I heard Allah's Apostle saying, "Three men from among those who were before you, set out together till they reached a cave at night and entered it. A big rock rolled down the mountain and closed the mouth of the cave. They said (to each other), Nothing could save you from this rock but to invoke Allah by giving reference to the righteous deed which you have done (for Allah's sake only).' So, one of them said, 'O Allah! I had old parents and I never provided my family (wife, children etc.) with milk before them. One day, by chance I was delayed, and I came late (at night) while they had slept. I milked the sheep for them and took the milk to them, but I found them sleeping. I disliked to provide my family with the milk before them. I waited for them and the bowl of milk was in my hand and I kept on waiting for them to get up till the day dawned. Then they got up and drank the milk. O Allah! If I did that for Your Sake only, please relieve us from our critical situation caused by this rock.' So, the rock shifted a little but they could not get out." The Prophet added, "The second man said, 'O Allah! I had a cousin who was the dearest of all people to me and I wanted to have sexual relations with her but she refused. Later she had a hard time in a famine year and she came to me and I gave her one-hundred-and-twenty Dinars on the condition that she would not resist my desire, and she agreed. When I was about to fulfill my desire, she said: It is illegal for you to outrage my chastity except by legitimate marriage. So, I thought it a sin to have sexual intercourse with her and left her though she was the dearest of all the people to me, and also I left the gold I had given her. O Allah! If I did that for Your Sake only, please relieve us from the present calamity.' So, the rock shifted a little more but still they could not get out from there." The Prophet added, "Then the third man said, 'O Allah! I employed few laborers and I paid them their wages with the exception of one man who did not take his wages and went away. I invested his wages and I got much property thereby. (Then after some time) he came and said to me: O Allah's slave! Pay me my wages. I said to him: All the camels, cows, sheep and slaves you see, are yours. He said: O Allah's slave! Don't mock at me. I said: I am not mocking at you. So, he took all the herd and drove them away and left nothing. O Allah! If I did that for Your Sake only, ...

Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab that Umar ibn al- Khattab told people to kill snakes in the Haram.

Malik said, about the "wild dogs" which people were told to kill in the Haram, that any animals that wounded, attacked, or terrorised men, such as lions, leopards, Iynxes and wolves, were counted as"wild dogs." However, someone who was in ihram should not kill beasts of prey that did not attack (people), such as hyenas, foxes, cats and anything else like them, and if he did then he had to pay a forfeit for it. Similarly, someone in ihram should not kill any predatory birds except the kinds that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, specified, namely crows and kites. If someone in ihram killed any other kind of bird he had to pay a forfeit for it.

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had asked Ibn Shihab about a man who had a slave-girl as a wife, and then he bought her, and divorced her once. He said, "She is halal for him by the possession of the right hand as long as he does not make his divorce irrevocable. If he irrevocably divorces her, she is not halal for him by the possession of the right hand until she has married another husband."

Malik said that if a man rnarried a female slave and then she had a child by him, and then he bought her, she was not an umm walad for him because of the child born to him while she belonged to another, until she had had a child by him while she was in his possession after he had purchased her.

Malik said, "If he buys her and she is pregnant by him and she then gives birth while she belongs to him, she is his umm walad by that pregnancy, according to what we think, and Allah knows best."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Zayd ibn Aslam that a man received a wound in the time of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. The blood clotted in the wound and the man called two men from the Banu Ammar tribe. They looked at it and claimed that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to them, "Which of you is the better doctor?" They said, "Is there any good in medicine, Messenger of Allah?" Zayd claimed that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "The one who sent down the disease sent down the remedy."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Yahya ibn Said that Sulayman ibn Yasar said, "I understood from people that when they made the kaffara for a broken oath, they gave a mudd of wheat according to the smaller mudd. They thought that that would compensate for them."

Malik said, "The best of what I have heard about the one who does kaffara for breaking his oath by clothing people is that if he clothes men he clothes them each in one garment. If he clothes women, he clothes them each in two garments, a long shift and a long scarf, because that is what is satisfactory for each of them in the prayer."

