we do about the aqiqa is that if someone makes an aqiqa for his children, he gives a sheep for both male and female. The aqiqa is not obligatory but it is desirable to do it, and people continue to come to us about it. If someone makes an aqiqa for his children, the same rules apply as with all sacrificial animals - one-eyed, emaciated, injured, or sick animals must not be used, and neither the meat or the skin is to be sold. The bones are broken and the family eat the meat and give some of it away as sadaqa. The child is not smeared with any of the blood .''