During the lifetime of the Prophet we considered Abu Bakr as peerless and then `Umar and then `Uthman (coming next to him in superiority) and then we used not to differentiate between the companions of the Prophet.

From Sa`d bin Mu`adh: Sa`d bin Mu`adh was an intimate friend of Umaiya bin Khalaf and whenever Umaiya passed through Medina, he used to stay with Sa`d, and whenever Sa`d went to Mecca, he used to stay with Umaiya. When Allah's Apostle arrived at Medina, Sa`d went to perform `Umra and stayed at Umaiya's home in Mecca. He said to Umaiya, "Tell me of a time when (the Mosque) is empty so that I may be able to perform Tawaf around the Ka`ba." So Umaiya went with him about midday. Abu Jahl met them and said, "O Abu Safwan! Who is this man accompanying you?" He said, "He is Sa`d." Abu Jahl addressed Sa`d saying, "I see you wandering about safely in Mecca inspite of the fact that you have given shelter to the people who have changed their religion (i.e. became Muslims) and have claimed that you will help them and support them. By Allah, if you were not in the company of Abu Safwan, you would not be able to go your family safely." Sa`d, raising his voice, said to him, "By Allah, if you should stop me from doing this (i.e. performing Tawaf) I would certainly prevent you from something which is more valuable for you, that is, your passage through Medina." On this, Umaiya said to him, "O Sa`d do not raise your voice before Abu-l-Hakam, the chief of the people of the Valley (of Mecca)." Sa`d said, "O Umaiya, stop that! By Allah, I have heard Allah's Apostle predicting that the Muslim will kill you." Umaiya asked, "In Mecca?" Sa`d said, "I do not know." Umaiya was greatly scared by that news. When Umaiya returned to his family, he said to his wife, "O Um Safwan! Don't you know what Sa`d told me? "She said, "What has he told you?" He replied, "He claims that Muhammad has informed them (i.e. companions that they will kill me. I asked him, 'In Mecca?' He replied, 'I do not know." Then Umaiya added, "By Allah, I will never go out of Mecca." But when the day of (the Ghazwa of) Badr came, Abu Jahl called the people to war, saying, "Go and protect your caravan." But Umaiya disliked to go out (of Mecca). Abu Jahl came to him and said, "O Abu Safwan! If the people see you staying behind though you are the chief of the people of the Valley, then they will remain behind with you." Abu Jahl kept on urging him to go until he (i.e. Umaiya) said, "As you have forced me to change my mind, by Allah, I will buy the best camel in Mecca. Then Umaiya said (to his wife). "O Um Safwan, prepare what I need (for the journey)." She said ...

Malik related to me from Yahya ibn Said that he heard Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir say, "Allah loves his slave who is generous when he sells, and generous when he buys, generous when he repays, and generous when he is repaid."

Malik said about a man who bought camels or sheep or dry goods or slaves or any goods without measuring precisely, "There is no buying without measuring precisely in anything which can be counted . "

Malik said about a man who gave a man goods to sell for him and set their price saying, "If you sell them for this price as I have ordered you to do, you will have a dinar (or something which he has specified, which they are both satisfied with), if you do not sell them, you will have nothing," "There is no harm in that when he names a price to sell them at and names a known fee. If he sells the goods, he takes the fee, and if he does not sell them, he has nothing."

Malik said, "This is like saying to another man, 'If you capture my runaway slave or bring my stray camel, you will have such-and-such.' This is from the category of reward, and not from the category of giving a wage. Had it been from the category of giving a wage, it would not be good."

Malik said, "As for a man who is given goods and told that if he sells them he will have a named percentage for every dinar, that is not good because whenever he is a dinar less than the price of the goods, he decreases the due which was named for him. This is an uncertain transaction. He does not know how much he will be given."

The Prophet (saws) said: Do not prevent anyone from going round this House (the Ka'bah) and from praying any moment he desires by day or by night. The narrator Fadl (ibn Ya'qub) said: The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: Banu Abdu Munaf, do not stop anyone.

Abu Bakr reported that Marwan sent him to Umm Salama to ask whether a person should observe fast who is in a state of junub and the dawn breaks upon him, whereupon she said that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) (was at times) junbi on account of intercourse and not due to sexual dream, and the dawn broke upon him, but he neither broke the fast nor recompensed.

A group of people said to the Prophet, "Some people bring us meat and we do not know whether they have mentioned Allah's Name or not on slaughtering the animal." He said, "Mention Allah's Name on it and eat." Those people had embraced Islam recently.

