Malik related to me that he had heard that Abdullah ibn Masud used to say, "If someone makes a loan, they should not stipulate better than it. Even if it is a handful of grass, it is usury."

Malik said, "The generally agreed on way of doing things among us is that there is no harm in borrowing any animals with a set description and itemisation, and one must return the like of them. This is not done in the case of female slaves. It is feared about that that it will lead to making halal what is not halal, so it is not good. The explanation of what is disapproved of in that, is that a man borrow a slave-girl and have intercourse with her as seems proper to him. Then he returns her to her owner. That is not good and it is not halal. The people of knowledge still forbid it and do not give an indulgence to any one in it."

The Prophet said "The most superior way of asking for forgiveness from Allah is: 'Allahumma anta Rabbi la ilaha illa anta, Khalaqtani wa ana `Abduka, wa ana `ala `ahdika wa wa`dika mastata`tu, A`udhu bika min Sharri ma sana`tu, abu'u Laka bini`matika `alaiya, wa abu'u laka bidhanbi faghfir lee fa innahu la yaghfiru adhdhunuba illa anta." The Prophet added. "If somebody recites it during the day with firm faith in it, and dies on the same day before the evening, he will be from the people of Paradise; and if somebody recites it at night with firm faith in it, and dies before the morning, he will be from the people of Paradise."

I heard `Urwa bin Az-Zubair talking to `Umar bin `Abdul `Aziz during the latter's Governorship (at Medina), he said, "Al-Mughira bin Shu`ba delayed the `Asr prayer when he was the ruler of Al-Kufa. On that, Abu Mas`ud. `Uqba bin `Amr Al-Ansari, the grand-father of Zaid bin Hasan, who was one of the Badr warriors, came in and said, (to Al-Mughira), 'You know that Gabriel came down and offered the prayer and Allah's Apostle prayed five prescribed prayers, and Gabriel said (to the Prophet ), "I have been ordered to do so (i.e. offer these five prayers at these fixed stated hours of the day).

Allah's Apostle said, "Not to wish to be the like except of two men. A man whom Allah has given the (knowledge of the) Qur'an and he recites it during the hours of night and day and the one who wishes says: If I were given the same as this (man) has been given, I would do what he does, and a man whom Allah has given wealth and he spends it in the just and right way, in which case the one who wishes says, 'If I were given the same as he has been given, I would do what he does.' " (See Hadith 5025 and 5026)

Malik said, "Someone who has a nosebleed on the day of jumua while the imam is giving the khutba and he leaves and does not come back until the imam has finished the prayer, should pray four rakas.''

Malik said that someone who prayed a raka with the imam on the day of jumua, then had a nosebleed and left and came back and the imam had prayed both rakas, should complete the prayer with another raka as long as he had not spoken.

Malik said, "If some one has a nosebleed, or something happens to him and he has no alternative but to leave, he does not have to ask permission of the imam if he wants to leave on the day of jumua."

When the Prophet intended to perform `Umra in the month of Dhul-Qada, the people of Mecca did not let him enter Mecca till he settled the matter with them by promising to stay in it for three days only. When the document of treaty was written, the following was mentioned: 'These are the terms on which Muhammad, Allah's Apostle agreed (to make peace).' They said, "We will not agree to this, for if we believed that you are Allah's Apostle we would not prevent you, but you are Muhammad bin `Abdullah." The Prophet said, "I am Allah's Apostle and also Muhammad bin `Abdullah." Then he said to `Ali, "Rub off (the words) 'Allah's Apostle' ", but `Ali said, "No, by Allah, I will never rub off your name." So, Allah's Apostle took the document and wrote, 'This is what Muhammad bin `Abdullah has agreed upon: No arms will be brought into Mecca except in their cases, and nobody from the people of Mecca will be allowed to go with him (i.e. the Prophet ) even if he wished to follow him and he (the Prophet ) will not prevent any of his companions from staying in Mecca if the latter wants to stay.' When the Prophet entered Mecca and the time limit passed, the Meccans went to `Ali and said, "Tell your Friend (i.e. the Prophet ) to go out, as the period (agreed to) has passed." So, the Prophet went out of Mecca. The daughter of Hamza ran after them (i.e. the Prophet and his companions), calling, "O Uncle! O Uncle!" `Ali received her and led her by the hand and said to Fatima, "Take your uncle's daughter." Zaid and Ja`far quarreled about her. `Ali said, "I have more right to her as she is my uncle's daughter." Ja`far said, "She is my uncle's daughter, and her aunt is my wife." Zaid said, "She is my brother's daughter." The Prophet judged that she should be given to her aunt, and said that the aunt was like the mother. He then said to 'All, "You are from me and I am from you", and said to Ja`far, "You resemble me both in character and appearance", and said to Zaid, "You are our brother (in faith) and our freed slave."

