The Prophet said, "While three persons were walking, rain began to fall and they had to enter a cave in a mountain. A big rock rolled over and blocked the mouth of the cave. They said to each other, 'Invoke Allah with the best deed you have performed (so Allah might remove the rock)'. One of them said, 'O Allah! My parents were old and I used to go out for grazing (my animals). On my return I would milk (the animals) and take the milk in a vessel to my parents to drink. After they had drunk from it, I would give it to my children, family and wife. One day I was delayed and on my return I found my parents sleeping, and I disliked to wake them up. The children were crying at my feet (because of hunger). That state of affairs continued till it was dawn. O Allah! If You regard that I did it for Your sake, then please remove this rock so that we may see the sky.' So, the rock was moved a bit. The second said, 'O Allah! You know that I was in love with a cousin of mine, like the deepest love a man may have for a woman, and she told me that I would not get my desire fulfilled unless I paid her one-hundred Dinars (gold pieces). So, I struggled for it till I gathered the desired amount, and when I sat in between her legs, she told me to be afraid of Allah, and asked me not to deflower her except rightfully (by marriage). So, I got up and left her. O Allah! If You regard that I did if for Your sake, kindly remove this rock.' So, two-thirds of the rock was removed. Then the third man said, 'O Allah! No doubt You know that once I employed a worker for one Faraq (three Sa's) of millet, and when I wanted to pay him, he refused to take it, so I sowed it and from its yield I bought cows and a shepherd. After a time that man came and demanded his money. I said to him: Go to those cows and the shepherd and take them for they are for you. He asked me whether I was joking with him. I told him that I was not joking with him, and all that belonged to him. O Allah! If You regard that I did it sincerely for Your sake, then please remove the rock.' So, the rock was removed completely from the mouth of the cave."

Sa'd asked: Messenger of Allah, Umm Sa'd has died; what form of sadaqah is best? He replied: Water (is best). He dug a well and said: It is for Umm Sa'd.

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."

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).

While Allah's Apostle was in I`tikaf, I called on him at night and having had a talk with him, I got up to depart. He got up also to accompany me to my dwelling place, which was then in the house of Usama bin Zaid. Two Ansari men passed by, and when they saw the Prophet they hastened away. The Prophet said (to them). "Don't hurry! It is Safiya, the daughter of Huyay (i.e. my wife)." They said, "Glorified be Allah! O Allah's Apostle! (How dare we suspect you?)" He said, "Satan circulates in the human mind as blood circulates in it, and I was afraid that Satan might throw an evil thought (or something) into your hearts."

(The wife of the Prophet) Allah's Apostle said, "Don't you see that when your people built the Ka`ba, they did not build it on all Abraham's foundations?" I said, "O Allah's Apostle! Why don't you rebuild it on Abraham's foundations?" He said, "Were your people not so close to (the period of Heathenism, i.e. the Period between their being Muslims and being infidels), I would do so." The sub-narrator, `Abdullah bin `Umar said, "Aisha had surely heard Allah's Apostle saying that, for I do not think that Allah's Apostle left touching the two corners of the Ka`ba facing Al-Hijr except because the Ka`ba was not built on all Abraham's foundations."

I or somebody, asked Allah's Apostle "Which is the biggest sin in the Sight of Allah?" He said, "That you set up a rival (in worship) to Allah though He Alone created you." I asked, "What is next?" He said, "Then, that you kill your son, being afraid that he may share your meals with you." I asked, "What is next?" He said, "That you commit illegal sexual intercourse with the wife of your neighbor." Then the following Verse was revealed to confirm the statement of Allah's Apostle: "Those who invoke not with Allah, any other god, nor kill life as Allah has forbidden except for just cause, nor commit illegal sexual intercourse." (25.68)

That he heard the Prophet delivering a sermon, and he mentioned the shecamel and the one who hamstrung it. Allah's Apostle recited:-- 'When, the most wicked man among them went forth (to hamstrung the she-camel).' (91.12.) Then he said, "A tough man whose equal was rare and who enjoyed the protection of his people, like Abi Zama went forth to (hamstrung) it." The Prophet then mentioned about the women (in his sermon). "It is not wise for anyone of you to lash his wife like a slave, for he might sleep with her the same evening." Then he advised them not to laugh when somebody breaks wind and said, "Why should anybody laugh at what he himself does?"

A man divorced his wife and she married another man who proved to be impotent and divorced her. She could not get her satisfaction from him, and after a while he divorced her. Then she came to the Prophet and said, "O Allah's Apostle! My first husband divorced me and then I married another man who entered upon me to consummate his marriage but he proved to be impotent and did not approach me except once during which he benefited nothing from me. Can I remarry my first husband in this case?" Allah's Apostle said, "It is unlawful to marry your first husband till the other husband consummates his marriage with you."