Some lady said, "O Allah's Apostle! My husband has another wife, so it is sinful of me to claim that he has given me what he has not given me (in order to tease her)?" Allah's Apostle said, The one who pretends that he has been given what he has not been given, is just like the (false) one who wears two garments of falsehood."

A man from the tribe of Bani Aslam came to the Prophet while he was in the mosque and said, "I have committed illegal sexual intercourse." The Prophet turned his face to the other side. The man turned towards the side towards which the Prophet had turned his face, and gave four witnesses against himself. On that the Prophet called him and said, "Are you insane?" (He added), "Are you married?" The man said, 'Yes." On that the Prophet ordered him to be stoned to the death in the Musalla (a praying place). When the stones hit him with their sharp edges and he fled, but he was caught at Al- Harra and then killed

Yahya related to me from Zayd ibn Aslam that his father said that he had heard Umar ibn al-Khattab say, "I once gave a noble horse to carry somebody in the way of Allah, and the man neglected it. I wished to buy it back from him and I thought that he would sell it cheaply. I asked the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, about it and he said, 'Do not buy it, even if he gives it to you for one dirham, for someone who takes back his sadaqa is like a dog swallowing its own vomit.' "

The Prophet said, "Whoever spends two things in Allah's Cause, will be called by all the gate-keepers of Paradise who will be saying, 'O so-and-so! Come here.' " Abu Bakr said, "O Allah's Apostle! Such persons will never be destroyed." The Prophet said, "I hope you will be one of them."

(a man from the Ansar) that a number of people from his tribe went to Khaibar and dispersed, and then they found one of them murdered. They said to the people with whom the corpse had been found, "You have killed our companion!" Those people said, "Neither have we killed him, nor do we know his killer." The bereaved group went to the Prophet and said, "O Allah's Apostle! We went to Khaibar and found one of us murdered." The Prophet said, "Let the older among you come forward and speak." Then the Prophet said, to them, "Bring your proof against the killer." They said "We have no proof." The Prophet said, "Then they (the defendants) will take an oath." They said, "We do not accept the oaths of the Jews." Allah's Apostle did not like that the Blood-money of the killed one be lost without compensation, so he paid one-hundred camels out of the camels of Zakat (to the relatives of the deceased) as Diya (Blood-money).

The Prophet said, "The people who get tremendous reward for the prayer are those who are farthest away (from the mosque) and then those who are next farthest and so on. Similarly one who waits to pray with the Imam has greater reward than one who prays and goes to bed. "

Some pagans who committed murders in great number and committed illegal sexual intercourse excessively, came to Muhammad and said, "O Muhammad! Whatever you say and invite people to, is good: but we wish if you could inform us whether we can make an expiration for our (past evil) deeds." So the Divine Verses came: 'Those who invoke not with Allah any other god, not kill such life as Allah has forbidden except for just cause, nor commit illegal sexual intercourse.' (25.68) And there was also revealed:-- 'Say: O My slaves who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah.' (39.53)

Abu Dawud said: Malis said: This refers to a man gives his evidence, but he does not know for whom it is meant. Al-Hamdani said: "He should inform the authorities. Ibn al-Sarh said: "He should give it to the ruler. The work ikhbar (inform) occurs in the version of al-Hamdani." Ibn al-Sarh said: "Ibn Abi 'Amrah and not 'Abd al-Rahman."

Kurayb the freed slave of Ibn Abbas reported: Abdullah ibn Abbas saw Abdullah ibn al-Harith praying having the back knot of the hair. He stood behind him and began to untie it. He remained standing unmoved (stationary). When he finished his prayer he came to Ibn Abbas and said to him: What were you doing with my head? He said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (saws) say: A man who prays with the black knot of hair tied is the one praying pinioned.