The Prophet (saws) said: If anyone applies collyrium, he should do it an odd number of times. If he does so, he has done well; but if not, there is no harm. If anyone cleanses himself with pebbles, he should use an odd number. If he does so, he has done well; but if not, there is no harm.

If anyone eats, he should throw away what he removes with a toothpick and swallow what sticks to his tongue. If he does so, he has done well; if not, there is no harm. If anyone goes to relieve himself, he should conceal himself, and if all he can do is to collect a heap of send, he should sit with his back to it, for the devil makes sport with the posteriors of the children of Adam. If he does so, he has done well; but if not, there is no harm.

I heard Jabir bin `Abdullah in a gathering saying, "We, the companions of Allah's Apostle assumed the state of Ihram to perform only Hajj without `Umra." Jabir added, "The Prophet arrived (at Mecca) on the fourth of Dhul-Hijja. And when we arrived (in Mecca) the Prophet ordered us to finish the state of Ihram, saying, "Finish your lhram and go to your wives (for sexual relation)." Jabir added, "The Prophet did not oblige us (to go to our wives) but he only made that legal for us. Then he heard that we were saying, "When there remains only five days between us and the Day of `Arafat he orders us to finish our Ihram by sleeping with our wives in which case we will proceed to `Arafat with our male organs dribbling with semen?' (Jabir pointed out with his hand illustrating what he was saying). Allah's Apostle stood up and said, 'You (People) know that I am the most Allah-fearing, the most truthful and the best doer of good deeds (pious) from among you. If I had not brought the Hadi with me, I would have finished my Ihram as you will do, so finish your Ihram. If I had formerly known what I came to know lately, I would not have brought the Hadi with me.' So we finished our Ihram and listened to the Prophet and obeyed him." (See Hadith No. 713, Vol. 2)

A Muslim and a Jew quarreled. The Muslim taking an oath, said, "By Him Who has preferred Muhammad over all people...!" The Jew said, "By Him Who has preferred Moses, over all people." The Muslim raised his hand and slapped the Jew who came to the Prophet to tell him what had happened between him and the Muslim. The Prophet said, "Don't give me superiority over Moses, for the people will become unconscious (on the Day of Resurrection) and I will be the first to gain consciousness to see Moses standing and holding a side of Allah's Throne. I will not know if he has been among those people who have become unconscious; and that he has gained consciousness before me, or he has been amongst those whom Allah has exempted."

The Prophet said, "If somebody eats or drinks forgetfully then he should complete his fast, for what he has eaten or drunk, has been given to him by Allah."

A man of the tribe of Aslam came to the Prophet (saws) and testified four times against himself that he had had illicit intercourse with a woman, while all the time the Prophet (saws) was turning away from him.

Then when he confessed a fifth time, he turned round and asked: Did you have intercourse with her? He replied: Yes. He asked: Have you done it so that your sexual organ penetrated hers? He replied: Yes. He asked: Have you done it like a collyrium stick when enclosed in its case and a rope in a well? He replied: Yes. He asked: Do you know what fornication is? He replied: Yes. I have done with her unlawfully what a man may lawfully do with his wife.

He then asked: What do you want from what you have said? He said: I want you to purify me. So he gave orders regarding him and he was stoned to death. Then the Prophet (saws) heard one of his companions saying to another: Look at this man whose fault was concealed by Allah but who would not leave the matter alone, so that he was stoned like a dog. He said nothing to them but walked on for a time till he came to the corpse of an ass with its legs in the air.