A man said, "O Allah's Apostle. What type of clothes should a Muhrim wear Allah's Apostle replied, 'Do not wear shirts, turbans trousers hooded cloaks or Khuffs (socks made from thick fabric or leather); but if someone cannot get sandals, then he can wear Khuffs after cutting them short below the ankles. Do not wear clothes touched by saffon or wars (two kinds of perfumes).

When Ma'iz bin Malik came to the Prophet (in order to confess), the Prophet said to him, "Probably you have only kissed (the lady), or winked, or looked at her?" He said, "No, O Allah's Apostle!" The Prophet said, using no euphemism, "Did you have sexual intercourse with her?" The narrator added: At that, (i.e. after his confession) the Prophet ordered that he be stoned (to death).

Allah's Apostle (p.b.u.h) said, "Keys of the unseen knowledge are five which nobody knows but Allah . . . nobody knows what will happen tomorrow; nobody knows what is in the womb; nobody knows what he will gain tomorrow; nobody knows at what place he will die; and nobody knows when it will rain."

Yahya related to me from Malik that Yazid ibn Abdullah ibn Qusayt saw Said ibn al-Musayyab sell gold counterpoising for gold. He poured his gold into one pan of the scales, and the man with whom he was counterpoising put his gold in the other pan of the scale and when the tongue of the scales was balanced, they took and gave.

Malik said, "According to the way things are done among us there is no harm in selling gold for gold, and silver for silver by counterpoising weight, even if 11 dinars are taken for 10 dinars hand to hand, when the weight of gold is equal, coin for coin, even if the number is different. Dirhams in such a situation are treated the same way as dinars."

Malik said, "If, when counterpoising gold for gold or silver for silver, there is a difference of weight, one party should not give the other the value of the difference in silver or something else. Such a transaction is ugly and a means to usury because if one of the parties were permitted to take the difference for a separate price, it could be as if he had bought it separately, so he would be permitted. Then it would be possible for him to ask for many times the value of the difference in order to permit the completion of the transaction between the two parties.

Malik said, "If he had really been sold the difference without anything else with it, he would not have taken it for a tenth of the price for which he took it in order to put a 'legal front' on the transaction. This leads to allowing what is forbidden . The matter is forbidden."

Malik said that it was not good when counterpoising to give good old gold coins and put along with them unminted gold in exchange for worn kufic gold, which was unpopular and to then treat the exchange as like for like.

Malik said, "The commentary on why that is disapproved is that the owner of the good gold uses the excellence of his old gold coins as an excuse to throw in the unminted gold with it. Had it not been for the superiority of his (good) gold over the gold of the other party, the other party would not have counterpoised the unminted gold for his kufic gold, and the deal would have been refused.

"It is like a man wanting to buy three sa of ajwa dried dates for two sa and a mudd of kabis dates, and on being told that it was not good, then offering two sa of kabis and a sa of poor dates desiring to make the sale possible. That is not good because the owner of the ajwa should not give him ...

that he asked `Aisha about the Statement of Allah: 'If you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly with the orphan girls, then marry (other) women of your choice, two or three or four; but if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one, or (the captives) that your right hands possess. That will be nearer to prevent you from doing injustice.' (4.3) `Aisha said, "O my nephew! (This Verse has been revealed in connection with) an orphan girl under the guardianship of her guardian who is attracted by her wealth and beauty and intends to marry her with a Mahr less than what other women of her standard deserve. So they (such guardians) have been forbidden to marry them unless they do justice to them and give them their full Mahr, and they are ordered to marry other women instead of them."

We were sitting with the Prophet and he looked at the moon on the night of the full-moon and said, "You people will see your Lord as you see this full moon, and you will have no trouble in seeing Him, so if you can avoid missing (through sleep or business, etc.) a prayer before sunrise (Fajr) and a prayer before sunset (`Asr) you must do so." (See Hadith No. 529, Vol. 1)

Yahya related to me from Malik, from Nafi, that Abdullah ibn Umar used to say, "A menstruating woman who wants to go into ihram to do either hajj or umra can do so if she so wishes, but she cannot do tawaf of the House, nor the say between Safa and Marwa. She can participate in all the rituals along with everybody else, except that she cannot do tawaf of the House, nor the say between Safa and Marwa, nor can she come near the mosque until she is pure."