The Prophet visited me at Mecca while I was ill. I said (to him), "I have property; May I bequeath all my property in Allah's Cause?" He said, "No." I said, "Half of it?" He said, "No." I said, "One third of it?" He said, "One-third (is alright), yet it is still too much, for you'd better leave your inheritors wealthy than leave them poor, begging of others. Whatever you spend will be considered a Sadaqa for you, even the mouthful of food you put in the mouth of your wife. Anyhow Allah may let you recover, so that some people may benefit by you and others be harmed by you."

that the Prophet entered upon her when she had her menses at Sarif before entering Mecca, and she was weeping (because she was afraid that she would not be able to perform the Hajj). The Prophet said, "What is wrong with you? Have you got your period?" She said, "Yes." He said, "This is a matter Allah has decreed for all the daughters of Adam, so perform all the ceremonies of Hajj like the others, but do not perform the Tawaf around the Ka`ba." `Aisha added: When we were at Mina, beef was brought to me and I asked, "What is this?" They (the people) said, "Allah's Apostle has slaughtered some cows as sacrifices on behalf of his wives."

that he came to `Aisha and said to her, "O Mother of the Believers! There is a man who sends a Hadi to Ka`ba and stays in his city and requests that his Hadi camel be garlanded while he remains in a state of Ihram from that day till the people finish their Ihram (after completing all the ceremonies of Hajj)" (What do you say about it?) Masruq added, I heard the clapping of her hands behind the curtain. She said, "I used to twist the garlands for the Hadi of Allah's Apostle and he used to send his Hadi to Ka`ba but he never used to regard as unlawful what was lawful for men to do with their wives till the people returned (from the Hajj).

A man said, "O Allah's Apostle! Which sin is the greatest in Allah's Sight?" The Prophet said, "To set up a rival unto Allah though He Alone created you . " The man said, "What is next?" The Prophet said, "To kill your son lest he should share your food with you." The man said, "What is next?" The Prophet said, "To commit illegal sexual intercourse with the wife of your neighbor." So Allah revealed in confirmation of this narration:-- 'And those who invoke not with Allah, any other god. Nor kill, such life as Allah has forbidden except for just cause nor commit illegal sexual intercourse. And whoever does this shall receive the punishment.' (25.68)

A bedouin came to Allah's Apostle and said, "My wife has delivered a black boy, and I suspect that he is not my child." Allah's Apostle said to him, "Have you got camels?" The bedouin said, "Yes." The Prophet said, "What color are they?" The bedouin said, "They are red." The Prophet said, "Are any of them Grey?" He said, "There are Grey ones among them." The Prophet said, "Whence do you think this color came to them?" The bedouin said, "O Allah's Apostle! It resulted from hereditary disposition." The Prophet said, "And this (i.e., your child) has inherited his color from his ancestors." The Prophet did not allow him to deny his paternity of the child.

A man said, "O Allah's Apostle! Which sin is the biggest in Allah's Sight?" The Prophet said, "To set up rivals unto Allah though He Alone created you." That man said, "What is next?" The Prophet said, "To kill your son lest he should share your food with you.'' The man said, "What is next?" The Prophet said, "To commit illegal sexual intercourse with the wife of your neighbor." Then Allah revealed in confirmation of that: "And those who invoke not with Allah any other god, nor kill such life as Allah has made sacred except for just cause, nor commit illegal sexual intercourse and whoever does this shall receive the punishment..... (25.68)

Zainab bint Abu Salama told me these three narrations: Zainab said: I went to Um Habiba, the wife of the Prophet when her father, Abu- Sufyan bin Herb had died. Um ,Habiba asked for a perfume which contained yellow scent (Khaluq) or some other scent, and she first perfumed one of the girls with it and then rubbed her cheeks with it and said, "By Allah, I am not in need of perfume, but I have heard Allah's Apostle saying, 'It is not lawful for a lady who believes in Allah and the Last Day to mourn for a dead person for more than three days unless he is her husband for whom she should mourn for four months and ten days.'"

Ikrimah reported on the authority of one of the wives of the Prophet (saws) saying: When the Prophet (saws) wanted to do something (i.e. kissing, embracing) with (his) menstruating wife, he would put a garment on her private part.

Once the Prophet came while a woman was sitting with me. He said, "Who is she?" I replied, "She is so and so," and told him about her (excessive) praying. He said disapprovingly, "Do (good) deeds which is within your capacity (without being overtaxed) as Allah does not get tired (of giving rewards) but (surely) you will get tired and the best deed (act of Worship) in the sight of Allah is that which is done regularly."

Allah's Apostle said "Three persons will have a double reward:

1. A Person from the people of the scriptures who believed in his prophet (Jesus or Moses) and then believed in the Prophet Muhammad (i .e. has embraced Islam).