He asked: Where are so and so? They said: Here we are, Messenger of Allah (saws)! He said: Go down and eat some of this ass's corpse. They replied: Messenger of Allah! Who can eat any of this? He said: The dishonour you have just shown to your brother is more serious than eating some of it. By Him in Whose hand my soul is, he is now among the rivers of Paradise and plunging into them.

Aban ibn Uthman said: I heard Uthman ibn Affan (his father) say: I heard the Messenger of Allah (saws) say: If anyone says three times: "In the name of Allah, when Whose name is mentioned nothing on Earth or in Heaven can cause harm, and He is the Hearer, the Knower" he will not suffer sudden affliction till the morning, and if anyone says this in the morning, he will not suffer sudden affliction till the evening.

Aban was afflicted by some paralysis and when a man who heard the tradition began to look at him, he said to him: Why are you looking at me? I swear by Allah, I did not tell a lie about Uthman, nor did Uthman tell a lie about the Prophet (saws), but that day when I was afflicted by it, I became angry and forgot to say them.

I saw Safwan and Jundab and Safwan's companions when Jundab was advising. They said, "Did you hear something from Allah's Apostle?" Jundab said, "I heard him saying, 'Whoever does a good deed in order to show off, Allah will expose his intentions on the Day of Resurrection (before the people), and whoever puts the people into difficulties, Allah will put him into difficulties on the Day of Resurrection.'" The people said (to Jundab), "Advise us." He said, "The first thing of the human body to purify is the `Abdomen, so he who can eat nothing but good food (Halal and earned lawfully) should do so, and he who does as much as he can that nothing intervene between him and Paradise by not shedding even a handful of blood, (i.e. murdering) should do so."

My father and I went to Abi Barza Al-Aslami and my father said to him, "Tell us how Allah's Apostle used to offer the compulsory congregational prayers." He said, "He used to pray the Zuhr prayer, which you call the first prayer, as the sun declined at noon, the `Asr at a time when one of US could go to his family at the farthest place in Medina while the sun was still hot. (The narrator forgot what Abu Barza had said about the Maghrib prayer), and the Prophet preferred to pray the `Isha' late and disliked to sleep before it or talk after it. And he used to return after finishing the morning prayer at such a time when it was possible for one to recognize the person sitting by his side and he (the Prophet) used to recite 60 to 100 'Ayat' (verses) of the Qur'an in it."

Jabir bin `Abdullah said, "The people became very thirsty on the day of Al-Hudaibiya (Treaty). A small pot containing some water was in front of the Prophet and when he had finished the ablution, the people rushed towards him. He asked, 'What is wrong with you?' They replied, 'We have no water either for performing ablution or for drinking except what is present in front of you.' So he placed his hand in that pot and the water started flowing among his fingers like springs. We all drank and performed ablution (from it)." I asked Jabir, "How many were you?" he replied, "Even if we had been one-hundred-thousand, it would have been sufficient for us, but we were fifteen-hundred."

Yahya related to me from Malik that Ibn Shihab said, "The first person to deduct zakat from allowances was Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan." (i.e. the deduction being made automatically) .

Malik said, "The agreed sunna with us is that zakat has to be paid on twenty dinars (of gold coin), in the same way as it has to be paid on two hundred dirhams (of silver)."

Malik said, "There is no zakat to pay on (gold) that is clearly less than twenty dinars (in weight) but if it increases so that by the increase the amount reaches a full twenty dinars in weight then zakat has to be paid. Similarly, there is no zakat to pay on (silver) that is clearly less than two hundred dirhams (in weight), but if it increases so that by the increase the amount reaches a full two hundred dirhams in weight then zakat has to be paid. If it passes the full weight then I think there is zakat to pay, whether it be dinars or dirhams." (i.e. the zakat is assessed by the weight and not the number of the coins.)

Malik said, about a man who had one hundred and sixty dirhams by weight, and the exchange rate in his town was eight dirhams to a dinar, that he did not have to pay any zakat. Zakat had only to be paid on twenty dinars of gold or two hundred dirhams.

