We set out in the company of Allah's Apostle five days before the end of Dhul Qa'da intending to perform Hajj only. When we approached Mecca Allah's Apostle ordered those who did not have the Hadi (i.e. an animal for sacrifice) with them, to perform the Tawaf around the Ka`ba, and between Safa and Marwa and then finish their Ihram. Beef was brought to us on the day of (i.e. the days of slaughtering) and I asked, "What is this?" Somebody said, Allah's Apostle has slaughtered (a cow) on behalf of his wives."

The Messenger of Allah (saws) would be overtaken by the dawn when he was in a state of sexual defilement. The narrator 'Abd Allah al-Adhrami said in his version: During Ramadan, due to sexual intercourse and no owing to a dream (i.e. nocturnal emission), and would fast.

Abu Dawud said: How brief is this sentence uttered by the narrator, this is, "he was overtaken by daw when he was in the state of sexual defilement"? The tradition says: The Prophet (saws) was overtaken by dawn in the state of sexual defilement when he was fasting.

Hilal bin Umaiya accused his wife of committing illegal sexual intercourse with Sharik bin Sahma' and filed the case before the Prophet. The Prophet said (to Hilal), "Either you bring forth a proof (four witnesses) or you will receive the legal punishment (lashes) on your back." Hilal said, "O Allah's Apostle! If anyone of us saw a man over his wife, would he go to seek after witnesses?" The Prophet kept on saying, "Either you bring forth the witnesses or you will receive the legal punishment (lashes) on your back." Hilal then said, "By Him Who sent you with the Truth, I am telling the truth and Allah will reveal to you what will save my back from legal punishment." Then Gabriel came down and revealed to him:-- 'As for those who accuse their wives...' (24.6-9) The Prophet recited it till he reached: '... (her accuser) is telling the truth.' Then the Prophet left and sent for the woman, and Hilal went (and brought) her and then took the oaths (confirming the claim). The Prophet was saying, "Allah knows that one of you is a liar, so will any of you repent?" Then the woman got up and took the oaths and when she was going to take the fifth one, the people stopped her and said, "It (the fifth oath) will definitely bring Allah's curse on you (if you are guilty)." So she hesitated and recoiled (from taking the oath) so much that we thought that she would withdraw her denial. But then she said, "I will not dishonor my family all through these days," and carried on (the process of taking oaths). The Prophet then said, "Watch her; if she delivers a black-eyed child with big hips and fat shins then it is Sharik bin Sahma's child." Later she delivered a child of that description. So the Prophet said, "If the case was not settled by Allah's Law, I would punish her severely."

Mujahid said “I was with Ibn ‘Abbas”. A man came to him and said that he divorced his wife by three pronouncements. I kept silence and thought that he was going to restore het to him. He then said “A man goes and commits a foolish act and then says “O, Ibn ‘Abbas! Alaah has said “And for those who fear Allaah, He (ever) prepares a way out.” Since you did not keep duty to Allaah I do not find a way out for you. You disobeyed your Lord and your wife was separated from you. Allaah has said “O Prophet! When you divorce women divorce them in the beginning of their waiting period.”

Abu Dawud said “This tradition has been transmitted by Humaid Al A’raj and by others from Mujahid on the authority of Ibn ‘Abbas. Shu’bjh narrated it from ‘Amr bin Murrah from Sa’id bin Jubair on the authority of Ibn ‘Abbas. Ayyub and Ibn ‘Jubair both narrated it from “’Ikrimah bin Khalid from Sa’id bin Jubair on the authority of Ibn ‘Abbas. Ibn Juraij narrated it from ‘Abd Al Hamid bin Rafi’ from ‘Ata from Ibn ‘Abbas. Al A’mash narrated it from Malik bin Al Harith on the authority of Ibn ‘Abbas. They all said about the divorce by three pronouncements. He allowed it and said” (Your wife) has been separated from you similar to the tradition narrated by Isma’il from Ayub from ‘Abd Allaah bin Kathir.”

