Abu Dawud said: Similarly, this tradition has been narrated by Ibn Wahb from Malik, Hafs b. Maisarah, Dawud b. Qais and Hisham b. Sa'd. But Hisham projected it to Abu Sa'id al-Khudri.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir and from Salim ibn Abi'n-Nadr, the mawla of Umar ibn Ubaydullah that Amir ibn Sad ibn Abi Waqqas heard his father ask Usama ibn Zayd, "Have you heard anything from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, about the plague?" Usama said, "The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'The plague is a punishment that was sent down on a party of the Banu Israil or whoever was before them. When you hear of it in a land, do not enter it. If it comes upon a land and you are in it, do not depart in flight from it.' "

Malik said that Abu'n-Nadr said, "That is, do not depart with no other intention but flight."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Zayd ibn Aslam that Ata ibn Yasar said, "A man came to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and asked him about the time of the subh prayer. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, did not answer him, but in the morning he prayed subh at first light. The following morning he prayed subh when it was much lighter, and then said, 'Where is the man who was asking about the time of the prayer?' The man replied, 'Here I am, Messenger of Allah.' He said,'The time is between these two.' "

Yahya related to me from Malik from Zayd ibn Aslam from al-Qaqa ibn Hakim that Abu Yunus, the mawla of A'isha, umm al-muminin said, ''A'isha ordered me to write out a Qur'an for her. She said, 'When you reach this ayat, let me know, "Guard the prayers carefully and the middle prayer and stand obedient to Allah." ' When I reached it I told her, and she dictated to me, 'Guard the prayers carefully and the middle prayer and the asr prayer and stand obedient to Allah.' A'isha said, 'I heard it from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.' "

Yahya related to me from Malik from Zayd ibn Aslam that Ata ibn Yasar told him that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was in the mosque when a man came in with dishevelled hair and beard. The Messenger of Allah. may Allah bless him and grant him peace, motioned with his hand that he should be sent out to groom his hair and beard. The man did so and then returned. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Isn't this better than that one of you should come with his head dishevelled, as if he were a shaytan?"

Yahya related to me from Malik from Abdullah ibn Abi Bakr from his paternal aunt from the daughter of Zayd ibn Thabit that she had heard that women used to ask for lamps in the middle of the night to check their purity. She would criticise them for this saying, "Women never used to do this," i.e. in the time of the companions.

Malik was asked whether a woman whose period had finished could do tayammum to purify herself if she could not find waterand he said, "Yes, because she is like some one in a state of major ritual impurity, who, if he cannot find water, does tayammum."

Abu Dawud said: His grandfathers were Zaid and Ziyad.

Abu Bakr As-Siddiq sent for me when the people of Yamama had been killed (i.e., a number of the Prophet's Companions who fought against Musailima). (I went to him) and found `Umar bin Al- Khattab sitting with him. Abu Bakr then said (to me), "`Umar has come to me and said: "Casualties were heavy among the Qurra' of the Qur'an (i.e. those who knew the Qur'an by heart) on the day of the Battle of Yamama, and I am afraid that more heavy casualties may take place among the Qurra' on other battlefields, whereby a large part of the Qur'an may be lost. Therefore I suggest, you (Abu Bakr) order that the Qur'an be collected." I said to `Umar, "How can you do something which Allah's Apostle did not do?" `Umar said, "By Allah, that is a good project." `Umar kept on urging me to accept his proposal till Allah opened my chest for it and I began to realize the good in the idea which `Umar had realized." Then Abu Bakr said (to me). 'You are a wise young man and we do not have any suspicion about you, and you used to write the Divine Inspiration for Allah's Apostle. So you should search for (the fragmentary scripts of) the Qur'an and collect it in one book." By Allah If they had ordered me to shift one of the mountains, it would not have been heavier for me than this ordering me to collect the Qur'an. Then I said to Abu Bakr, "How will you do something which Allah's Apostle did not do?" Abu Bakr replied, "By Allah, it is a good project." Abu Bakr kept on urging me to accept his idea until Allah opened my chest for what He had opened the chests of Abu Bakr and `Umar. So I started looking for the Qur'an and collecting it from (what was written on) palme stalks, thin white stones and also from the men who knew it by heart, till I found the last Verse of Surat at-Tauba (Repentance) with Abi Khuzaima Al-Ansari, and I did not find it with anybody other than him. The Verse is: 'Verily there has come unto you an Apostle (Muhammad) from amongst yourselves. It grieves him that you should receive any injury or difficulty..(till the end of Surat-Baraa' (at-Tauba) (9.128-129). Then the complete manuscripts (copy) of the Qur'an remained with Abu Bakr till he died, then with `Umar till the end of his life, and then with Hafsa, the daughter of `Umar.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Zayd ibn Aslam from his brother Khalid ibn Aslam that Umar ibn al-Khattab once broke thefast on a cloudy day thinking that evening had come and the sun had set. Then a man came to him and said, "Amir al-muminin, the sun has come out,'' and Umar said, "That's an easy matter. It was our deduction (ijtihad)."