Malik said, in the case of a man who acquired five dinars from a transaction or in some other way which he then invested in trade, that, as soon as it increased to a zakatable amount and then a year elapsed, he had to pay zakat on it, even if the zakatable amount was reached one day before or one day after the passing of a year. There was then no zakat to pay on it from the day the zakat was taken until a year had elapsed over it.

Malik said, in the similar case of a man who had in his possession ten dinars which he invested in trade and which reached twenty dinars by the time one year had elapsed over them, that he paid zakat on them right then and did not wait until a year had elapsed over them, (counting) from the day when they actually reached the zakatable amount. This was because a year had elapsed over the original dinars and there were now twenty of them in his possession. After that there was no zakat to pay on them from the day the zakat was paid until another year had elapsed over them.

Malik said, "What we are agreed upon (here in Madina) regarding income from hiring out slaves, rent from property, and the sums received when a slave buys his freedom, is that no zakat is due on any of it, whether great or small, from the day the owner takes possession of it until a year has elapsed over it from the day when the owner takes possession of it."

Malik said, in the case of gold and silver which was shared between two co-owners, that zakat was due from any one whose share reached twenty dinars of gold, or two hundred dirhams of silver, and that no zakat was due from anyone whose share fell short of this zakatable amount. If all the shares reached the zakatable amount and the shares were not equally divided, zakat was taken from each man according to the measure of his share. This applied only when the share of each man among them reached the zakatable amount, because the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had said, "There is no zakat to pay on less than five awaq of silver."

Malik commented, "This is what I prefer most out of what I have heard about the matter."

Malik said, "When a man has gold and silver dispersed among various people he must add it all up together and then take out the zakat due on the total sum ."

Malik said, "No zakat is due from some one who acquires gold or silver until a year has elapsed over his acquisition from the day it became his."

The Prophet said, "There is no disease that Allah has created, except that He also has created its treatment."

Yahya said that Malik said, "The position with us concerning a man who has zakat to pay on one hundred camels but then the zakat collector does not come to him until zakat is due for a second timeand by that time all his camels have died except five, is that the zakat collector assesses from the five camels the two amounts of zakat that are due from the owner of the animals, which in this case is only two sheep, one for each year. This is because the only zakat which an owner of livestock has to pay is what is due from him on the day that the zakat is (actually) assessed. His livestock may have died or it may have increased, and the zakat collector only assesses the zakat on what he (actually) finds on the day he makes the assessment. If more than one payment of zakat is due from the owner of the livestock, he still only has to pay zakat according to what the zakat collector (actually) finds in his possession, and if his livestock has died, or several payments of zakat are due from him and nothing is taken until all his livestock has died, or has been reduced to an amount below that on which he has to pay zakat, then he does not have to pay any zakat, and there is no liability (on him) for what has died or for the years that have passed.

Malik related to me that he heard the like of that from Sulayman ibn Yasar.

Malik spoke about a man who bought out one of the partners in a shared property, by paying the man with an animal, a slave, a slave-girl, or the equivalent of that in goods. Then another partner decided to exercise his right of pre-emption after that, and he found that the slave or slave-girl had died, and no one knew what her value had been. The buyer claimed, "The value of the slave or slave-girl was 100 dinars." The partner with the right of pre-emption claimed, "The value was 50 dinars."

Malik said, "The buyer takes an oath that the value of what he payed was 100 dinars. Then if the one with the right of pre-emption wishes, he can compensate him, or else he can leave it, unless he can bring a clear proof that the slave or slave-girl's value is less than what the buyer said. If someone gives away his portion of a shared house or land and the recipient repays him for it by cash or goods, the partners can take it by pre-emption if they wish and pay off the recipient the value of what he gave in dinars or dirhams. If someone makes a gift of his portion of a shared house or land, and does not take any remuneration and does not seek to, and a partner wants to take it for its value, he cannot do so as long as the original partner has not been given recompense for it. If there is any recompense, the one with the right of pre-emption can have it for the price of the recompense."

Malik spoke about a man who bought into a piece of shared land for a price on credit, and one of the partners wanted to possess it by right of pre-emption . Malik said, "If it seems likely that the partner can meet the terms, he has right of pre-emption for the same credit terms. If it is feared that he will not be able to meet the terms, but he can bring a wealthy and reliable guarantor of equal standing to the one who bought into the land, he can also take possession."