Anas bin Malik said, that once a domestic sheep was milked for Allah's Apostle while he was in the house of Anas bin Malik. The milk was mixed with water drawn from the well in Anas's house. A tumbler of it was presented to Allah's Apostle who drank from it. Then Abu Bakr was sitting on his left side and a bedouin on his right side. When the Prophet removed the tumbler from his mouth, `Umar was afraid that the Prophet might give it to the bedouin, so he said. "O Allah's Apostle! Give it to Abu Bakr who is sitting by your side." But the Prophet gave it to the bedouin, who was to his right and said, "You should start with the one on your right side."

A man from the Companions of the Prophet (saws) came to Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him). He bore witness before him that when he (the Prophet) was suffering from a disease of which he died he heard the Messenger of Allah (saws) prohibiting performing of umrah before hajj.

Malik related to me from Ibn Shihab from Urwa ibn az-Zubayr from Abd ar-Rahman ibn Abd al-Qari that Umar ibn al-Khattab said, "What is wrong with men who give their sons gifts and then keep them and if the son dies, they say, 'My property is in my possession and I did not give it to anyone.' But if they themselves are dying, they say, 'It belongs to my son, I gave it to him.' Whoever gives a gift, and does not hand it over to the one to whom it was given, the gift is invalid, and if he dies it belongs to the heirs in general."

On the night Allah's Apostle was taken on a night journey (Miraj) two cups, one containing wine and the other milk, were presented to him at Jerusalem. He looked at it and took the cup of milk. Gabriel said, "Praise be to Allah Who guided you to Al-Fitra (the right path); if you had taken (the cup of) wine, your nation would have gone astray."

Allah's Apostle in his fatal illness said, "Allah cursed the Jews and the Christians, for they built the places of worship at the graves of their prophets." And if that had not been the case, then the Prophet's grave would have been made prominent before the people. So (the Prophet ) was afraid, or the people were afraid that his grave might be taken as a place for worship.

Abdullah (b. 'Umar) reported that whenever Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) entered Mecca, he got down at Dhi Tuwa and spend the night there until he observed the dawn prayer. And Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) observed this prayer on a rough hillock, and not in the mosque which had been then built there, but to the lower side of it (the mosque) on a hillock.

I gave a horse in Allah's Cause. The person to whom it was given, did not look after it. I intended to buy it from him, thinking that he would sell it cheap. When I asked the Prophet he said, "Don't buy it, even if he gives it to you for one Dirham, as the person who takes back what he has given in charity, is like a dog that swallows back its vomit."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Abu'n Nadr, the mawla of Umar ibn Ubaydullah, from Malik ibn Abi Amir that Uthman ibn Affan used to say in khutbas, and he would seldom omit it if he was giving the khutba, "When the imam stands delivering the khutba on the day of jumua, listen and pay attention, for there is the same portion for someone who pays attention but cannot hear as for someone who pays attention and hears. And when the iqama of the prayer is called, straighten your rows and make your shoulders adjacent to each other, because the straightening of the rows is part of the completion of the prayer." Then he would not say the takbir until some men who had been entrusted with straightening the rows came and told him that they were straight. Then he would say the takbir.

In the time of the Messenger of Allah (saws) there was a woman who had an issue of blood. So Umm Salamah asked the Messenger of Allah (saws) to give a decision about her. He said: She should consider the number of nights and days during which she used to menstruate each month before she was afflicted with this trouble and abandon prayer during that period each month. When those days and nights are over, she should take a bath, tie a cloth over her private parts and pray.

The Prophet (came to my house and) asked permission for entering and I allowed him. He asked, "Where do you like me to pray in your house?" I pointed to a place which I liked. He stood up for prayer and we aligned behind him and he finished the prayer with Taslim and we did the same.

`Aisha said, "The Prophet said during his fatal illness, "Allah cursed the Jews for they took the graves of their prophets as places for worship." `Aisha added, "Had it not been for that (statement of the Prophet ) his grave would have been made conspicuous. But he was afraid that it might be taken as a place for worship."