"The Messenger of Allah (saws) entered upon me and said: 'Do you have anything?' I said: 'No, except a piece of hard bread and vinegar.' so he said: 'Bring it, for a house that has vinegar is not impoverished of condiments."

[Abu 'Eisa said:] This Hadith is Hasan Gharib from this route. We do not know of it as a Hadith of Umm Hani' except through this route. Abu Hamzah Ath-Thumali's (a narrator in the chain) name is Thabit bin Abi Safiyyah. And Umm Hani' died some time after 'Ali bin Abi Talib. I asked Muhammad about this Hadith. He said: "I do not know Ash-Sha'bi hearing from Umm Hani'." So I said: "How is Abu Hamzah according to you?" He said: "Ahmad bin Hanbal criticized him, but he is Muqarib (average) in Hadith to me."

"The idolaters wanted to purchase the body of a man who was from the idolaters. But the Prophet (saws) refused to trade with them [for him]."

[Abu 'Eisa said:] This Hadith is Hasan Gharib, we do not know of it except from a narration of Al-Hakam. Al-Hajjaj bin Artah also reported it from Al-Ahkam. Ahmad bin Al-Hasan said: "I heard Ahmad bin Hanbal saying: 'Ibn Abi Laila's narrations are not used as proof." Muhammad bin Isma'il said: "Ibn Abi Laila is truthful, but his correct Ahadith are not recognizable from his weak ones. And I do not report anything from him." Ibn Abi Laila is truthful, and Faqih, the problem is only in the chain.

Nasr bin 'Ali narrated to us, [he said:] "Abdullah bin Dawud narrated us, from Sufyan Ath-Thawri who said: 'Our Fuqaha' are Ibn Abi Laila and 'Abdullah bin Shubrumah.'"

Yahya said that Malik said, "The way of doing things in our community about which there is no dispute is that women do not swear in the swearing for the intentional act. If the murdered man only has female relatives, the women have no right to swear for blood and no pardon in murder."

Yahya said that Malik said about a man who is murdered, "If the paternal relatives of the murdered man or his mawali say, 'We swear and we demand our companion's blood,' that is their right."

Malik said, "If the women want to pardon him, they cannot do that. The paternal relatives and mawali are entitled to do that more than them because they are the ones who demand blood and swear for it."

Malik said, "If the paternal relatives or mawali pardon after they demand blood and the women refuse and say, 'We will not abandon our right against the murderer of our companion,' the women are more entitled to that because whoever takes retaliation is more entitled than the one who leaves it among the women and paternal relatives when the murder is established and killing obliged."

Malik said, "At least two claimants must swear in murder. The oaths are repeated by them until they swear fifty oaths, then they have the right to blood. That is how things are done in our community."

Malik said, "When people beat a man and he dies in their hands, they are all slain for him. If he dies after their beating, there is swearing. If there is swearing, it is only against one man and only he is slain. We have never known the swearing to be against more than one man."

Malik spoke about a slave who had his hand or foot broken and then the break mended . He said, "The one who injured him is not obliged to pay anything. If that break causes him loss or scar, the one who injured him must pay according to what he diminished of the value of the slave."

Malik said, "What is done in our community about retaliation between slaves is that it is like retaliation between freemen. The life of the slave-girl for the life of the slave, and her injury for his injury. When a slave intentionally kills a slave, the master of the murdered slave has a choice. If he wishes, he kills him, and if he wishes, he takes the blood-money. If he takes the blood-money, he takes the value of his slave. If the owner of the slave who killed wishes to give the value of the murdered slave, he does it. If he wishes, he surrenders his slave. If he surrenders him, he is not ...

The Prophet (saws) said: If anyone leaves a debt or a helpless family I shall be responsible-and sometimes the narrator said: Allah and His Apostle will be responsible-but if anyone leaves property, it goes to his heirs. I am the heirs of him who has none, paying blood-wit for him and inheriting from him; and a maternal uncle is the heir of him who has none, paying blood-wit for him and inheriting from him.

"I heard my mother, Um Salama saying that a woman came to Allah's Apostle and said, "O Allah's Apostle! The husband of my daughter has died and she is suffering from an eye disease, can she apply kohl to her eye?" Allah's Apostle replied, "No," twice or thrice. (Every time she repeated her question) he said, "No." Then Allah's Apostle added, "It is just a matter of four months and ten days. In the Pre-Islamic Period of ignorance a widow among you should throw a globe of dung when one year has elapsed."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi from Abdullah ibn Umar that when the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, returned from a military expedition or a hajj or an umra, he used to say three takbirs on every elevated part of the land, and then he used to say, "There is no god but Allah, alone, without partner. To Him belongs the Kingdom and to Him belongs the praise and He has power over everything. Returning, making tawba, serving, prostrating, praising our Lord. Allah has promised truly and given His slave victory and defeated the tribes alone."

