Allah's Apostle used to practice I`tikaf (in the mosque) in the middle third of Ramadan and after passing the twenty nights he used to go back to his house on the 21st, and the people who were in I`tikaf with him also used to go back to their houses. Once in Ramadan, in which he practiced I`tikaf, he established the night prayers at the night in which he used to return home, and then he addressed the people and ordered them whatever Allah wished him to order and said, "I used to practice I`tikaf for these ten days (i.e. the middle third but now I intend to stay in I`tikaf for the last ten days (of the month); so whoever was in I`tikaf with me should stay at his place of seclusion. I have verily been shown (the date of) this Night (of Qadr) but I have forgotten it. So search for it in the odd nights of the last ten days (of this month). I also saw myself (in the dream) prostrating in mud and water." On the night of the 21st, the sky was covered with clouds and it rained, and the rainwater started leaking through the roof of the mosque at the praying place of the Prophet . I saw with my own eyes the Prophet at the completion of the morning prayer leaving with his face covered with mud and water.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Hisham ibn Urwa from his father from A'isha, the wife of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, that al-Harith ibn Hisham asked the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, "How does the revelation come to you?" and the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Sometimes it comes to me like the ringing of a bell, and that is the hardest for me, and when it leaves me I remember what it has said. And sometimes the angel appears to me in the likeness of a man and talks to me and I remember what he says."

A'isha added, "I saw it coming down on him on an intensely cold day, and when it had left him his forehead was dripping with sweat."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab from al-Araj that Umar ibn al Khattab recited Surat an-Najm (Sura 53) and prostrated in it, and then got up and recited another sura.

Abu Dawud said: The narrator Makhramah did not hear from his father except one tradition.

The Messenger of Allah (saws) offered prayer. The version of the narrator Ibrahim goes: I do not know whether he increased or decreased (the rak'ahs of prayer).

When he gave the salutation, he was asked: Has something new happened in the prayer, Messenger of Allah? He said: What is it? They said: You prayed so many and so many (rak'ahs). He then relented his foot and faced the Qiblah and made two prostrations. He then gave the salutation. When he turned away (finished the prayer), he turned his face to us and said: Had anything new happened in prayer, I would have informed you. I am only a human being and I forget just as you do; so when I forget, remind me, and when any of you is in doubt about his prayer he should aim at what is correct, and complete his prayer in that respect, then give the salutation and afterwards made two prostrations.

Abu Dawud said: in this tradition there is no mention of sitting on hips and raising hands when he stood after two rak’ahs as narrated by ‘Abu al-Hamid.

Yahya related to me from Malik, from Yahya ibn Said, from Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn al-Harith at-Taymi, that Rabia ibn Abdullah ibn al-Hudayr once saw a man in a state of ihram in Iraq. So he asked people about him and they said, "He has given directions for his sacrificial animal to be garlanded, and it is for that reason that he has put on ihram ."

Rabia said, "I then met Abdullah ibn az- Zubayr and so I mentioned this to him and he said, 'By the Lord of the Kaba, an innovation.' "

Malik was asked about some one who set out with his own sacrificial animal and marked it and garlanded it at Dhu'l-Hulayfa, but did not go into ihram until he had reached al- Juhfa,and hesaid, "I do not like that, and whoever does so has not acted properly. He should only garland his sacrificial animal, or mark it, when he goes into ihram, unless it is someone who does not intend to do hajj, in which case he sends it off and stays with his family."

Malik was asked if somone who was not in ihram could set out with a sacrificial animal, and he said, "Yes. There is no harm in that."

He was also asked to comment on the different views people had about what became haram for some one who garlanded a sacrificial animal but did not intend to do either hajj or umra, and he said, "What we go by as far as this is concerned is what A'isha, umm al-muminin said, 'The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, sent his sacrificial animal off and did not go there himself, and there was nothing that Allah had made halal for him that was haram for him until the animal had been sacrificed.' "

When the Messenger of Allah (saws) uttered the takbir (Allah is most great) for prayer (in the beginning), he raised his hands opposite to his shoulders; and when he bowed, he did like that; and when he raised his head to prostrate, he did like that; and when he got up at the end of two rak'ahs, he did like that.

Malik related to me from Abu'n-Nasr that Ubaydullah ibn Abdullah ibn Utba ibn Masud went to visit Abu Talha al-Ansari when he was ill. He said, "I found Sahl ibn Hunayf with him. Abu Talha summoned a man and removed a rug which was under him. Sahl ibn Hunayf said to him, 'Why did you remove it?' He said, 'Because there were pictures on it, and the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said what you know about them.' Sahl replied, 'Didn't the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say, "except for markings on a garment?"' (A rug was considered a garment). He said, 'Yes, but it is more pleasing to myself.' "