I heard Allah's Apostle saying, "No prophet gets sick but he is given the choice to select either this world or the Hereafter." `Aisha added: During his fatal illness, his voice became very husky and I heard him saying: "In the company of those whom is the Grace of Allah, of the prophets, the Siddiqin (those followers of the prophets who were first and foremost to believe in them), the martyrs and the pious.' (4.69) And from this I came to know that he has been given the option.

When we collected the fragramentary manuscripts of the Qur'an into copies, I missed one of the Verses of Surat al-Ahzab which I used to hear Allah's Apostle reading. Finally I did not find it with anybody except Khuza`ima Al-Ansari, whose witness was considered by Allah's Apostle equal to the witness of two men. (And that Verse was:) 'Among the believers are men who have been true to their covenant with Allah.'

A Jubba (i.e. cloak) made of thick silken cloth was presented to the Prophet. The Prophet used to forbid people to wear silk. So, the people were pleased to see it. The Prophet said, "By Him in Whose Hands Muhammad's soul is, the handkerchiefs of Sa`d bin Mu`adh in Paradise are better than this." Anas added, "The present was sent to the Prophet by Ukaidir (a Christian) from Dauma."

Ya`la used to say, "I wish I could see Allah's Apostle at the time he is being inspired Divinely." When the Prophet was at Al-Ja'rana and was shaded by a garment hanging over him and some of his companions were with him, a man perfumed with scent came and said, "O Allah's Apostle! What is your opinion regarding a man who assumes Ihram and puts on a cloak after perfuming his body with scent?" The Prophet waited for a while, and then the Divine Inspiration descended upon him. `Umar pointed out to Ya`la, telling him to come. Ya`la came and pushed his head (underneath the screen which was covering the Prophet ) and behold! The Prophet's face was red and he kept on breathing heavily for a while and then he was relieved. Thereupon he said, "Where is the questioner who asked me about `Umra a while ago?" The man was sought and then was brought before the Prophet who said (to him), "As regards the scent which you perfumed your body with, you must wash it off thrice, and as for your cloak, you must take it off; and then perform in your `Umra all those things which you perform in Hajj."

The nephew of Suraqa bin Ju'sham said that his father informed him that he heard Suraqa bin Ju'sham saying, "The messengers of the heathens of Quraish came to us declaring that they had assigned for the persons why would kill or arrest Allah's Apostle and Abu Bakr, a reward equal to their bloodmoney. While I was sitting in one of the gatherings of my tribe. Bani Mudlij, a man from them came to us and stood up while we were sitting, and said, "O Suraqa! No doubt, I have just seen some people far away on the seashore, and I think they are Muhammad and his companions." Suraqa added, "I too realized that it must have been they. But I said 'No, it is not they, but you have seen so-and-so, and so-and-so whom we saw set out.' I stayed in the gathering for a while and then got up and left for my home. and ordered my slave-girl to get my horse which was behind a hillock, and keep it ready for me.

Then I took my spear and left by the back door of my house dragging the lower end of the spear on the ground and keeping it low. Then I reached my horse, mounted it and made it gallop. When I approached them (i.e. Muhammad and Abu Bakr), my horse stumbled and I fell down from it, Then I stood up, got hold of my quiver and took out the divining arrows and drew lots as to whether I should harm them (i.e. the Prophet and Abu Bakr) or not, and the lot which I disliked came out. But I remounted my horse and let it gallop, giving no importance to the divining arrows. When I heard the recitation of the Quran by Allah's Apostle who did not look hither and thither while Abu Bakr was doing it often, suddenly the forelegs of my horse sank into the ground up to the knees, and I fell down from it. Then I rebuked it and it got up but could hardly take out its forelegs from the ground, and when it stood up straight again, its fore-legs caused dust to rise up in the sky like smoke. Then again I drew lots with the divining arrows, and the lot which I disliked, came out. So I called upon them to feel secure. They stopped, and I remounted my horse and went to them. When I saw how I had been hampered from harming them, it came to my mind that the cause of Allah's Apostle (i.e. Islam) will become victorious. So I said to him, "Your people have assigned a reward equal to the bloodmoney for your head." Then I told them all the plans the people of Mecca had made concerning them. Then I offered them some journey food and goods but they refused to take anything and did not ask for ...

