The Prophet said, "The best people are those of my generation, and then those who will come after them (the next generation), and then those who will come after them (i.e. the next generation), and then after them, there will come people whose witness will precede their oaths, and whose oaths will precede their witness."

Once we accompanied the Messenger of Allah (saws) on a journey. When we reached near Medina, the people began to say aloud: "Allah is most great," and they raised their voice.

The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: O people, you are not supplicating one who is deaf and absent, but you are supplicating One Who is nearer to you than the neck of your riding beast.

The Messenger of Allah (saws) then said: AbuMusa, should I not point out to you one of the treasures of Paradise?

I asked: What is that?

He replied: "There is no might and there is no power except in Allah"

I participated in the Ghazwa of Tabuk along with Allah's Apostle and I gave a young camel to be ridden in Jihad and that was, to me, one of my best deeds. Then I employed a laborer who quarrelled with another person. One of them bit the hand of the other and the latter drew his hand from the mouth of the former pulling out his front tooth. Then the former instituted a suit against the latter before the Prophet who rejected that suit saying, "Do you expect him to put out his hand for you to snap as a male camel snaps (vegetation)?"

Two men had a dispute in the presence of Allah's Apostle. One of them said, "O Allah's Apostle! Judge between us according to Allah's Laws." The other who was wiser, said, "Yes, O Allah's Apostle! Judge between us according to Allah's Laws and allow me to speak. The Prophet said, "Speak." He said, "My son was a laborer serving this (person) and he committed illegal sexual intercourse with his wife, The people said that my son is to be stoned to death, but I ransomed him with one-hundred sheep and a slave girl. Then I asked the learned people, who informed me that my son should receive one hundred lashes and will be exiled for one year, and stoning will be the lot for the man's wife." Allah's Apostle said, "Indeed, by Him in Whose Hand my soul is, I will judge between you according to Allah's Laws: As for your sheep and slave girl, they are to be returned to you." Then he scourged his son one hundred lashes and exiled him for one year. Then Unais Al- Aslami was ordered to go to the wife of the second man, and if she confessed (the crime), then stone her to death. She did confess, so he stoned her to death.

Allah's Apostle was the (most handsome), most generous and the bravest of all the people. Once the people of Medina got frightened having heard an uproar at night. So, the Prophet met the people while he was riding an unsaddled horse belonging to Abu Talha and carrying his sword (slung over his shoulder). He said (to them), "Don't get scared, don't get scared." Then he added, "I found it (i.e the horse) very fast."

I heard the Messenger of Allah (saws) say: Allah, Most High, will cause three persons to enter Paradise for one arrow: the maker when he has a good motive in making it, the one who shoots it, and the one who hands it; so shoot and ride, but your shooting is dearer to me than your riding. Everything with which a man amuses himself is vain except three (things): a man's training of his horse, his playing with his wife, and his shooting with his bow and arrow. If anyone abandons archery after becoming an adept through distaste for it, it is a blessing he has abandoned; or he said: for which he has been ungrateful.

Hittan ibn Abdullah ar-Ruqashi said: AbuMusa al-Ash'ari led us in prayer.

When he sat at the end of his prayer, one of the people said: Prayer has been established by virtue and purity.

When AbuMusa returned (from his prayer or finished his prayer), he gave his attention to the people, and said: Which of you is the speaker of such and such words? The people remained silent. Which of you is the speaker of such and such words? The people remained silent. He said: You might have said them, Hittan. He replied: I did not say them. I was afraid you might punish me. One of the people said: I said them and I did not intend by them (anything) except good.

AbuMusa said: Do you not know how you utter (them) in your prayer? The Messenger of Allah (saws) addressed us, and taught us and explained to us our way of doing and taught us our prayer.

He said: When you pray a (congregational) prayer, straighten your rows, then one of you should lead you in prayer. When he says the takbir (Allah is Most Great), say the takbir, and when he recites verses "Not of those upon whom is Thy anger, nor of those who err" (i.e. the end of Surah i.), say Amin; Allah will favour you. When he says "Allah is most great," and bows, say "Allah is most great" and bow, for the imam will bow before you, and will raise (his head) before you.

The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: This is for that. When he says "Allah listens to the one who praises Him," say: "O Allah, our Lord, to Thee be praise, Allah be praised," Allah will listen to you, for Allah, the Exalted, said by the tongue of His Prophet (saws): "Allah listens to the one who praises Him." When he says "Allah is most great" and prostrates, say: "Allah is most great" and prostrate, for the imam prostrates before you and raises his head before you.

The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: This is for that. When he sits, each one of you should say "The adorations of the tongue, all good things, and acts of worship are due to Allah. Peace be upon you, O Prophet, and Allah's mercy and His blessings. Peace be upon us and upon Allah's upright servants. I testify that there is no god but Allah, and I testify that Muhammad is His servant and Apostle."

