The Prophet (saws) said: Do not fast (for Ramadan) before the coming of the month until you sight the moon or complete the number (of thirty days); then fast until you sight the moon or complete the number (of thirty days).

Yahya related to me from Malik that Kathir ibn Farqad asked Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Amr ibn Hazm about a man who sold food to be delivered at a future date to a man for gold and then with the gold, he bought dates before he had taken delivery of the gold. He disapproved of that and forbade it.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab the like of that.

Malik said, ''Said ibn al-Musayyab, Sulayman ibn Yasar, Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Amr ibn Hazm, and Ibn Shihab forbade that a man sell wheat for gold and then buy dates with that gold before he had received the gold from the transaction in which he sold the wheat. There is no harm for someone to buy dates on delayed terms, on the strength of the gold for which he sold the wheat, from someone other than the person to whom he sold the wheat before taking possession of the gold, and to refer the one from whom he bought the dates to his debtor who bought the wheat, for the gold he is owed for the dates."

Malik said, "I asked more than one of the people of knowledge about that and they did not see any harm in it."

(The tree where the Ridwan Pledge of allegiance was taken by the Prophet) was mentioned before Sa`id bin Al-Musaiyab. On that he smiled and said, "My father informed me (about it) and he had witnessed it (i.e. the Pledge) ."

The Prophet said, "The recitation of Psalms (David's Qur'an) was made light and easy for David that he used to have his ridding animal be saddled while he would finish the recitation before the servant had saddled it."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Rabia ibn Abi Abd ar-Rahman that if Abdullah ibn Umar arrived at the mosque and the people had already prayed, he would begin with the obligatory prayer and not pray anything before it.

Allah's Apostle said, "When anyone of you dies, his destination is displayed before him in the forenoon and in the afternoon, either in the (Hell) Fire or in Paradise, and it is said to him, "That is your place till you are resurrected and sent to it."

The Prophet was asked by a man who said, "I have done the Rami in the evening." The Prophet replied, "There is no harm in it." Another man asked, "I had my head shaved before the slaughtering." The Prophet replied, "There is no harm in it."

My friend (the Prophet ) advised me to observe three things: (1) to fast three days a month; (2) to pray two rak`at of Duha prayer (forenoon prayer); and (3) to pray witr before sleeping.

I accompanied the Messenger of Allah (saws) on eighteen journeys and I never saw him fail to pray two rak'ahs when the sun had passed the meridian before offering the noon prayer.

The Messenger of Allah (saws) commanded me to send a woman to her husband before he gave something to her.

Abu Dawud said: The narrator Khaithamah did not hear (any tradition) from 'Aishah.

Two women were stitching shoes in a house or a room. Then one of them came out with an awl driven into her hand, and she sued the other for it. The case was brought before Ibn `Abbas, Ibn `Abbas said, "Allah's Apostle said, 'If people were to be given what they claim (without proving their claim) the life and property of the nation would be lost.' Will you remind her (i.e. the defendant), of Allah and recite before her:--"Verily! Those who purchase a small gain at the cost of Allah's Covenant and their oaths..."(3.77) So they reminded her and she confessed. Ibn `Abbas then said, "The Prophet said, 'The oath is to be taken by the defendant (in the absence of any proof against him).

I heard the Prophet delivering a sermon, and he said (on the Day of `Id-Allah. a), "The first thing we will do on this day of ours is that we will offer the `Id prayer, then we will return and slaughter our sacrifices; and whoever does so, then indeed he has followed our tradition, and whoever slaughtered his sacrifice (before the prayer), what he offered was just meat that he presented to his family, and that was not a sacrifice." Abu Burda got up and said, "O Allah's Apostle! I slaughtered the sacrifice before the prayer and I have got a Jadha'a which is better than an old sheep." The Prophet said, "Slaughter it to make up for that, but it will not be sufficient for anybody else after you."

The Prophet said "The most superior way of asking for forgiveness from Allah is: 'Allahumma anta Rabbi la ilaha illa anta, Khalaqtani wa ana `Abduka, wa ana `ala `ahdika wa wa`dika mastata`tu, A`udhu bika min Sharri ma sana`tu, abu'u Laka bini`matika `alaiya, wa abu'u laka bidhanbi faghfir lee fa innahu la yaghfiru adhdhunuba illa anta." The Prophet added. "If somebody recites it during the day with firm faith in it, and dies on the same day before the evening, he will be from the people of Paradise; and if somebody recites it at night with firm faith in it, and dies before the morning, he will be from the people of Paradise."