Ar-Rabi, the daughter of An-Nadr broke the tooth of a girl, and the relatives of Ar-Rabi` requested the girl's relatives to accept the Irsh (compensation for wounds etc.) and forgive (the offender), but they refused. So, they went to the Prophet who ordered them to bring about retaliation. Anas bin An-Nadr asked, "O Allah"; Apostle! Will the tooth of Ar-Rabi` be broken? No, by Him Who has sent you with the Truth, her tooth will not be broken." The Prophet said, "O Anas! Allah"; law ordains retaliation." Later the relatives of the girl agreed and forgave her. The Prophet said, "There are some of Allah's slaves who, if they take an oath by Allah, are responded to by Allah i.e. their oath is fulfilled). Anas added, "The people agreed and accepted the Irsh."

Allah's Apostle said, "By Him in Whose Hands my soul is, surely (Jesus,) the son of Mary will soon descend amongst you and will judge mankind justly (as a Just Ruler); he will break the Cross and kill the pigs and there will be no Jizya (i.e. taxation taken from non Muslims). Money will be in abundance so that nobody will accept it, and a single prostration to Allah (in prayer) will be better than the whole world and whatever is in it." Abu Huraira added "If you wish, you can recite (this verse of the Holy Book): -- 'And there is none Of the people of the Scriptures (Jews and Christians) But must believe in him (i.e Jesus as an Apostle of Allah and a human being) Before his death. And on the Day of Judgment He will be a witness Against them." (4.159) (See Fath-ul-Bari, Page 302 Vol 7)

When the Prophet was healthy, he used to say, "No soul of a prophet is captured till he is shown his place in Paradise and then he is given the option." When death approached him while his head was on my thigh, he became unconscious and then recovered his consciousness. He then looked at the ceiling of the house and said, "O Allah! (with) the highest companions." I said (to myself), "Hence, he is not going to choose us." Then I realized that what he had said was the application of the narration which he used to mention to us when he was healthy. The last word he spoke was, "O Allah! (with) the highest companion."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi that Abdullah ibn Umar used to pray dhuhr, asr, maghrib, isha and subh at Mina. Then in the morning, after the sun had risen, he would go to Arafa .

Malik said, "What we are all agreed upon here (in Madina) is that the imam does not recite the Qur'an out loud in dhuhr on the day of Arafa, and that he gives a khutba to the people on that day, and that the prayer on the day of Arafa is really a dhuhr prayer, and even if it coincides with a jumua it is still a dhuhr prayer, but one which has been shortened because of travelling."

Malik said that the imam of the pilgrims should not pray the jumua prayer if the day of Arafa, the day of sacrifice or one of the three days after the day of sacrifice, was a Friday.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab that he was asked about the suckling of an older person. He said, ''Urwa ibn az-Zubayr informed me that Abu Hudhayfa ibn Utba ibn Rabia, one of the companions of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, who was present at Badr, adopted Salim (who is called Salim, the mawla of Abu Hudhayfa) as the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, adopted Zayd ibn Haritha. He thought of him as his son, and Abu Hudhayfa married him to his brother's sister, Fatima bint al-Walid ibn Utba ibn Rabia, who was at that time among the first emigrants. She was one of the best unmarried women of the Quraysh. When Allah the Exalted sent down in His Book what He sent down about Zayd ibn Haritha, 'Call them after their true fathers. That is more equitable in the sight of Allah. If you do not know who their fathers were then they are your brothers in the deen and your mawali,' (Sura 33 ayat 5) people in this position were traced back to their fathers. When the father was not known, they were traced to their mawla.

