"When the Mu'adh-dhin pronounced the Adhan, some of the companions of the Prophet would proceed to the pillars of the mosque (for the prayer) till the Prophet arrived and in this way they used to pray two rak`at before the Maghrib prayer. There used to be a little time between the Adhan and the Iqama." Shu`ba said, "There used to be a very short interval between the two (Adhan and Iqama).

"The Prophet forbade praying after the Fajr prayer till the sun rises and after the `Asr prayer till the sun sets."

Narrated Ibn `Abbas:

Some people told me the same narration (as above).

From Hud bin 'Abdullah bin Sa'd, from his grandfather Mazidah, who said: "The Messenger of Allah (saws) on the Day of the Conquest and there was gold and silver on his sword." Talib said: "So I asked him about the silver and he said: 'The hand-guard of his sword was of silver.'"

[Abu 'Eisa said:] There is something on this topic form Anas. This Hadith is Hasan Gharib. Hud's (great) grandfather's name is Mazidah Al-'Asari.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Yahya ibn Said from Abd ar- Rahman ibn Hurmuz that Abdullah ibn Buhayna said, "The Messengerof Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, prayed dhuhr with us and he stood straight up after two rakas without sitting. When he had finished the prayer, he did two sajdas and then said the taslim after that."

Malik said, concerning someone who forgot in his prayer and stood up after he had completed four rakas and recited and then went into ruku and then, when he raised his head from ruku, remembered that he had already completed (his prayer), "He returns to a sitting position and does not do any sajda. If he has already done one sajda I do not think he should do the other. Then when his prayer is finished he does two sajdas from the sitting position after saying the taslim."

The Prophet heard a man praising another man and he was exaggerating in his praise. The Prophet said (to him). "You have destroyed (or cut) the back of the man."

"I saw the Prophet on the day when he went out to offer the Istisqa' prayer. He turned his back towards the people and faced the Qibla and asked Allah for rain. Then he turned his cloak inside out and led us in a two rak`at prayer and recited the Qur'an aloud in them."

Ibn `Umar said, "Allah's Apostle used to pray the Nawafil on the back of his Mount (carriage) by signs facing any direction." Ibn `Umar used to do the same.

The Prophet never missed four rak`at before the Zuhr prayer and two rak`at before the Fajr prayer.

'Abdullah b. 'Amir b. Rabi'a has reported on the authority of his father that he had seen the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) observing Nafl player at night on a journey on the back of his ride in whichever direction it turned its face.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Abu'z-Zinad from al-Araj from Abu Hurayra that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "By Him in whose hand myself is! To take your rope and gather firewood on your back is better for you than that you come to a man to whom Allah has given some of His favour and ask him, so he gives to you or refuses."

The Prophet (saws) saw a person offering prayer, and on the back of his foot a small part equal to the space of a dirham remained unwashed; the water did not reach it. The Prophet (saws) commanded him to repeat the ablution and prayer.

The Messenger of Allah (saws) had himself cupped on the surface of his foot because of a pain in it while he was in the sacred state (wearing ihram).

Abu Dawud said: I heard Ahmad say: "Ibn Abi 'Arubah narrated it in Mursal form". Meaning from Qatadah.

The Prophet (saws) as saying: The milk of milch camels may be drunk for payment when in pledge, and the animal may be ridden for payment when it is pledge; payment being made by the one who rides and the one who drinks.

Abu Dawud said: In our opinion this is correct.

That he heard Allah's Apostle on raising his head from the bowing in the last rak`a in the Fajr prayer, saying, "O Allah, curse such-and-such person and such-and-such person, and such-and-such person," after saying, "Allah hears him who sends his praises to Him, O our Lord, all praise is for you." So Allah revealed:--"Not for you (O Muhammad) (but for Allah) is the decision, verily they are indeed wrongdoers." (3.128)

The Prophet said, "The call (or the Adhan) of Bilal should not stop you from taking the Suhur-meals for Bilal calls (or pronounces the Adhan) so that the one who is offering the night prayer should take a rest, and he does not indicate the daybreak or dawn." The narrator, Yazid, described (how dawn breaks) by stretching out his hands and then separating them wide apart.

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."

The Prophet said, "Whoever has (the following) four characters will be a hypocrite, and whoever has one of the following four characteristics will have one characteristic of hypocrisy until he gives it up. These are: (1 ) Whenever he talks, he tells a lie; (2) whenever he makes a promise, he breaks it; (3) whenever he makes a covenant he proves treacherous; (4) and whenever he quarrels, he behaves impudently in an evil insulting manner." (See Hadith No. 33 Vol. 1)

Allah's Apostle said, "Whoever has (the following) four characteristics will be a pure hypocrite: "If he speaks, he tells a lie; if he gives a promise, he breaks it, if he makes a covenant he proves treacherous; and if he quarrels, he behaves in a very imprudent evil insulting manner (unjust). And whoever has one of these characteristics, has one characteristic of a hypocrite, unless he gives it us."

They (the Companions of the Prophet) wiped with pure earth (their hands and face) to offer the dawn prayer in the company of the Messenger of Allah (saws). They struck the ground with their palms and wiped their faces once. Then they repeated and struck the ground with their palms once again and wiped their arms completely up to the shoulders and up to the armpits with the inner side of their hands.

When the Prophet said, "Sami' al-lahu liman hamidah (Allah heard him who sent his praises to Him)" in the last rak`a of the `Isha' prayer, he used to invoke Allah, saying, "O Allah! Save `Aiyash bin Abi Rabi`a; O Allah! Save Al-Walid bin Al-Walid; O Allah! Save the weak people among the believers; O Allah! Be hard on the Tribe of Mudar; O Allah! Inflict years of drought upon them like the years (of drought) of the Prophet Joseph."