"Whenever the Prophet passed by (my mother Um-Sulaim) he used to enter her and greet her. Anas further said: Once the Prophet way a bridegroom during his marriage with Zainab, Um Sulaim said to me, "Let us give a gift to Allah's Apostle ." I said to her, "Do it." So she prepared Haisa (a sweet dish) made from dates, butter and dried yoghurt and she sent it with me to him. I took it to him and he said, "Put it down," and ordered me to call some men whom he named, and to invite whomever I would meet. I did what he ordered me to do, and when I returned, I found the house crowded with people and saw the Prophet keeping his hand over the Haisa and saying over it whatever Allah wished (him to say). Then he called the men in batches of ten to eat of it, and he said to them, "Mention the Name of Allah, and each man should eat of the dish the nearest to him." When all of them had finished their meals, some of them left and a few remained there talking, over which I felt unhappy. Then the Prophet went out towards the dwelling places (of his wives) and I too, went out after him and told him that those people had left. Then he returned and entered his dwelling place and let the curtains fall while I was in (his) dwelling place, and he was reciting the Verses:-- 'O you who believe! Enter not the Prophet's house until leave is given you for a meal, (and then) not (as early as) to what for its preparation. But when you are invited, enter, and when you have taken your meals, disperse without sitting for a talk. Verily such (behavior) annoys the Prophet; and he would be shy of (asking) you (to go), but Allah is not shy of (telling you) the Truth.' (33-53) Abu Uthman said: Anas said, "I served the Prophet for ten years."

Yahya said that he heard Malik speak about a man who bought goods - animals or clothes or wares, and the sale was found not to be permitted so it was revoked and the one who had taken the goods was ordered to return the owner his goods. Malik said, "The owner of the goods only has their value on the day they were taken from him, and not on the day they are returned to him. That is because the man is liable for them from the day he took them and whatever loss is in them after that is against him. For that reason, their increase and growth are also his. A man may take the goods at a time when they are selling well and are in demand, and then have to return them at a time when they have fallen in price and no one wants them. For instance, the man may take the goods from the other man, and sell them for ten dinars or keep them while their price is that. Then he may have to return them while their price is only a dinar. He should not go off with nine dinars from the man's property. Or perhaps they are taken by the man, and he sells them for a dinar or keeps them, while their price is only a dinar, then he has to return them, and their value on the day he returns them is ten dinars. The one who took them does not have to pay nine dinars from his property to the owner. He is only obliged to pay the value of what he took possession of on the day it was taken ."

He said, "Part of what clarifies this is that when a thief steals goods, only their price on the day he stole them is looked at. If cutting off the hand is necessary because of it, that is done. If the cutting off is delayed, either because the thief is imprisoned until his situation is examined or he flees and then is caught, the delay of the cutting off of the hand does not make the hadd, which was obliged for him on the day he stole, fall from him even if those goods become cheap after that. Nor does delay oblige cutting off the hand if it was not obliged on the day he took those goods, even if they become expensive after that."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Sumayy, the mawla of Abu Bakr, from Abu Salih as-Samman from Abu Hurayra that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Whoever says 'There is no god but Allah, alone, without any partner. The Kingdom and praise belong to Him and He has power over everything' (La ilaha illa'llah, wahdahu la sharika lah, lahu'l mulku wa lahu'l hamd, wa huwa ala kulli shay'in qadir) one hundred times a day, it is the same for him as freeing ten slaves. One hundred good actions are written for him and one hundred wrong actions are erased from him, and it is a protection from Shaytan for that day until the night. No-one does anything more excellent than what he does except someone who does more than that."

Safiya, the wife of the Prophet told me that she went to Allah's Apostle to visit him in the mosque while he was in I`tikaf in the last ten days of Ramadan. She had a talk with him for a while, then she got up in order to return home. The Prophet accompanied her. When they reached the gate of the mosque, opposite the door of Um-Salama, two Ansari men were passing by and they greeted Allah's Apostle . He told them: Do not run away! And said, "She is (my wife) Safiya bint Huyai." Both of them said, "Subhan Allah, (How dare we think of any evil) O Allah's Apostle!" And they felt it. The Prophet said (to them), "Satan reaches everywhere in the human body as blood reaches in it, (everywhere in one's body). I was afraid lest Satan might insert an evil thought in your minds."