2. A slave who discharges his duties to Allah and his master.

3. A master of a woman-slave who teaches her good manners and educates her in the best possible way (the religion) and manumits her and then marries her."

The Prophet owed a camel of a certain age to a man who came to demand it back. The Prophet ordered his companions to give him. They looked for a camel of the same age but found nothing but a camel one year older. The Prophet told them to give it to him. The man said, "You have paid me in full, and may Allah pay you in full." The Prophet said, "The best amongst you is he who pays his debts in the most handsome manner."

That Allah's Apostle said, "There are forty virtuous deeds and the best of them is the Maniha of a shegoat, and anyone who does one of these virtuous deeds hoping for Allah's reward with firm confidence that he will get it, then Allah will make him enter Paradise because of Hassan (a subnarrator) said, "We tried to count those good deeds below the Maniha; we mentioned replying to the sneezer, removing harmful things from the road, etc., but we failed to count even fifteen."

A man asked the Prophet, "O Allah's Apostle! What kind of charity is the best?" He replied. "To give in charity when you are healthy and greedy hoping to be wealthy and afraid of becoming poor. Don't delay giving in charity till the time when you are on the death bed when you say, 'Give so much to soand- so and so much to so-and so,' and at that time the property is not yours but it belongs to so-and-so (i.e. your inheritors).

"Allah's Apostle said, 'The best of my followers are those living in my generation (i.e. my contemporaries). and then those who will follow the latter" `Imran added, "I do not remember whether he mentioned two or three generations after his generation, then the Prophet added, 'There will come after you, people who will bear witness without being asked to do so, and will be treacherous and untrustworthy, and they will vow and never fulfill their vows, and fatness will appear among them."

Allah's Apostle neither talked in an insulting manner nor did he ever speak evil intentionally. He used to say, "The most beloved to me amongst you is the one who has the best character and manners." He added, " Learn the Qur'an from (any of these) four persons. `Abdullah bin Mas`ud, Salim the freed slave of Abu Hudhaifa, Ubai bin Ka`b, and Mu`adh bin Jabal."

I heard Allah's Apostle saying, "My example and the example of the people is that of a man who made a fire, and when it lighted what was around it, Moths and other insects started falling into the fire. The man tried (his best) to prevent them, (from falling in the fire) but they overpowered him and rushed into the fire. The Prophet added: Now, similarly, I take hold of the knots at your waist (belts) to prevent you from falling into the Fire, but you insist on falling into it."

Allah's Apostle said, "Who is willing to kill Ka`b bin Al-Ashraf who has hurt Allah and His Apostle?" Thereupon Muhammad bin Maslama got up saying, "O Allah's Apostle! Would you like that I kill him?" The Prophet said, "Yes," Muhammad bin Maslama said, "Then allow me to say a (false) thing (i.e. to deceive Ka`b). "The Prophet said, "You may say it." Then Muhammad bin Maslama went to Ka`b and said, "That man (i.e. Muhammad demands Sadaqa (i.e. Zakat) from us, and he has troubled us, and I have come to borrow something from you." On that, Ka`b said, "By Allah, you will get tired of him!" Muhammad bin Maslama said, "Now as we have followed him, we do not want to leave him unless and until we see how his end is going to be. Now we want you to lend us a camel load or two of food." (Some difference between narrators about a camel load or two.) Ka`b said, "Yes, (I will lend you), but you should mortgage something to me." Muhammad bin Mas-lama and his companion said, "What do you want?" Ka`b replied, "Mortgage your women to me." They said, "How can we mortgage our women to you and you are the most handsome of the 'Arabs?" Ka`b said, "Then mortgage your sons to me." They said, "How can we mortgage our sons to you? Later they would be abused by the people's saying that so-and-so has been mortgaged for a camel load of food. That would cause us great disgrace, but we will mortgage our arms to you." Muhammad bin Maslama and his companion promised Ka`b that Muhammad would return to him. He came to Ka`b at night along with Ka`b's foster brother, Abu Na'ila. Ka`b invited them to come into his fort, and then he went down to them. His wife asked him, "Where are you going at this time?" Ka`b replied, "None but Muhammad bin Maslama and my (foster) brother Abu Na'ila have come." His wife said, "I hear a voice as if dropping blood is from him, Ka`b said. "They are none but my brother Muhammad bin Maslama and my foster brother Abu Naila. A generous man should respond to a call at night even if invited to be killed." Muhammad bin Maslama went with two men. (Some narrators mention the men as 'Abu bin Jabr. Al Harith bin Aus and `Abbad bin Bishr). So Muhammad bin Maslama went in together with two men, and sail to them, "When Ka`b comes, I will touch his hair and smell it, and when you see that I have got hold of his head, strip him. I will let you smell his head." Ka`b bin Al-Ashraf came down to them wrapped in his clothes, and diffusing perfume. Muhammad bin Maslama said. " have never smelt a better scent than this. Ka`b replied. "I have got the best 'Arab women who know how to use the high class of perfume." Muhammad bin Maslama requested Ka`b "Will you allow me to smell your head?" Ka`b said, "Yes." Muhammad smelt it and made his companions smell it as well. Then he requested Ka`b again, "Will you let me (smell your head)?" Ka`b said, "Yes." When Muhammad got a strong hold of him, he said (to his companions), "Get at him!" So they killed him and went to the Prophet and informed him. (Abu Rafi`) was killed after Ka`b bin Al-Ashraf."

