We came to the Prophet and stayed with him for twenty days and nights. We were all young and of about the same age. The Prophet was very kind and merciful. When he realized our longing for our families, he asked about our homes and the people there and we told him. Then he asked us to go back to our families and stay with them and teach them (the religion) and to order them to do good things. He also mentioned some other things which I have (remembered or [??] ) forgotten. The Prophet then added, "Pray as you have seen me praying and when it is the time for the prayer one of you should pronounce the Adhan and the oldest of you should lead the prayer.

Once the Prophet was narrating (a story), while a bedouin was sitting with him. "One of the inhabitants of Paradise will ask Allah to allow him to cultivate the land. Allah will ask him, 'Are you not living in the pleasures you like?' He will say, 'Yes, but I like to cultivate the land.' " The Prophet added, "When the man (will be permitted he) will sow the seeds and the plants will grow up and get ripe, ready for reaping and so on till it will be as huge as mountains within a wink. Allah will then say to him, 'O son of Adam! Take here you are, gather (the yield); nothing satisfies you.' " On that, the bedouin said, "The man must be either from Quraish (i.e. an emigrant) or an Ansari, for they are farmers, whereas we are not farmers." The Prophet smiled (at this).

That `Aisha the wife of the Prophet told her uncle that once, while the Prophet was in her house, she heard a man asking Hafsa's permission to enter her house. `Aisha said, "I said, 'O Allah's Apostle! I think the man is Hafsa's foster uncle.' " `Aisha added, "O Allah's Apostle! There is a man asking the permission to enter your house." Allah's Apostle replied, "I think the man is Hafsa's foster uncle." `Aisha said, "If so-and-so were living (i.e. her foster uncle) would he be allowed to visit me?" Allah's Apostle said, "Yes, he would, as the foster relations are treated like blood relations (in marital affairs).

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that al-Qasim ibn Muhammad and Nafi, the mawla of Abdullah ibn Umar said, "You cannot do itikaf unless you are fasting, because of what Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, says in His Book, 'And eat and drink until the white thread becomes clear to you from the black thread of dawn, then complete the fast until night-time, and do not have intercourse with them while you are doing itikaf in mosques,' (Sura 2 ayat 187). Allah only mentions itikaf together with fasting."

Malik said, "That is what we go by here."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Hisham ibn Urwa from his father that Umar ibn al-Khattab said to the corner of the Black Stone while he was doing tawaf of the House, "You are only a stone, and if I had not seen the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, kiss you, I would not do so." Then he kissed it.

Malik said, "I have heard some of the people of knowledge recommending someone doing tawaf of the House to put his hand to his mouth when he takes it from the Yamani corner."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi that Salim ibn Abdullah ibn Umar informed him that A'isha umm al-muminin sent him away while he was being nursed to her sister Umm Kulthum bint Abi Bakr as-Siddiq and said, "Suckle him ten times so that he can come in to see me."

Salim said, "Umm Kulthum nursed me three times and then fell ill, so that she only nursed me three times. I could not go in to see A'isha because Umm Kulthum did not finish for me the ten times."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi that Abdullah ibn Umar, if he wished to sleep or eat while junub, would wash his face, and his arms to the elbows, and wipe his head. Then he would eat or sleep.

2.20 The Repetition of the Prayer by a Person in a State of Major Ritual Impurity, his Doing Ghusl, when He has Prayed without Remembering it, and his Washing his Garments.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi that Abdullah ibn Umar used to recite in all four rakas as when he prayed alone - in every raka the umm al-Qur'an and another sura from the Qur'an. Sometimes he would recite two or three suras in one raka in the obligatory prayer. Similarly, he recited the umm al-Qur'an and two suras in the first two rakas of maghrib.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi from Ibn Umar that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to pray two rakas before dhuhr and two rakas after it, two rakas after maghrib, in his house, and two rakas after isha. He did not pray after jumua until he had left, and then he prayed two rakas.

