The Prophet (saws) said: The best number of companions is four, the best number in expeditions four hundred, and the best number in armies four thousand; and twelve thousand will not be overcome through smallness of numbers.

Abu Dawud said: What is correct is that this tradition is mursal (i.e. the link of the Companion is missing).

A hadith like this has been narrated on the authority of Humaid with the same chain of transmitters.

Allah's Apostle used to keep silent between the Takbir and the recitation of Qur'an and that interval of silence used to be a short one. I said to the Prophet "May my parents be sacrificed for you! What do you say in the pause between Takbir and recitation?" The Prophet said, "I say, 'Allahumma, baa`id baini wa baina khatayaya kama baa`adta baina l-mashriqi wa l-maghrib. Allahumma, naqqini min khatayaya kama yunaqqa th-thawbu l-abyadu mina d-danas. Allahumma, ighsil khatayaya bi l-maa'i wa th-thalji wa l-barad (O Allah! Set me apart from my sins (faults) as the East and West are set apart from each other and clean me from sins as a white garment is cleaned of dirt (after thorough washing). O Allah! Wash off my sins with water, snow and hail.)"

We were with Masruq at the house of Yasar bin Numair. Masruq saw pictures on his terrace and said, "I heard `Abdullah saying that he heard the Prophet saying, "The people who will receive the severest punishment from Allah will be the picture makers.'"

Another chain reports a similar hadith.

The Prophet (saws) said: The place of assembly of the Muslims at the time of the war will be in al-Ghutah near a city called Damascus, one of the best cities in Syria.

The Messenger of Allah (saws) used to sit among his Companions. A stranger would come and not recognize him (the Prophet) until he asked (about him). So we asked the Messenger of Allah (saws) to make a place where he might take his seat so that when a stranger came, he might recognise him. So we built a terrace of soil on which he would take his seat, and we would sit beside him. He then mentioned something similar to this Hadith saying: A man came, and he described his appearance. He saluted from the side of the assembly, saying: Peace be upon you, Muhammad. The Prophet (saws) then responded to him.

'A'isha, the wife of the Apostle (may peace be upon him), said that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said the afternoon prayer (at the time) when the sun shone in her apartment and its shadow did not extend beyond her apartment.

Abu Dawud said: The Prophet (saws) kept apart from some of his wives for forty days, and Ibn 'Umar kept apart from his son till he died.

Abu Dawud said: If keeping apart is meant for the sake of Allah, then it has no concern with it. 'Umar bin 'Abd al-'Aziz covered his face from a man.

`Umar said, O Allah! Grant me martyrdom in Your cause, and let my death be in the city of Your Apostle."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Zayd ibn Aslam that Umar ibn al-Khattab used to say, "O Allah! I ask you for martyrdom in Your way and death in the city of Your Messenger!"

The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: Some of my people will alight on low-lying ground, which they will call al-Basrah, beside a river called the Tigris over which there is a bridge. Its people will be numerous and it will be one of the capital cities of immigrants (or one of the capital cities of Muslims, according to the version of Ibn Yahya who reported from Abu Ma'mar).

At the end of time the descendants of Qantura' will come with broad faces and small eyes and alight on the bank of the river. The town's inhabitants will then separate into three sections, one of which will follow cattle and (live in) the desert and perish, another of which will seek security for themselves and perish, but a third will put their children behind their backs and fight the invaders, and they will be the martyrs.

The Prophet used to invoke Allah with the following invocation: 'Rabbi-ghfir-li Khati 'ati wa jahli wa israfi fi `Amri kullihi, wa ma anta a'lamu bihi minni. Allahumma ighfirli khatayaya wa 'amdi, wa jahli wa jiddi, wa kullu dhalika'indi. Allahumma ighrifli ma qaddamtu wa ma akhartu wa ma asrartu wa ma a'lantu. Anta-l-muqaddimu wa anta-l-mu'akh-khiru, wa anta 'ala kulli shai'in qadir.'

When the Prophet got up at night to offer the night prayer, he used to say: "Allahumma laka l-hamdu; Anta nuras-samawati wal ardi wa man fihinna. wa laka l-hamdu; Anta qaiyim as-samawati wal ardi wa man flhinna. Wa lakaI-hamdu; Anta-l-,haqqun, wa wa'daka haqqun, wa qauluka haqqun, wa liqauka haqqun, wal-jannatu haqqun, wannaru haqqun, was-sa atu haqqun, wan-nabiyyuna huqqun, Mahammadun haqqun, Allahumma laka aslamtu, wa Alaika tawakkaltu, wa bika amantu, wa ilaika anabtu, wa bika Khasamtu, wa ilaika hakamtu, faghfirli ma qaddamtu wa ma akh-khartu, wa ma asrartu, wa ma a'lantu. Anta al-muqaddimu, wa anta al-mu-'akhkhiru. La ilaha il-la anta (or La ilaha ghairuka)"

The Prophet used to invoke Allah, saying, "Allahumma ighfirli khati'ati wa jahli wa israfi fi `Amri, wa ma anta a-'lamu bihi minni. Allahumma ighfirli hazali wa jiddi wa khata'i wa amdi, wa kullu dhalika 'indi."

AbuKhirash heard the Messenger of Allah (saws) say: If one keeps apart from his brother for a year, it is like shedding his blood.

The Prophet (saws) said: The time between the great war and the conquest of the city (Constantinople) will be six years, and the Dajjal (Antichrist) will come forth in the seventh.

Abu Dawud said: This is sounder than the tradition narrated by Isa (bin Yunus)

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that Umar ibn al-Khattab said that he disapproved of one man lending another food on the provision that he gave it back to him in another city. He said, "Where is the transport?"

This hadith has been transmitted on the authority of Anas that Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) said this but with this addition that (the Dajjal would come) and pitch his tent in the waste-land of Juruf and thus there would come out of (the city) every hypocrite, man and woman.

The Prophet (saws) said: It is not allowable for a Muslim to keep apart from his brother for more than three days, for one who does so and dies will enter Hell.

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard the people of knowledge say, "If someone goes into ihram to do hajj on its own, he cannot then go into ihram to do umra.''

Malik said, "This is what I have found the people of knowledge in our city doing."