Abu Dawud said “Hammad bin Zaid narrated it from Ayyub from ‘Ikrimah on the authority of Ibn ‘Abbas. This version adds If he said “You are divorced three times saying in one pronouncement, it constitutes a single (divorce). Isma’il bin Ibrahim narrated it from Ayyub from ‘Ikrimah. This is his (‘Ikrimah’s) statement. He did not mention the name of Ibn ‘Abbas. He narrated it as a statement of ‘Ikrimah.”

That he heard the Prophet saying, "It is not permissible for a man to be alone with a woman, and no lady should travel except with a Muhram (i.e. her husband or a person whom she cannot marry in any case for ever; e.g. her father, brother, etc.)." Then a man got up and said, "O Allah's Apostle! I have enlisted in the army for such-and-such Ghazwa and my wife is proceeding for Hajj." Allah's Apostle said, "Go, and perform the Hajj with your wife."

Yahya said that Malik said, "The generally agreed on way of doing things in our community is that retaliation is taken from someone who breaks someone's hand or foot intentionally and not blood-money."

Malik said, "Retaliation is not inflicted on anyone until the wound of the injured party has healed. Then retaliation is inflicted on him. If the wound of the person on whom the retaliation has been inflicted is like the first person's wound when it heals, it is retaliation. If the wound of the one on whom the retaliation has been inflicted becomes worse or he dies, there is nothing held against the one who has taken retaliation. If the wound of the person on whom the retaliation has been inflicted heals and the injured party is paralysed or his injury has healed but he has a scar, defect, or blemish, the person on whom the retaliation has been inflicted does not have his hand broken again and further retaliation is not taken for his injury."

He said, "But there is blood-money from him according to what he has impaired or maimed of the hand of the injured party. The bodily injury is also like that."

Malik said, "When a man intentionally goes to his wife and gouges out her eye or breaks her hand or cuts off her finger or such like, and does it intentionally, retaliation is inflicted on him. As for a man who strikes his wife with a rope or a whip and hits what he did not mean to hit or does what he did not intend to do, he pays blood-money for what he has struck according to this principle, and retaliation is not inflicted on him."

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that Abu Bakr ibn Muhammd ibn Amr ibn Hazm took retaliation for the breaking of a leg.

The Prophet said, "If the wife of anyone of you asks permission to go to the mosque, he should not forbid her."

(the wife of the Prophet) When Allah's Apostle died, he was covered with a Hibra Burd (green square decorated garment).

Allah's Apostle called the salamander a bad animal, but I did not hear him ordering it to be killed."

The wives of Allah's Apostle were in two groups. One group consisted of `Aisha, Hafsa, Safiyya and Sauda; and the other group consisted of Um Salama and the other wives of Allah's Apostle. The Muslims knew that Allah's Apostle loved `Aisha, so if any of them had a gift and wished to give to Allah's Apostle, he would delay it, till Allah's Apostle had come to `Aisha's home and then he would send his gift to Allah's Apostle in her home. The group of Um Salama discussed the matter together and decided that Um Salama should request Allah's Apostle to tell the people to send their gifts to him in whatever wife's house he was. Um Salama told Allah's Apostle of what they had said, but he did not reply. Then they (those wives) asked Um Salama about it. She said, "He did not say anything to me." They asked her to talk to him again. She talked to him again when she met him on her day, but he gave no reply. When they asked her, she replied that he had given no reply. They said to her, "Talk to him till he gives you a reply." When it was her turn, she talked to him again. He then said to her, "Do not hurt me regarding Aisha, as the Divine Inspirations do not come to me on any of the beds except that of Aisha." On that Um Salama said, "I repent to Allah for hurting you." Then the group of Um Salama called Fatima, the daughter of Allah's Apostle and sent her to Allah's Apostle to say to him, "Your wives request to treat them and the daughter of Abu Bakr on equal terms." Then Fatima conveyed the message to him. The Prophet said, "O my daughter! Don't you love whom I love?" She replied in the affirmative and returned and told them of the situation. They requested her to go to him again but she refused. They then sent Zainab bint Jahsh who went to him and used harsh words saying, "Your wives request you to treat them and the daughter of Ibn Abu Quhafa on equal terms." On that she raised her voice and abused `Aisha to her face so much so that Allah's Apostle looked at `Aisha to see whether she would retort. `Aisha started replying to Zainab till she silenced her. The Prophet then looked at `Aisha and said, "She is really the daughter of Abu Bakr."

