who was one of those who used to write the Divine Revelation: Abu Bakr sent for me after the (heavy) casualties among the warriors (of the battle) of Yamama (where a great number of Qurra' were killed). `Umar was present with Abu Bakr who said, `Umar has come to me and said, The people have suffered heavy casualties on the day of (the battle of) Yamama, and I am afraid that there will be more casualties among the Qurra' (those who know the Qur'an by heart) at other battle-fields, whereby a large part of the Qur'an may be lost, unless you collect it. And I am of the opinion that you should collect the Qur'an." Abu Bakr added, "I said to `Umar, 'How can I do something which Allah's Apostle has not done?' `Umar said (to me), 'By Allah, it is (really) a good thing.' So `Umar kept on pressing, trying to persuade me to accept his proposal, till Allah opened my bosom for it and I had the same opinion as `Umar." (Zaid bin Thabit added:) `Umar was sitting with him (Abu Bakr) and was not speaking. me). "You are a wise young man and we do not suspect you (of telling lies or of forgetfulness): and you used to write the Divine Inspiration for Allah's Apostle. Therefore, look for the Qur'an and collect it (in one manuscript). " By Allah, if he (Abu Bakr) had ordered me to shift one of the mountains (from its place) it would not have been harder for me than what he had ordered me concerning the collection of the Qur'an. I said to both of them, "How dare you do a thing which the Prophet has not done?" Abu Bakr said, "By Allah, it is (really) a good thing. So I kept on arguing with him about it till Allah opened my bosom for that which He had opened the bosoms of Abu Bakr and `Umar. So I started locating Qur'anic material and collecting it from parchments, scapula, leaf-stalks of date palms and from the memories of men (who knew it by heart). I found with Khuza`ima two Verses of Surat-at-Tauba which I had not found with anybody else, (and they were):-- "Verily there has come to you an Apostle (Muhammad) from amongst yourselves. It grieves him that you should receive any injury or difficulty He (Muhammad) is ardently anxious over you (to be rightly guided)" (9.128) The manuscript on which the Qur'an was collected, remained with Abu Bakr till Allah took him unto Him, and then with `Umar till Allah took him unto Him, and finally it remained with Hafsa, `Umar's daughter.

I heard the Prophet saying, "On the Day of Resurrection I will intercede and say, "O my Lord! Admit into Paradise (even) those who have faith equal to a mustard seed in their hearts." Such people will enter Paradise, and then I will say, 'O (Allah) admit into Paradise (even) those who have the least amount of faith in their hearts." Anas then said: As if I were just now looking at the fingers of Allah's Apostle.

You offer a prayer which I did not see being offered by Allah's Apostle when we were in his company and he certainly had forbidden it (i.e. two rak`at after the `Asr prayer).

Allah's Apostle did not screen himself from me since my embracing Islam, and whenever he saw me he would receive me with a smile. Once I told him that I could not sit firm on horses. He stroke me on the chest with his hand and said, "O Allah! Make him firm and make him a guiding and a rightly guided man."

The Prophet was of a modest height. I saw him wearing a red suit, and I did not see anything better than him.

Allah's Apostle said, "When the people of Paradise have entered Paradise, and the people of the Fire have entered the Fire, Allah will say. 'Take out (of the Fire) whoever has got faith equal to a mustard seed in his heart.' They will come out, and by that time they would have burnt and became like coal, and then they will be thrown into the river of Al-Hayyat (life) and they will spring up just as a seed grows on the bank of a rainwater stream." The Prophet said, "Don't you see that the germinating seed comes out yellow and twisted?"

The Prophet said, "Seventy-thousand or seven-hundred thousand of my followers (the narrator is in doubt as to the correct number) will enter Paradise holding each other till the first and the last of them enter Paradise at the same time, and their faces will have a glitter like that of the moon at night when it is full."

The husband of a lady died and her eyes became sore and the people mentioned her story to the Prophet They asked him whether it was permissible for her to use kohl as her eyes were exposed to danger. He said, "Previously, when one of you was bereaved by a husband she would stay in her dirty clothes in a bad unhealthy house (for one year), and when a dog passed by, she would throw a globe of dung. No, (she should observe the prescribed period Idda) for four months and ten days.'

Two ladies (had a fight) and one of them hit the other with a stone on the `Abdomen and caused her to abort. The Prophet judged that the victim be given either a slave or a female slave (as blood-money). Narrated Ibn Shihab: Sa`id bin Al-Musayyab said, "Allah's Apostle judged that in case of child killed in the womb of its mother, the offender should give the mother a slave or a female slave in recompense The offender said, How can I be fined for killing one who neither ate nor drank, neither spoke nor cried: a case like that should be denied ' On that Allah's Apostle said 'He is one of the brothers of the foretellers

that he heard Ibn `Abbas saying, "If a man makes his wife unlawful for him, it does not mean that she is divorced." He added, "Indeed in the Apostle of Allah , you have a good example to follow."

The Prophet heard a reciter reciting, the Qur'an in the mosque at night. The Prophet said, "May Allah bestow His Mercy on him, as he has remind ed me of such-and-such Verses of such and-such Suras, which I missed!"

Allah's Apostle stood up for the prayer and we too stood up along with him. Then a bedouin shouted while offering prayer. "O Allah! Bestow Your Mercy on me and Muhammad only and do not bestow it on anybody else along with us." When the Prophet had finished his prayer with Taslim, he said to the Bedouin, "You have limited (narrowed) a very vast (thing)," meaning Allah's Mercy.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Hisham ibn Urwa that his father used to be cupped while he was fasting and he would not then break his fast. Hisham added, "I only ever saw him being cupped when he was fasting."

Malik said, "Cupping is only disapproved of for some one who is fasting out of fear that he will become weak and if it were not for that, it would not be disapproved of. I do not think that a man who is cupped in Ramadan and does not break his fast, owes anything, and I do not say that he has to make up for the day on which he was cupped, because cupping is only disapproved of for someone fasting if his fast is endangered. I do not think that someone who is cupped, and is then well enough to keep the fast until evening, owes anything, nor does he have to make up for that day."

Muawiya said (to the people), "You offer a prayer which we, who were the companions of the Prophet never saw the Prophet offering, and he forbade its offering," i.e. the two rak`at after the compulsory `Asr prayer.

The Prophet said, "(The people will be thrown into Hell ( Fire) and it will keep on saying, 'Is there any more?' till the Lord of the worlds puts His Foot over it, whereupon its different sides will come close to each other, and it will say, 'Qad! Qad! (enough! enough!) By Your 'Izzat (Honor and Power) and YOUR KARAM (Generosity)!' Paradise will remain spacious enough to accommodate more people until Allah will create some more people and let them dwell in the superfluous space of Paradise. "

The Prophet said, "When the people of Paradise will enter Paradise and the people of Hell will go to Hell, Allah will order those who have had faith equal to the weight of a grain of mustard seed to be taken out from Hell. So they will be taken out but (by then) they will be blackened (charred). Then they will be put in the river of Haya' (rain) or Hayat (life) (the Narrator is in doubt as to which is the right term), and they will revive like a grain that grows near the bank of a flood channel. Don't you see that it comes out yellow and twisted"