Allah's Apostle used to practice I`tikaf every year in the month of Ramadan. And after offering the morning prayer, he used to enter the place of his I`tikaf. `Aisha asked his permission to let her practice I`tikaf and he allowed her, and so she pitched a tent in the mosque. When Hafsa heard of that, she also pitched a tent (for herself), and when Zainab heard of that, she too pitched another tent. When, in the morning, Allah's Apostle had finished the morning prayer, he saw four tents and asked, "What is this?" He was informed about it. He then said, "What made them do this? Is it righteousness? Remove the tents, for I do not want to see them." So, the tents were removed. The Prophet did not perform I`tikaf that year in the month of Ramadan, but did it in the last ten days of Shawwal.

Yahya related to me the like of that from Malik from Ibn Shihab.

Malik said, about a slave who divorced a slave-girl but did not make it absolute, "He can return to her. If he then dies while she is still in the idda from her divorce, she does the idda of a slave- girl whose husband dies, and it is two months and five days. If she has been set free and he can return to her, and she does not choose to separate after she has been set free, and he dies while she is in the idda from the divorce, she does the idda of a free woman whose husband has died, four months and ten days. That is because the idda of widowhood befell her while she was free, so her idda is the idda of a free woman."

Malik said, "That is what is done among us."

Malik related to me from Yahya ibn Said from Abu Bakr ibn Hazm that a boy from Ghassan was dying in Madina while his heir was in Syria. That was mentioned to Umar ibn al-Khattab. It was said to him, "So-and-so is dying. Shall he make a bequest?" He said, "Let him make a bequest."

Yahya ibn Said said that Abu Bakr had said, "He was a boy of ten or twelve years." Yahya said, "He willed the well of Jusham, and his people sold it for 30,000 dirhams."

Yahya said that he heard Malik say, "The generally agreed-on way of doing things in our community is that a simpleton, an idiot, or a lunatic who recovers at times, can make wills if they have enough of their wits about them to recognise what they will. Someone who has not enough wits to recognise what he wills, and is overcome in his intellect, cannot make a bequest."

Malik related to me that he had heard that Umar ibn al-Khattab estimated the full blood-money for the people of urban areas. For those who had gold, he made it one thousand dinars. and for those who had silver he made it ten thousand dirhams.

Malik said, "The people of gold are the people of ash-Sham and the people of Egypt. The people of silver are the people of Iraq "

Yahya related to me from Malik that he heard that the blood-money was divided into instalments over three or four years.

Malik said, "Three is the most preferable to me of what I have heard on that."

Malik said, "The generally agreed on way of doing things in our community is that camels are not accepted from the people of cities for blood-money nor is gold or silver accepted from the desert people. Silver is not accepted from the people of gold and gold is not accepted from the people of silver."

I heard Allah's Apostle saying, "Before Allah created the creations, He wrote a Book (wherein He has written): My Mercy has preceded my Anger." and that (Book) is written with Him over the Throne."

My friend (the Prophet) advised me to do three things and I shall not leave them till I die, these are: To fast three days every month, to offer the Duha prayer, and to offer witr before sleeping.

Abu Salama reported on the authority of Abu Huraira that when Iqama was pronounced for the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him), the people occupied their places in the rows before the Apostle of Allah (way peace be upon him) stood up at his place.

That the Messenger of Allah (saws) said: "Allah forgave a man who was before you: He was tolerant when selling, tolerant when purchasing, and tolerant when repaying."

He said: This Hadith is Gharib Sahih Hasan from this route.

Nafi' said: Ibn Umar used to lengthen his prayer before the Friday prayer and would offer two rak'ahs after it in his house. He used to say that the Messenger of Allah (saws) would do that.

Urwa said that A'isha, the wife of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace used to pray asr while the sunlight was pouring into her room, before the sun itself had become visible (i.e. because it was still high in the sky).

Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab that Said al- Musayyab told him that people used to be told to eat on the day of Fitr before setting out. Malik said that he did not consider that people had to do that for Adha.

Yahya related to me from Malik, from Sadaqa ibn Yasar, that Abdullah ibn Umar said, "By Allah, I would rather do umra before hajj and sacrifice an animal than do umra after hajj in the month of Dhu'l-Hijja."