Once I was with the Prophet in the mosque at the time of sunset. The Prophet said, "O Abu Dharr! Do you know where the sun sets?" I replied, "Allah and His Apostle know best." He said, "It goes and prostrates underneath (Allah's) Throne; and that is Allah's Statement:-- 'And the sun runs on its fixed course for a term (decreed). And that is the decree of All-Mighty, the All-Knowing....' (36.38)

The Prophet said, "Allah loves sneezing but dislikes yawning; so if anyone of you sneezes and then praises Allah, every Muslim who hears him (praising Allah) has to say Tashmit to him. But as regards yawning, it is from Satan, so if one of you yawns, he should try his best to stop it, for when anyone of you yawns, Satan laughs at him."

The Prophet (saws) said: The most perfect believer in respect of faith is he who is best of them in manners.

Anas b. Malik reported that Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) was the best amongst people in disposition and behaviour.

This hadith has been narrated by Ibn 'Abbas on the authority of Maimuna. the wife of the Apostle (may peace be upon him), by another chain of transmitters.

For one year I wanted to ask `Umar about the two women who helped each other against the Prophet but I was afraid of him. One day he dismounted his riding animal and went among the trees of Arak to answer the call of nature, and when he returned, I asked him and he said, "(They were) `Aisha and Hafsa." Then he added, "We never used to give significance to ladies in the days of the Pre-lslamic period of ignorance, but when Islam came and Allah mentioned their rights, we used to give them their rights but did not allow them to interfere in our affairs. Once there was some dispute between me and my wife and she answered me back in a loud voice. I said to her, 'Strange! You can retort in this way?' She said, 'Yes. Do you say this to me while your daughter troubles Allah's Apostle?' So I went to Hafsa and said to her, 'I warn you not to disobey Allah and His Apostle.' I first went to Hafsa and then to Um Salama and told her the same. She said to me, 'O `Umar! It surprises me that you interfere in our affairs so much that you would poke your nose even into the affairs of Allah's Apostle and his wives.' So she rejected my advice. There was an Ansari man; whenever he was absent from Allah's Apostle and I was present there, I used to convey to him what had happened (on that day), and when I was absent and he was present there, he used to convey to me what had happened as regards news from Allah's Apostle . During that time all the rulers of the nearby lands had surrendered to Allah's Apostle except the king of Ghassan in Sham, and we were afraid that he might attack us. All of a sudden the Ansari came and said, 'A great event has happened!' I asked him, 'What is it? Has the Ghassani (king) come?' He said, 'Greater than that! Allah's Apostle has divorced his wives! I went to them and found all of them weeping in their dwellings, and the Prophet had ascended to an upper room of his. At the door of the room there was a slave to whom I went and said, "Ask the permission for me to enter." He admitted me and I entered to see the Prophet lying on a mat that had left its imprint on his side. Under his head there was a leather pillow stuffed with palm fires. Behold! There were some hides hanging there and some grass for tanning. Then I mentioned what I had said to Hafsa and Um Salama and what reply Um Salama had given me. Allah's Apostle smiled and stayed there for twenty nine days and then came down." (See Hadith No. 648, Vol. 3 for details)