I asked Um Ruman, `Aisha's mother about the accusation forged against `Aisha. She said, "While I was sitting with `Aisha, an Ansari woman came to us and said, 'Let Allah condemn such-and-such person.' I asked her, 'Why do you say so?' She replied, 'For he has spread the (slanderous) story.' `Aisha said, 'What story?' The woman then told her the story. `Aisha asked, 'Have Abu Bakr and Allah's Apostle heard about it ?' She said, 'Yes.' `Aisha fell down senseless (on hearing that), and when she came to her senses, she got fever and shaking of the body. The Prophet came and asked, 'What is wrong with her?' I said, 'She has got fever because of a story which has been rumored.' `Aisha got up and said, 'By Allah! Even if I took an oath, you would not believe me, and if I put forward an excuse, You would not excuse me. My example and your example is just like that example of Jacob and his sons. Against that which you assert, it is Allah (Alone) Whose Help can be sought.' (12.18) The Prophet left and then Allah revealed the Verses (concerning the matter), and on that `Aisha said, 'Thanks to Allah (only) and not to anybody else."

Allah's Apostle sent us (to fight) against Al-Huraqa (one of the sub-tribes) of Juhaina. We reached those people in the morning and defeated them. A man from the Ansar and I chased one of their men and when we attacked him, he said, "None has the right to be worshipped but Allah." The Ansari refrained from killing him but I stabbed him with my spear till I killed him. When we reached (Medina), this news reached the Prophet. He said to me, "O Usama! You killed him after he had said, 'None has the right to be worshipped but Allah?"' I said, "O Allah's Apostle! He said so in order to save himself." The Prophet said, "You killed him after he had said, 'None has the right to be worshipped but Allah." The Prophet kept on repeating that statement till I wished I had not been a Muslim before that day.

The Prophet; said, "A slave (of Allah) may utter a word which pleases Allah without giving it much importance, and because of that Allah will raise him to degrees (of reward): a slave (of Allah) may utter a word (carelessly) which displeases Allah without thinking of its gravity and because of that he will be thrown into the Hell-Fire."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Ismail from Ibn Abi Hakim that he had heard that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, heard a woman praying at night. He said, "Who is that?" and someone said to him,"It is al-Hawla bint Tuwayt, she does not sleep in the night." The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, disapproved of that and his disapproval showed in his face. Then he said, "Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, does not become weary, but you become weary. Take on whatever is within your capability."

The Messenger of Allah (saws) forbade to make a vow. He said: It has not effect against fate, it is only from the miserly that it is means by which something is extracted.

Musaddad said: The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: A vow does not avert anything (i.e. has no effect against fate).

On his father's authority, said that his grandfather reported the Messenger of Allah (saws) said: Anyone who practises medicine when he is not known as a practitioner will be held responsible.

Abu Dawud said: This has been transmitted by al-Walid alone. We do not know whether it is sound or not.

Abu Huraira said, "A man who drank wine was brought to the Prophet. The Prophet said, 'Beat him!" Abu Huraira added, "So some of us beat him with our hands, and some with their shoes, and some with their garments (by twisting it) like a lash, and then when we finished, someone said to him, 'May Allah disgrace you!' On that the Prophet said, 'Do not say so, for you are helping Satan to overpower him.' "

I will narrate to you a narration which nobody will narrate to you after me. I heard that from the Prophet. I heard the Prophet saying, "The Hour will not be established" or said: "From among the portents of the Hour is that the religious knowledge will betaken away (by the death of religious Scholars) and general ignorance (of religion) will appear; and the drinking of alcoholic drinks will be very common, and (open) illegal sexual intercourse will prevail, and men will decrease in number while women will increase so much so that, for fifty women there will only be one man to look after them."

The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: If anyone goes out from his house after performing ablution for saying the prescribed prayer in congregation (in the mosque), his reward will be like that of one who goes for hajj pilgrimage after wearing ihram (robe worn by the hajj pilgrims).

And he who goes out to say the mid-morning (duha) prayer, and takes the trouble for this purpose, will take the reward like that of a person who performs umrah. And a prayer followed by a prayer with no worldly talk during the gap between them will be recorded in Illiyyun.