Ibn `Abbas said to us, "Shall I tell you the story of Abu Dhar's conversion to Islam?" We said, "Yes." He said, "Abu Dhar said: I was a man from the tribe of Ghifar. We heard that a man had appeared in Mecca, claiming to be a Prophet. ! said to my brother, 'Go to that man and talk to him and bring me his news.' He set out, met him and returned. I asked him, 'What is the news with you?' He said, 'By Allah, I saw a man enjoining what is good and forbidding what is evil.' I said to him, 'You have not satisfied me with this little information.' So, I took a waterskin and a stick and proceeded towards Mecca. Neither did I know him (i.e. the Prophet ), nor did I like to ask anyone about him. I Kept on drinking Zam zam water and staying in the Mosque. Then `Ali passed by me and said, 'It seems you are a stranger?' I said, 'Yes.' He proceeded to his house and I accompanied him. Neither did he ask me anything, nor did I tell him anything. Next morning I went to the Mosque to ask about the Prophet but no-one told me anything about him. `Ali passed by me again and asked, 'Hasn't the man recognized his dwelling place yet' I said, 'No.' He said, 'Come along with me.' He asked me, 'What is your business? What has brought you to this town?' I said to him, 'If you keep my secret, I will tell you.' He said, 'I will do,' I said to him, 'We have heard that a person has appeared here, claiming to be a Prophet. I sent my brother to speak to him and when he returned, he did not bring a satisfactory report; so I thought of meeting him personally.' `Ali said (to Abu Dhar), 'You have reached your goal; I am going to him just now, so follow me, and wherever I enter, enter after me. If I should see someone who may cause you trouble, I will stand near a wall pretending to mend my shoes (as a warning), and you should go away then.' `Ali proceeded and I accompanied him till he entered a place, and I entered with him to the Prophet to whom I said, 'Present (the principles of) Islam to me.' When he did, I embraced Islam 'immediately. He said to me, 'O Abu Dhar! Keep your conversion as a secret and return to your town; and when you hear of our victory, return to us. ' I said, 'By H him Who has sent you with the Truth, I will announce my conversion to Islam publicly amongst them (i.e. the infidels),' Abu Dhar went to the Mosque, where some people from Quraish were present, and said, 'O folk of Quraish ! I testify that None has the right to be worshipped except Allah, and I (also) testify that Muhammad is Allah's Slave and His Apostle.' (Hearing that) the Quraishi men said, 'Get at this Sabi (i.e. Muslim) !' They got up and beat me nearly to death. Al `Abbas saw me and threw himself over me to protect me. He then faced them and said, 'Woe to you! You want to kill a man from the tribe of Ghifar, although your trade and your communications are through the territory of Ghifar?' They therefore left me. The next morning I returned (to the Mosque) and said the same as I have said on the previous day. They again said, 'Get at this Sabi!' I was treated in the same way as on the previous day, and again Al-Abbas found me and threw himself over me to protect me and told them the same as he had said the day before.' So, that was the conversion of Abu Dhar (may Allah be Merciful to him) to Islam."

Wa'il said: Tariq ibn Suwayd or Suwayd ibn Tariq asked the Prophet (saws) about wine, but he forbade it. He again asked him, but he forbade him. He said to him: Prophet of Allah, it is a medicine. The Prophet (saws) said: No it is a disease.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Said ibn Abi Said al-Maqburi that Ubayd ibn Jurayj once said to Abdullah ibn Umar, "Abu Abd ar- Rahman, I have seen you doing four things which I have never seen any of your companions doing." He said, "What are they, Ibn Jurayj?" and he replied, "I have seen you touching only the twoYamani corners, I have seen you wearing hairless sandals, I have seen you using yellow dye, and, when you were at Makka and everybody had started doing talbiya after seeing the new moon, I saw that you did not do so until the eighth of Dhu'l-Hijja."

Abdullah ibn Umar replied, "As for the corners, I only ever saw the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, touching the two Yamani corners. As for the sandals, I saw the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, wearing hairless sandals and doing wudu in them, and I like wearing them. As for using yellow dye, I saw the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, using it, and I also like to use it for dyeing things with. As for doing talbiya, I never saw the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, begin doing so until he had set out on the animal he was riding on (i.e. for Mina and Arafa)."

I went to Allah's Apostle in the year of the conquest of Mecca and found him taking a bath while Fatima was screening him. The Prophet asked, "Who is it?" I replied, "I am Um-Hani."

A man asked Anas, "What did you hear from the Prophet about garlic?" He said, "The Prophet said, 'Whoever has eaten this plant should neither come near us nor pray with us."

Allah's Apostle said, "This branch from Quraish will ruin the people." The companions of the Prophet asked, "What do you order us to do (then)?" He said, "I would suggest that the people keep away from them.''

In my presence, Usama was asked about the speed of the Prophet during his Hajj. He replied, "It was Al-`Anaq (i.e. moderate easy speed) and if he encountered an open space, he used to increase his speed."

Anas was asked, "How was the recitation (of the Qur'an) of the Prophet?' He replied, "It was characterized by the prolongation of certain sounds." He then recited: In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful prolonging the pronunciation of 'In the Name of Allah, 'the most Beneficent,' and 'the Most Merciful.

The Prophet asked Abu Bakr for `Aisha's hand in marriage. Abu Bakr said "But I am your brother." The Prophet said, "You are my brother in Allah's religion and His Book, but she (Aisha) is lawful for me to marry."

Anas was asked whether the Prophet (saws) used a a hair dye or not. He replied, "The Prophet (saws) did not have enough grey hair to dye, (such that) if I wanted to count the fading hairs in his beard (I could have)."