Rifa`a Al-Qurazi divorced his wife irrevocably (i.e. that divorce was the final). Later on `Abdur- Rahman bin Az-Zubair married her after him. She came to the Prophet and said, "O Allah's Apostle! I was Rifa`a's wife and he divorced me thrice, and then I was married to `Abdur-Rahman bin AzZubair, who, by Allah has nothing with him except something like this fringe, O Allah's Apostle," showing a fringe she had taken from her covering sheet. Abu Bakr was sitting with the Prophet while Khalid Ibn Sa`id bin Al-As was sitting at the gate of the room waiting for admission. Khalid started calling Abu Bakr, "O Abu Bakr! Why don't you reprove this lady from what she is openly saying before Allah's Apostle?" Allah's Apostle did nothing except smiling, and then said (to the lady), "Perhaps you want to go back to Rifa`a? No, (it is not possible), unless and until you enjoy the sexual relation with him (`Abdur Rahman), and he enjoys the sexual relation with you."

The Messenger of Allah (saws) was brought some pieces of fine Egyptian linen and he gave me one and said: Divide it into two; cut one of the pieces into a shirt and give the other to your wife for veil. Then when he turned away, he said: And order your wife to wear a garment below it and not show her figure.

Abu Dawud said: Yahya b. Ayyub transmitted it and said: 'Abbas b. 'Ubaid Allah b. 'Abbas

When Allah's Apostle married Zainab bint Jahsh, he made the people eat meat and bread to their fill (by giving a Walima banquet). Then he went out to the dwelling places of the mothers of the believers (his wives), as he used to do in the morning of his marriage. He would greet them and invoke good on them, and they (too) would return his greeting and invoke good on him. When he returned to his house, he found two men talking to each other; and when he saw them, he went out of his house again. When those two men saw Allah's Apostle: going out of his house, they quickly got up (and departed). I do not remember whether I informed him of their departure, or he was informed (by somebody else). So he returned, and when he entered the house, he lowered the curtain between me and him. Then the Verse of Al-Hijab was revealed.

I then asked: Messenger of Allah, (what should we do), if the people are assembled together?

He replied: If it is within your power that no one looks at it, then no one should look at it.

I then asked: Messenger of Allah if one of us is alone, (what should he do)?

He replied: Allah is more entitled than people that bashfulness should be shown to him.

I stayed overnight in the house of my aunt Maimuna bint Al-Harith (the wife of the Prophet ) while the Prophet was there with her during her night turn. The Prophet offered the `Isha' prayer (in the mosque), returned home and after having prayed four rak`at, he slept. Later on he got up at night and then asked whether the boy (or he used a similar word) had slept? Then he got up for the prayer and I stood up by his left side but he made me stand to his right and offered five rak`at followed by two more rak`at. Then he slept and I heard him snoring and then (after a while) he left for the (Fajr) prayer.

Allah's Apostle said, "Fasting is a shield (or a screen or a shelter). So, the person observing fasting should avoid sexual relation with his wife and should not behave foolishly and impudently, and if somebody fights with him or abuses him, he should tell him twice, 'I am fasting." The Prophet added, "By Him in Whose Hands my soul is, the smell coming out from the mouth of a fasting person is better in the sight of Allah than the smell of musk. (Allah says about the fasting person), 'He has left his food, drink and desires for My sake. The fast is for Me. So I will reward (the fasting person) for it and the reward of good deeds is multiplied ten times."

The Messenger of Allah (saws) was with one of his wives. One of the Mothers of faithful sent a bowl containing food through a servant of hers. She struck with her hand and broke the bowl. Ibn al-Muthanna's version has: The Prophet (saws) took the pieces of the bowl, and joined one with the other, and began to collect the food in it, saying: Your mother is jealous. Ibn al-Muthanna added: Eat. They ate till a bowl of the one in whose house he was brought.