This version of Ahmad does not mention the words "and His blessings" nor the phrase "and I testify"; instead, it has the words "that Muhammad."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab from Salim ibn Abdullah that his father Abdullah ibn Umar used to say, "A man's kissing his wife and fondling her with his hands are part of intercourse. Someone who kisses his wife or fondles her with his hand must do wudu."

Abu Dawud said: This woman was the wife of Abu Dharr.

A woman from the offspring of Ja`far was afraid lest her guardian marry her (to somebody) against her will. So she sent for two elderly men from the Ansar, `AbdurRahman and Mujammi', the two sons of Jariya, and they said to her, "Don't be afraid, for Khansa' bint Khidam was given by her father in marriage against her will, then the Prophet cancelled that marriage." (See Hadith No. 78)

(the wife of the Prophet) A lady from Bani Aslam, called Subai'a, become a widow while she was pregnant. Abu As-Sanabil bin Ba'kak demanded her hand in marriage, but she refused to marry him and said, "By Allah, I cannot marry him unless I have completed one of the two prescribed periods." About ten days later (after having delivered her child), she went to the Prophet and he said (to her), "You can marry now."

concerning the Verse: 'Do not prevent them' (2.232) Ma'qil bin Yasar told me that it was revealed in his connection. He said, "I married my sister to a man and he divorced her, and when her days of 'Idda (three menstrual periods) were over, the man came again and asked for her hand, but I said to him, 'I married her to you and made her your bed (your wife) and favored you with her, but you divorced her. Now you come to ask for her hand again? No, by Allah, she will never go back to you (again)!' That man was not a bad man and his wife wanted to go back to him. So Allah revealed this Verse: 'Do not prevent them.' (2.232) So I said, 'Now I will do it (let her go back to him), O Allah's Apostle."So he married her to him again.

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.

Aisha said that whenever the Prophet intended to go on a journey, he drew lots among his wives (so as to take one of them along with him). During one of his journeys the lot fell on `Aisha and Hafsa. When night fell the Prophet would ride beside `Aisha and talk with her. One night Hafsa said to `Aisha, "Won't you ride my camel tonight and I ride yours, so that you may see (me) and I see (you) (in new situation)?" `Aisha said, "Yes, (I agree.)" So `Aisha rode, and then the Prophet came towards `Aisha's camel on which Hafsa was riding. He greeted Hafsa and then proceeded (beside her) till they dismounted (on the way). `Aisha missed him, and so, when they dismounted, she put her legs in the Idhkhir and said, "O Lord (Allah)! Send a scorpion or a snake to bite me for I am not to blame him (the Prophet ).

Yahya related to me that Malik had asked Ibn Shihab how to wipe over leather socks. Ibn Shihab had put one hand under the sock and his other hand above the sock and then passed them over it.

Yahya said that Malik said, "Out of all that I have heard about the matter I like what Ibn Shihab said the most."

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that Abdullah ibn Abbas used to say, "The least difficult thing acceptable as a sacrificial animal is a sheep."

Malik said, "That is what I like most out of what I have heard about the matter, because Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, says in His Book, 'O you who trust, do not kill game while you are in ihram. Whoever of you kills it intentionally, there shall be repayment the like of what he has slain, from livestock, as shall be judged by two men of justice among you, a sacrificial animal which will reach the Kaba, or food for poor people, or the equivalent of that in fasting,' (Sura 5 ayat 95) and a sheep is one of the animals which is judged to be acceptable as a sacrifice. Allah has called it a sacrificial animal, and there is no dispute among us about the matter. How, indeed, could anyone be in doubt about the matter? A sheep is the kaffara for anything which does not reach the extent of something for which a camel or a cow would be the kaffara, and the kaffara for something which does not reach the extent of something for which a sheep would be the kaffara is fasting, or feeding poor people."

Abu Dawud said : The version of this tradition narrated by Ayyub from Nafi is disputed. The narrator `Abd al-Warith said in his version : `The upper hand is the one which abstains from begging;” but most of the narrators have narrated from Hammad b. Zaid from Ayyub the words “ The upper hand is the one which bestows.” A narrator from Hammad said in his version “the one which abstains from begging.”

The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: Who is this? She replied: I am Habibah, daughter of Sahl. He asked: What is your case? She replied: I and Thabit ibn Qays, referring to her husband, cannot live together.

When Thabit ibn Qays came, the Messenger of Allah (saws) said to him: This is Habibah, daughter of Sahl, and she has mentioned (about you) what Allah wished to mention.

Habibah said: Messenger of Allah, all that he gave me is with me.

The Messenger of Allah (saws) said to Thabit ibn Qays: Take it from her. So he took it from her, and she lived among her people (relatives).

Yahya related to me from Malik from Abdu Rabbih ibn Said that Abu Bakr ibn Abd ar-Rahman ibn al-Harith ibn Hisham only gave a fixed share to two grandmothers (together).

