Al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba reported that a man said, "May Allah make the amir thrive! Your chamberlain recognises certain men and gives them preference in permission to enter." He said, "May Allah excuse him! Recognition is beneficial (dealing) with a vicious dog and attacking camel."

"I could not find the Messenger of Allah one night. So I left and found him at Al-Baqi. He said: 'Did you fear that you had been wronged by Allah and His Messenger?' I said: 'O Messenger of Allah! I thought that you had gone to one of your wives.' So he said: 'Indeed Allah, Mighty and Sublime is He, descends to the lowest Heavens during the night of the middle of Sha'ban, to grant forgiveness to more than the number of hairs on the sheep of (Banu) Kalb.'"

In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. From Muhammad, God’s servant and Messenger, to Hiraql1 chief of the Byzantines. Peace be to those who follow the guidance. To proceed: I send you the summons to accept Islam (bi da'iyat al-islam). If you accept Islam you will be safe, and if you accept Islam God will bring you your reward twofold; but if you turn away you will be guilty of the sin of your followers (al-arisiyin).2 “0 people of the Book, come to a word which is common between us and you, that we should worship only God, not attribute any partner to Him, or take one another as lords apart from God. But if they turn away say, Testify that we are Muslims."3 1. Heraclius. 2. Arisi means a tiller of the soil, but is here used as a general reference to the common people who will follow his example. 3. Al-Qur’an; 3:64. (Bukhari and Muslim.) A version by Muslim has “From Muhammad God’s Messenger," “the sin of al-yarisiyin” and bi-di'ayat al-islam.

I heard the Prophet (saws) say: The angels do not enter a house which contains a dog or a picture. Zaid b. Khalid al-Juhani said to Sa'id b. Yasar al-Ansari, the transmitter of this tradition: Go with me to 'Aishah, Mother of Faithful, so that we ask about it. So we went and said to her: Mother of Faithful, Abu Talhah has transmitted to us a tradition so-and-so. Have you heard the Prophet (saws) mentioning that ? She replied: No but I tell what I saw him doing. The Messenger of Allah (saws) went on an expedition and I was waiting for his return. I got a carpet which I hung as a screen on a stick over the door. When he came I received him and said: Peace be upon you, Messenger of Allah, His mercy and His blessings. Praise to be Allah Who gave you dominance and respect. Then he looked at the house and saw the carpet; and he did not respond to me at all. I found (signs of) disapproval in his face. He then came to the carpet and tore it down. He then said: Allah has not commanded us to clothe stones and clay out of the sustenance He has given us. She said: I then cut it to pieces and made two pillows out of it and stuffed them with palm fibre, and he did not disapprove of it to me.