`Abdur Rahman bin Abi Bakr said, "The Suffa Companions were poor people and the Prophet said, 'Whoever has food for two persons should take a third one from them (Suffa companions). And whosoever has food for four persons he should take one or two from them' Abu Bakr took three men and the Prophet took ten of them." `Abdur Rahman added, my father my mother and I were there (in the house). (The sub-narrator is in doubt whether `Abdur Rahman also said, 'My wife and our servant who was common for both my house and Abu Bakr's house). Abu Bakr took his supper with the Prophet and remained there till the `Isha' prayer was offered. Abu Bakr went back and stayed with the Prophet till the Prophet took his meal and then Abu Bakr returned to his house after a long portion of the night had passed. Abu Bakr's wife said, 'What detained you from your guests (or guest)?' He said, 'Have you not served them yet?' She said, 'They refused to eat until you come. The food was served for them but they refused." `Abdur Rahman added, "I went away and hid myself (being afraid of Abu Bakr) and in the meantime he (Abu Bakr) called me, 'O Ghunthar (a harsh word)!' and also called me bad names and abused me and then said (to his family), 'Eat. No welcome for you.' Then (the supper was served). Abu Bakr took an oath that he would not eat that food. The narrator added: By Allah, whenever any one of us (myself and the guests of Suffa companions) took anything from the food, it increased from underneath. We all ate to our fill and the food was more than it was before its serving. Abu Bakr looked at it (the food) and found it as it was before serving or even more than that. He addressed his wife (saying) 'O the sister of Bani Firas! What is this?' She said, 'O the pleasure of my eyes! The food is now three times more than it was before.' Abu Bakr ate from it, and said, 'That (oath) was from Satan' meaning his oath (not to eat). Then he again took a morsel (mouthful) from it and then took the rest of it to the Prophet. So that meal was with the Prophet. There was a treaty between us and some people, and when the period of that treaty had elapsed the Prophet divided us into twelve (groups) (the Prophet's companions) each being headed by a man. Allah knows how many men were under the command of each (leader). So all of them (12 groups of men) ate of that meal."

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)

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had asked Ibn Shihab about a man who had a slave-girl as a wife, and then he bought her, and divorced her once. He said, "She is halal for him by the possession of the right hand as long as he does not make his divorce irrevocable. If he irrevocably divorces her, she is not halal for him by the possession of the right hand until she has married another husband."

Malik said that if a man rnarried a female slave and then she had a child by him, and then he bought her, she was not an umm walad for him because of the child born to him while she belonged to another, until she had had a child by him while she was in his possession after he had purchased her.

Malik said, "If he buys her and she is pregnant by him and she then gives birth while she belongs to him, she is his umm walad by that pregnancy, according to what we think, and Allah knows best."

(the wife of the Prophet) On the day when the sun Khasafat (eclipsed) Allah's Apostle prayed; he stood up and said Takbir and recited a prolonged recitation, then he performed a prolonged bowing, then he raised his head and said, "Sami`a l-lahu Lyman Hamidah," and then remained standing and recited a prolonged recitation which was shorter than the first. Then he performed a prolonged bowing which was shorter than the first. Then he prostrated and prolonged the prostration and he did the same in the second rak`a as in the first and then finished the prayer with Taslim. By that time the sun (eclipse) had cleared He addressed the people and said, "The sun and the moon are two of the signs of Allah; they do not eclipse (Yakhsifan) because of the death or the life (i.e. birth) of someone. So when you see them make haste for the prayer."

We asked Ibn `Umar whether a man who had performed the Tawaf of the Ka`ba but had not performed the Tawaf between As-Safa and Al-Marwa yet, was permitted to have sexual relation with his wife. He replied, "The Prophet arrived (at Mecca) and circumambulated the Ka`ba seven times and then offered a two rak`at prayer behind Maqam-lbrahim and then performed the going (Tawaf) between As-Safa and Al-Marwa (seven times) (and verily, in Allah's Apostle you have a good example." And we asked Jabir bin `Abdullah (the same question) and he replied, "He should not go near her till he has finished the going (Tawaf) between As-Safa and Al-Marwa."