Abu Dawud said: We then returned to the version of the tradition of Musaddad: He said: Eat. He detained the servant and the bowl till they were free. Then he returned the sound bowl to the messenger and detained the broken one (bowl) in his house.

Allah's Apostle owed a man some debt (and that man demanded it very harshly). The companions of the Prophet wanted to harm him, but the Prophet said to them, "Leave him, as the creditor has the right to speak harshly." He then added, "Buy (a camel) of the same age and give it to him." They said, "We cannot get except a camel of an older age than that of his." He said, "Buy it and give it to him, as the best amongst you is he who pays back his debt in the most handsome way.'

The 'Prophet was the best and the bravest amongst the people. Once the people of Medina got terrified at night, so they went in the direction of the noise (that terrified them). The Prophet met them (on his way back) after he had found out the truth. He was riding an unsaddled horse belonging to Abu Talha and a sword was hanging by his neck, and he was saying, "Don't be afraid! Don't be afraid!" He further said, "I found it (i.e. the horse) very fast," or said, "This horse is very fast." (Qastala-ni)

Let the best among you call the adhan for you, and the Qur'an-readers act as your imams.

27 Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that Umar ibn al-Khattab, if he was travelling in Ramadan and knew that he would reach Madina at the begining of the day ,would do so fasting.

Yahya said that Malik said, "Someone who is travelling and knows that he will be reaching his people in the first part of the day, and then dawn breaks before he gets there, should be fasting when he gets there."

Malik said, "Someone who intends to go away (on a journey) in Ramadan, and then dawn breaks while he is still on his land before he has left, should fast that day."

Malik said that a man who returns from a journey in Ramadan and is not fasting may have sexual intercourse with his wife if he wishes, if she is not fasting and she has just become pure after her menses.

One day Allah's Apostle narrated to us a long narration about Ad-Dajjal and among the things he narrated to us, was: "Ad-Dajjal will come, and he will be forbidden to enter the mountain passes of Medina. He will encamp in one of the salt areas neighboring Medina and there will appear to him a man who will be the best or one of the best of the people. He will say 'I testify that you are Ad-Dajjal whose story Allah's Apostle has told us.' Ad-Dajjal will say (to his audience), 'Look, if I kill this man and then give him life, will you have any doubt about my claim?' They will reply, 'No,' Then Ad- Dajjal will kill that man and then will make him alive. The man will say, 'By Allah, now I recognize you more than ever!' Ad-Dajjal will then try to kill him (again) but he will not be given the power to do so."

Allah's Apostle told us a long narrative about Ad-Dajjal, and among the many things he mentioned, was his saying, "Ad-Dajjal will come and it will be forbidden for him to pass through the entrances of Medina. He will land in some of the salty barren areas (outside) Medina; on that day the best man or one of the best men will come up to him and say, 'I testify that you are the same Dajjal whose description was given to us by Allah's Apostle .' Ad-Dajjal will say to the people, 'If I kill this man and bring him back to life again, will you doubt my claim?' They will say, 'No.' Then Ad-Dajjal will kill that man and bring him back to life. That man will say, 'Now I know your reality better than before.' Ad-Dajjal will say, 'I want to kill him but I cannot.' "

Yahya related to me from Malik from Abd ar-Rahman ibn al-Qasim from his father that A'isha, the wife of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to say in the tashahhud, "Greetings, good words, prayers, pure actions belong to Allah. I testify that there is no god except Allah, alone without partner, and that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger. Peace be on you, Prophet, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. Peace be on us and on the slaves of Allah who are salihun. Peace be upon you."

"At-tahiyatu, at- tayibatu, as-salawatu, az-zakiyatu lillah. Ash-hadu an la ilaha illa'llah, wahdahu la sharika lah wa anna Muhammadan abduhu wa rasuluhu. As-salamu alayka ayyuha-n-nabiyyu wa rahmatu-llahi wa barakatuhu. As-salamu alayna wa ala ibadi-llahi's-salihin. As-salamu alaykum."