Malik said, "A person's absence does not sever his right of pre-emption. Even if he is a way for a long time, there is no time limit after which the right of preemption is cut off."

Malik said that if a man left land to a number of his children, then one of them who had a child died and the child of the deceased sold his right in that land, the brother of the seller was more entitled to pre-empt him than his paternal uncles, the partners of his father.

Malik said, "This is what is done in our community."

Malik said, "Pre- emption is shared between partners according to their existing shares. Each of them takes according to his portion. If it is small, he has little. If it is great, it is according to that. That is if they are tenacious and contend with each other about it."

Malik said, "As for a man who buys out the share of one of his partners, and one of the other partners says, 'I will take a portion according to my share,' and the first partner says, 'If you wish to take all the preemption, I will give it up to you. If you wish to leave it, then leave it.' If the first partner gives him the choice and hands it over to him, the second partner can only take all the pre-emption or give it back. If he takes it, he is entitled to it. If not, he has nothing."

Malik spoke about a man who bought land, and developed it by planting trees or digging a well etc., and then someone came, and seeing that he had a right in the land, wanted to take possession of it by pre-emption. Malik said "He has no right of preemption unless he compensates the other for his expenditure. If he gives him the price of what he has developed, he is entitled to pre- emption . If not, he has no right in it."

Malik said that someone who sold off his portion of a shared house or land and then, on learning that some one with a right of pre-emption was to take possession by that right, asked the buyer to revoke the sale, and he did so, did not have the right to do that. The pre-emptor has more right to the property for the price for which he sold it.

In the case of some one who bought along with a section of a shared house or land, an animal and goods (that were not shared), so that when any one demanded his right of pre-emption in the house or land he said, "Take what I have bought altogether, for I bought it altogether," Malik said, "The pre-emptor need only take possession of the house or land. Each thing the man bought is assessed according to its share of the lump sum the man paid. Then the pre-emptor takes possession of his right for a price which is appropriate on that basis. He does not take any animals or goods unless he wants to do that."

Malik said, "If someone sells a section of shared land, and one of those who have the right of preemption surrenders it to the buyer and another refuses to do other than take his pre-emption, the one who refuses to surrender has to take all the preemption, and he cannot take according to his right and leave what remains.

In the case where one of a number of partners in one house sold his share when all his partners were away except for one man, the one present was given the choice of either taking the pre-emption or leaving it, and he said, 'I will take my portion and leave the portions of my partners until they are present. If they take it, that is that. If they leave it, I will take all the pre-emption,' Malik said, 'He can only take it all or leave it. If his partners come, they can take from him or leave it as they wish. If this is offered to him and he does not accept, I think that he has no pre-emption.' "

The Prophet said, "Adam and Moses debated with each other and Moses said, 'You are Adam who turned out your offspring from Paradise.' Adam said, "You are Moses whom Allah chose for His Message and for His direct talk, yet you blame me for a matter which had been ordained for me even before my creation?' Thus Adam overcame Moses."

The women requested the Prophet, "Please fix a day for us." So the Prophet preached to them and said, "A woman whose three children died would be screened from the Hell Fire by them," Hearing that, a woman asked, "If two died?" The Prophet replied, "Even two (would screen her from the (Hell) Fire. " And Abu Huraira added, "Those children should be below the age of puberty. "

[Abu 'Eisa said:] This Hadith is Gharib from this route. Abu Ma'shar's name is Najih, the freed slave of Banu Hisham. Some of the people of knowledge criticized him due to his poor memory.

Allah's Apostle said, "If the people knew what is the reward of making the call (for the prayer) and (of being in) the first row (in the prayer), and if they found no other way to get this privilege except by casting lots, they would certainly cast lots for it. If they knew the reward of the noon prayer, they would race for it, and if they knew the reward of the morning (i.e. Fajr) and `Isha prayers, they would present themselves for the prayer even if they had to crawl to reach there.