"Sahla bint Suhayl who was the wife of Abu Hudhayfa, and one of the tribe of Amr ibn Luayy, came to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and said, 'Messenger of Allah! We think of Salim as a son and he comes in to see me while I am uncovered. We only have one room, so what do you think about the situation?' The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'Give him five drinks of your milk and he will be mahram by it.' She then saw him as a foster son. A'isha umm al-muminin took that as a precedent for whatever men she wanted to be able to come to see her. She ordered her sister, Umm Kulthum bint Abi Bakr as-Siddiq and the daughters of her brother to give milk to whichever men she wanted to be able to come in to see her. The rest of the wives of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, refused to let anyone come in to them by such nursing. They said, 'No! By Allah! We think that what the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, ordered Sahla bint Suhayl to do was only an indulgence concerning the nursing of Salim alone. No! By Allah! No one will come in upon us by such nursing!'

"This is what the wives of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, thought about the suckling of an older person."

That he heard `Umar speaking while standing on the pulpit of the Prophet in the morning (following the death of the Prophet), when the people had sworn allegiance to Abu Bakr. He said the Tashah-hud before Abu Bakr, and said, "Amma Ba'du (then after) Allah has chosen for his Apostle what is with Him (Paradise) rather than what is with you (the world). This is that Book (Qur'an) with which Allah guided your Apostle, so stick to it, for then you will be guided on the right path as Allah guided His Apostle with it."

Yahya related to me from Malik, from Zayd ibn Aslam, from Ata ibn Yasar, that Kab al-Ahbar was once coming back from Syria with a group of riders, and at a certain point along the road they found some game- meat and Kab said they could eat it. When they got back to Madina they went to Umar ibn al-Khattab and told him about that, and he said, "Who told you you could do that?", and they said, ''Kab.'' He said, "He was indeed the one I made amir over you until you should return."

Later, when they were on the road to Makka, a swarm of locusts passed them by and Kab told them to catch them and eat them. When they got back to Umar ibn al-Khattab they told him about this, and he said (to Kab), "What made you tell them they could do that?" Kab said, "It is game of the sea." He said, "How do you know?", and Kab said, "Amir al- muminin, by the One in whose hand my self is, it is only the sneeze of a fish which it sneezes twice every year."

Malik was asked whether a muhrim could buy game that he had found on the way. He replied, "Game that is only hunted to be offered to people performing Hajj I disapprove of and forbid, but there is no harm in game that a man has which he does not intend for those in ihram, but which a muhrim finds and buys."

Malik said, about someone who had some game with him that he had hunted or bought at the time when he had entered into ihram, that he did not have to get rid of it, and that there was no harm in him giving it to his family.

Malik said that it was halal for some one in ihram to fish in the sea or in rivers and lakes, etc.

Jarir said "Allah's Apostle said to me, "Won't you relieve me from Dhul-Khalasa?" I replied, "Yes, (I will relieve you)." So I proceeded along with one-hundred and fifty cavalry from Ahmas tribe who were skillful in riding horses. I used not to sit firm over horses, so I informed the Prophet of that, and he stroke my chest with his hand till I saw the marks of his hand over my chest and he said, O Allah! Make him firm and one who guides others and is guided (on the right path).' Since then I have never fallen from a horse. Dhul-l--Khulasa was a house in Yemen belonging to the tribe of Khatham and Bajaila, and in it there were idols which were worshipped, and it was called Al-Ka`ba." Jarir went there, burnt it with fire and dismantled it. When Jarir reached Yemen, there was a man who used to foretell and give good omens by casting arrows of divination. Someone said to him. "The messenger of Allah's Apostle is present here and if he should get hold of you, he would chop off your neck." One day while he was using them (i.e. arrows of divination), Jarir stopped there and said to him, "Break them (i.e. the arrows) and testify that None has the right to be worshipped except Allah, or else I will chop off your neck." So the man broke those arrows and testified that none has the right to be worshipped except Allah. Then Jarir sent a man called Abu Artata from the tribe of Ahmas to the Prophet to convey the good news (of destroying Dhu-l-Khalasa). So when the messenger reached the Prophet, he said, "O Allah's Apostle! By Him Who sent you with the Truth, I did not leave it till it was like a scabby camel." Then the Prophet blessed the horses of Ahmas and their men five times.