Allah's Apostle said, "By Him in Whose Hand my soul is I was about to order for collecting firewood (fuel) and then order Someone to pronounce the Adhan for the prayer and then order someone to lead the prayer then I would go from behind and burn the houses of men who did not present themselves for the (compulsory congregational) prayer. By Him, in Whose Hands my soul is, if anyone of them had known that he would get a bone covered with good meat or two (small) pieces of meat present in between two ribs, he would have turned up for the `Isha' prayer.'

The Companions of the Prophet (saws) said: Messenger of Allah (saws) we eat but we are not satisfied. He said: Perhaps you eat separately. They replied: Yes. He said: If you gather together at your food and mention Allah's name, you will be blessed in it.

Abu Dawud said: If you are invited to a wedding feast before you, do not take it until the owner of the house (i.e. the host) allows you (to eat).

Malik said, "The imam does not come down and prostrate when he recites a piece of Qur'an requiring a prostration while he is on the mimbar."

Malik said, "The position with us is that there are eleven prescribed prostrations in the Qur'an, none of which are in the mufassal."

Malik said, "No-one should recite any of the pieces of Qur'an that require a prostration after the prayers of subh and asr. This is because the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, forbade prayer after subh until after the sun had risen, and after asr until the sun had set, and prostration is part of the prayer. So no-one should recite any piece of Qur'an requiring a prostration during these two periods of time."

Malik was asked whether a menstruating woman could prostrate if she heard some-one reciting a passage of Qur'an requiring a prostration, and he said, "Neither a man nor a woman should prostrate unless they are ritually pure."

Malik was asked whether a man in the company of a woman who was reciting a passage of Qur'an requiring a prostration should prostrate with her, and he said, "He does not have to prostrate with her. The prostration is only obligatory for people who are with a man who is leading them. He recites the piece and they prostrate with him. Some one who hears a piece of Qur'an that requires a prostration being recited by a man who is not leading him in prayer does not have to do the prostration."

I heard the Prophet and listened to him before his death while he was leaning his back on me and saying, "O Allah! Forgive me, and bestow Your Mercy on me, and let me meet the (highest) companions (of the Hereafter)."

(See the Qur'an (4:69) and Hadith #4435)

Once we provoked a rabbit at Marr-az-Zahran. The people chased it till they got tired. Then I caught It and brought it to Abu Talha, who slaughtered it and then sent both its pelvic pieces (or legs) to the Prophet, and the Prophet accepted the present.

Once Allah's Apostle offered five rak`at in the Zuhr prayer, and somebody asked him whether there was some increase in the prayer. Allah's Apostle said, "What is that?" He said, "You have offered five rak`at." So Allah's Apostle performed two prostrations of Sahu after Taslim.

The Prophet heard someone praising another and exaggerating in his praise. The Prophet said, "You have ruined or cut the man's back (by praising him so much).

When the Messenger of Allah (saws) halted at a certain place (while on a journey), he would not leave that place till he offered the noon prayer. A man said to him: Even if in the middle of the day? He replied: Even if in the middle of the day.

Allah's Apostle proceeded from `Arafat and dismounted at the mountainous pass and then urinated and performed a light ablution. I said to him, "(Shall we offer) the prayer?" He replied, "The prayer is ahead of you (i.e. at Al-Muzdalifa)." When he came to Al-Muzdalifa, he performed a perfect ablution. Then Iqama for the prayer was pronounced and he offered the Maghrib prayer and then every person made his camel kneel at his place; and then Iqama for the prayer was pronounced and he offered the (`Isha') prayer and he did not offer any prayer in between them (i.e. Maghrib and `Isha' prayers).

The Messenger of Allah (saws) used to prolong the recitation of the Qur'an in the two rak'ahs after the sunset prayer until the people praying in the mosque dispersed.

Abu Dawud said: This has been reported by Nasr al-Mujaddir from Ya'qub al-Qummi with the same chain of narrators.

Abu Dawud said: Muhammad b. 'Isa b. al-tabba' transmitted from Nasr al-Mujaddir from Ya'qub in like manner.

While the Prophet was prostrating, surrounded by some of Quraish, `Uqba bin Abi Mu'ait brought the intestines (i.e. Abdominal contents) of a camel and put them over the back of the Prophet. The Prophet did not raise his head, (till) Fatima, came and took it off his back and cursed the one who had done the harm. The Prophet said, "O Allah! Destroy the chiefs of Quraish, Abu Jahl bin Hisham, `Utba bin Rabi`al, Shaba bin Rabi`a, Umaiya bin Khalaf or Ubai bin Khalaf." (The sub-narrator Shu`ba, is not sure of the last name.) I saw these people killed on the day of Badr battle and thrown in the well except Umaiya or Ubai whose body parts were mutilated but he was not thrown in the well.

I offered the `Asr prayer behind the Prophet at Medina. When he had finished the prayer with Taslim, he got up hurriedly and went out by crossing the rows of the people to one of the dwellings of his wives. The people got scared at his speed . The Prophet came back and found the people surprised at his haste and said to them, "I remembered a piece of gold Lying in my house and I did not like it to divert my attention from Allah's worship, so I have ordered it to be distributed (in charity).

The Prophet (saws) said: Friday is divided into twelve hours. Amongst them there is an hour in which a Muslim does not ask Allah for anything but He gives it to him. So seek it in the last hour after the afternoon prayer.