Malik said, "According to what we think, and Allah knows best, what he was referring to when he said, 'That's an easy matter' was making up the fast, and how slight the effort involved was and how easy it was. He was saying (in effect), 'We will fast another day in its place.' "

Yahya related to me from Malik from Abdullah ibn Yazid that Zayd ibn Ayyash told him that he had once asked Sad ibn Abi Waqqas about selling white wheat for a type of good barley. Sad asked him which was the better and when he told him the white wheat, he forbade the transaction. Sad said, "I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, being asked about selling dried dates for fresh dates, and the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'Do the dates diminish in size when they become dry?' When he was told that they did, he forbade that."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Zayd ibn Abi Unaysa that Abd al-Hamid ibn Abd ar-Rahman ibn Zayd ibn al-Khattab informed him from Muslim ibn Yasar al-Juhani that Umar ibn al-Khattab was asked about this ayat - "When your Lord took their progeny from the Banu Adam from their backs and made them testify against themselves. 'Am I not your Lord?' They said, 'Yes, we bear witness'

Lest you should say on the Day of Rising, 'We were heedless of that.'" (Sura 7 ayat 172) Umar ibn al-Khattab said, "I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, being asked about it. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'Allah, the Blessed, the Exalted, created Adam. Then He stroked his back with His right hand, and progeny issued from it. He said, "I created these for the Garden and they will act with the behaviour of the people of the Garden." Then He stroked his back again and brought forth progeny from him. He said, "I created these for the Fire and they will act with the behaviour of the people of the Fire." 'A man said, 'Messenger of Allah! Then of what value are deeds?' The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, answered, 'When Allah creates a slave for the Garden, he makes him use the behaviour of the people of the Garden, so that he dies on one of the actions of the people of the Garden and by it He brings him into the Garden. When He creates a slave for the Fire, He makes him use the behaviour of the people of the Fire, so that he dies on one of the actions of the people of the Fire, and by it, He brings him into the Fire.' "

Yahya related to me from Malik that Yahya ibn Said said, "The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had wanted to take two pieces of wood to strike them together to gather people for the prayer, and Abdullah ibn Zayd al-Ansari, then of the tribe of Harith ibn al-Khazraj, was shown two pieces of wood in his sleep. He said, 'These are close to what the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, wants.' Then it was said, 'Do you not call to the prayer?', so when he woke up he went to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and mentioned the dream to him. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, ordered the adhan."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Abu'n Nadr, the mawla of Umar ibn Ubaydullah from Busr ibn Said that Zayd ibn Khalid al-Juhani sent him to Abu Juhaym to ask him what he had heard from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, about passing in front of someone praying. Abu Juhaym said, "The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'If the one who passes in front of a man praying knew what he was bringing upon himself it would be better for him to stop for forty than to pass in front of him.' "

Abu'n-Nadr said, "I do not know whether he said forty days or months or years."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Musa ibn Uqba that Kurayb, the mawla of Ibn 'Abbas, heard Usama ibn Zayd say, "The Messenger ofAllah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, left Arafa and then, when he reached ash-Shib, he dismounted and urinated and then did wudu, though not thoroughly. I said to him, 'It is time for the prayer, Messenger of Allah,' and he said 'The prayer is ahead of you,' and then mounted. When we arrived at Muzdalifa he dismounted and did wudu thoroughly. Then the iqama was said for the prayer and he prayed maghrib. After that everyone settled his camel in its resting-place, and then the iqama for isha was said and he prayed it, without having prayed anything between the two."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Yahya ibn Said from Sulayman ibn Yasar that Zayd ibn Thabit used to say, "When the eye remains but the sight is lost, one hundred dinars are payable for it."

Yahya said, "Malik was asked about cutting off the lower lid of the eye and the bone around the eye. He said, 'There is only ijtihad in that unless the vision of the eye is impaired. He is entitled to an amount that is compatible to the extent the vision of the eye has been impaired."

Yahya said that Malik said, "What is done in our community about removing the bad eye of a one-eyed man when it has already been blinded and still remains there in its place and the paralyzed hand when it is cut off, is that there is only ijtihad in that, and there is no prescribed blood-money."