The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: There will be a period of commotion in which the one who lies down will be better than the one who sits, and the one who sits is better than the one who stands, and the one who stands is better than the one who walks, and the one who walks is better than the one who runs (to it).

He asked: What do you command me to do, Messenger of Allah? He replied: He who has camels should remain with his camels, he who has sheep should remain with his sheep, and he who has land should remain with his land.

He asked: If anyone has more of these, (what should he do)?

He replied: He should take his sword, strike its edge on a stone, and then escape if he can.

The Prophet (saws) said: When you hear....(Musa's version has): When a man says people have perished, he is the one who has suffered that fate most.

Abu Dawud said: Malik said: If he says that out of sadness for the decadence of religion which he sees among the people, I do not think there is any harm in that. If he says that out of self-conceit and servility of the people, it is an abominable act which has been prohibited.

Abu Hurairah reported the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) as saying; When one of you stands up to pray, the devil comes to him and confuses him so that he does not know how much he has prayed. If any of you has such an experience, he should perform two prostrations while he is sitting.

Abu Dawud said; This tradition has been narrated in a similar manner by Ibn ‘Uyainab, Ma’mar and al-Laith.

Whenever Allah's Apostle returned from a Ghazwa, Hajj or `Umra, he used to say Takbir thrice at every elevation of the ground and then would say, "None has the right to be worshipped but Allah; He is One and has no partner. All the kingdoms is for Him, and all the praises are for Him, and He is Omnipotent. We are returning with repentance, worshipping, prostrating, and praising our Lord. He has kept up His promise and made His slave victorious, and He Alone defeated all the clans of (nonbelievers).

The Messenger of Allah (saws) saw a man that he was supported between his sons. He asked about him, and (the people) said: He has taken a vow to walk (on foot). Thereupon he said: Allah has no need that this man should punish himself, and he ordered him to ride.

Abu Dawud said: 'Amr b. Abi 'Amir has also narrated a similar tradition from al-A'raj on the authority of Abu Hurairah from the Prophet (saws).

The Prophet (saws) said: He who has been appointed a judge has been killed without a knife.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab that Said ibn al- Musayyab said, "The idda of the woman who bleeds constantly is a year."

Malik said, "What is done among us about a divorced woman whose periods stop when her husband divorces her is that she waits nine months. If she has not had a period in them, she has an idda of three months. If she has a period before the end of the three months, she accepts the period. If another nine months pass without her having a period, she does an idda of three months. If she has a second period before the end of those three months, she accepts the period. If nine months then pass without a period, she does an idda of three months. If she has a third period, the idda of the period is complete. If she does not have a period, she waits three months, and then she is free to marry. Her husband can return to her before she becomes free to marry unless he made her divorce irrevocable."

Malik said, "The sunna with us is that when a man divorces his wife and has the option to return to her, and she does part of her idda and then he returns to her and then parts from her before he has had intercourse with her, she does not add to what has passed of her idda. Her husband has wronged himself and erred if he returned to her and had no need of her."

Malik said, "What is done among us is that if a woman becomes a muslim while her husband is a kafir and then he becomes muslim, he is entitled to her as long as she is in her idda. If her idda is finished, he has no access to her. If he remarries her after the end of her idda, however, that is not counted as divorce. Islam removed her from him without divorce."

I met my uncle who was carrying a standard. I asked him: Where are you going? He said: The Messenger of Allah (saws) has sent me to a man who has married his father's wife. He has ordered me to cut off his head and take his property.

That the Messenger of Allah (saws) said, "Whoever prepares a fighter in Allah's cause, he has participated in a military expedition, and whoever looks after the family of a fighter, he has participated in a military expedition."

[Abu 'Eisa said:] This Hadith is Hasan Sahih, and it has been reported through more than one route.

The tradition, (of the Prophet) is that if someone marries a virgin and he has already a matron wife (with him), then he should stay with the virgin for seven days; and if someone marries a matron (and he has already a virgin wife with him) then he should stay with her for three days.

If he was a child of a slave-woman whom the father did not possess or of a free woman with whom he had illicit intercourse, he was not joined to the heirs and did not inherit even if the one to whom he was attributed is the one who claimed paternity, since he was a child of fornication whether his mother was free or a slave.