Malik said, "The generally agreed on way of doing things among us in which there is no dispute and which I saw the people of knowledge in our city doing, is that the maternal grandmother does not inherit anything at all with the mother. Outside of that, she is given a sixth as a fixed share. The paternal grandmotherdoes not inherit anything along with the mother or the father. Outside of that she is given a sixth as a fixed share." If both the paternal grandmother and maternal grandmother are alive, and the deceased does not have a father or mother outside of them, Malik said,."I have heard that if the maternal grandmother is the nearest of the two of them, then she has a sixth instead of the paternal grandmother. If the paternal grandmother is nearer, or they are in the same position in relation to the deceased, the sixth is divided equally between them."

Malik said, "None of the female grand-relations except for these two has any inheritance because I have heard that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, gave the grandmother inheritance, and then Abu Bakr asked about that until someone reliable related from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, that he had made the grandmother an heir and given a share to her. Another grandmother came to Umar ibn al-Khattab, and he said, 'I am not one to add to fixed shares. If there are two of you together, it is between you. If either of you is left alone with it, it is hers.' " Malik said, "We do not know of anyone who made other than the two grandmothers heirs from the beginning of Islam to this day."

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)

Malik said, "The best of what is heard about a slave-girl whom a man has intercourse with while he has a partner in her is that the hadd is not inflicted on him and the child is connected to him. When the slave-girl becomes pregnant, her value is estimated and he gives his partners their shares of the price and the slave-girl is his. That is what is done among us."

Malik said about a man who made his slave-girl halal to a man that if the one for whom she was made halal had intercourse with her, her value was estimated on the day he had intercourse with her and he owed that to her owner whether or not she conceived. The hadd was averted from him by that. If she conceived the child was connected to him.

Malik said about a man who had intercourse with his son's or daughter's slave-girl, "The hadd is averted from him and he owes the estimated value of the slave-girl whether or not she conceives."

When the Prophet married Zainab, the people came and were offered a meal, and then they sat down (after finishing their meals) and started chatting. The Prophet showed as if he wanted to get up, but they did not get up. When he noticed that, he got up, and some of the people also got up and went away, while some others kept on sitting. When the Prophet returned to enter, he found the people still sitting, but then they got up and left. So I told the Prophet of their departure and he came and went in. I intended to go in but the Prophet put a screen between me and him, for Allah revealed:-- 'O you who believe! Enter not the Prophet's houses..' (33.53)

The Prophet intended to practice I`tikaf and when he reached the place where he intended to perform I`tikaf, he saw some tents, the tents of `Aisha, Hafsa and Zainab. So, he said, "Do you consider that they intended to do righteousness by doing this?" And then he went away and did not perform I`tikaf (in Ramadan) but performed it in the month of Shawwal for ten days.

A man came to the Prophet (saws), and said: My wife does not prevent the hand of a man who touches her. He said: Divorce her. He then said: I am afraid my inner self may covet her. He said: Then enjoy her.

Allah's Apostle said, "Once three persons (from the previous nations) were traveling, and suddenly it started raining and they took shelter in a cave. The entrance of the cave got closed while they were inside. They said to each other, 'O you! Nothing can save you except the truth, so each of you should ask Allah's Help by referring to such a deed as he thinks he did sincerely (i.e. just for gaining Allah's Pleasure).' So one of them said, 'O Allah! You know that I had a laborer who worked for me for one Faraq (i.e. three Sas) of rice, but he departed, leaving it (i.e. his wages). I sowed that Faraq of rice and with its yield I bought cows (for him). Later on when he came to me asking for his wages, I said (to him), 'Go to those cows and drive them away.' He said to me, 'But you have to pay me only a Faraq of rice,' I said to him, 'Go to those cows and take them, for they are the product of that Faraq (of rice).' So he drove them. O Allah! If you consider that I did that for fear of You, then please remove the rock.' The rock shifted a bit from the mouth of the cave. The second one said, 'O Allah, You know that I had old parents whom I used to provide with the milk of my sheep every night. One night I was delayed and when I came, they had slept, while my wife and children were crying with hunger. I used not to let them (i.e. my family) drink unless my parents had drunk first. So I disliked to wake them up and also disliked that they should sleep without drinking it, I kept on waiting (for them to wake) till it dawned. O Allah! If You consider that I did that for fear of you, then please remove the rock.' So the rock shifted and they could see the sky through it. The (third) one said, 'O Allah! You know that I had a cousin (i.e. my paternal uncle's daughter) who was most beloved to me and I sought to seduce her, but she refused, unless I paid her one-hundred Dinars (i.e. gold pieces). So I collected the amount and brought it to her, and she allowed me to sleep with her. But when I sat between her legs, she said, 'Be afraid of Allah, and do not deflower me but legally. 'I got up and left the hundred Dinars (for her). O Allah! If You consider that I did that for fear of you than please remove the rock. So Allah saved them and they came out (of the cave)."