(During the early days of Islam), the inheritance used to be given to one's offspring and legacy used to be bequeathed to the parents, then Allah cancelled what He wished from that order and decreed that the male should be given the equivalent of the portion of two females, and for the parents one-sixth for each of them, and for one's wife one-eighth (if the deceased has children) and one-fourth (if he has no children), for one's husband one-half (if the deceased has no children) and one-fourth (if she has children).

ahya related to me from Malik from Nafi that Abdullah ibn Umar said that a female slave who was the wife of a slave and then was set free, had the right of choice as long as he did not have intercourse with her.

Malik said, "If her husband has intercourse with her and she claims that she did not know, she still has the right of choice. If she is suspect and one does not believe her claim of ignorance, then she has no choice after he has had intercourse with her."

Abu Dawud said: This tradition has been transmitted by Hammad b. Salamah, Zuhair b. Mu'awiyah and a group of narrators from Hisham. They transmitted it as a statement of Abu Hurairah himself (mauquf).

This tradition has also been transmitted by Ibn 'Awn from Muhammad (b. Sirin). This version has the wordings: These two rak'ahs were short.

Malik said, "What is done among us when a slave divorces a slave- girl when she is a slave and then she is set free, is that her idda is the idda of a slave-girl, and her being set free does not change her idda whether or not he can still return to her. Her idda is not altered."

Malik added, "The hadd-punishment which a slave incurs is the same as this. When he is freed after he has incurred but before the punishment has been executed, his hadd is the hadd of the slave."

Malik said, "When a free man divorces a slave-girl three times, her idda is two periods. When a slave divorces a free woman twice, her idda is three periods."

Malik said about a man who had a slave-girl as a wife, and he bought her and set her free, ''Her idda is the idda of a slave-girl, i.e. two periods, as long as he has not had intercourse with her. If he has had intercourse with her after buying her and before he set her free, she only has to wait until one period has passed . "

I was with the Prophet and the time for the `Asr prayer became due. We had no water with us except a little which was put in a vessel and was brought to the Prophet . He put his hand into it and spread out his fingers and then said, "Come along! Hurry up! All those who want to perform ablution. The blessing is from Allah.'' I saw the water gushing out from his fingers. So the people performed the ablution and drank, and I tried to drink more of that water (beyond my thirst and capacity), for I knew that it was a blessing. The sub-narrator said: I asked Jabir, "How many persons were you then?" He replied, "We were one-thousand four hundred men." Salim said: Jabir said, 1500.

Jabir said "On the day of Al-Hudaibiya, the people felt thirsty and Allah's Apostle had a utensil containing water. He performer ablution from it and then the people came towards him. Allah's Apostle said, 'What is wrong with you?' The people said, 'O Allah's Apostle! We haven't got any water to perform ablution with or to drink, except what you have in your utensil.' So the Prophet put his hand in the utensil and the water started spouting out between his fingers like springs. So we drank and performed ablution." I said to Jabir, "What was your number on that day?" He replied, "Even if we had been one hundred thousand, that water would have been sufficient for us. Anyhow, we were 1500.'

Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi that Abdullah ibn Umar used to pay the zakat al-fitr for those slaves of his that were at Wadi'l-Qura and Khaybar.

Yahya related to me that Malik said, "The best that I have heard about the zakat al-fitr is that a man has to pay for every person that he is responsible for supporting and whom he must support. He has to pay forall his mukatabs, his mudabbars, and his ordinary slaves, whether they are present or absent, as long as they are muslim, and whether or not they are fortrade. However, he does not have to pay zakat on any of them that are not muslim."

Malik said, concerning a runaway slave, "I think that his master should pay the zakat fo rhim whether or not he knows where he is, if it has not been long since the slave ran away and his master hopes that he is still alive and will return. If it has been a long time since he ran away and his master has despaired of him returning then I do not think that he should pay zakat for him.'

Malik said, "The zakat al-fitr has to be paid by people living in the desert (i.e. nomadic people) just as it has to be paid by people living in villages (i.e. settled people), because the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, made the zakat al-fitr at the end of Ramadan obligatory on every muslim, whether freeman or slave, male or female."