Yahya related to me from Malik from Muhammad ibn Abi Harmala, the mawla of Abd ar-Rahman ibn Abi Sufyan ibn Huwaytib, that Zaynab bint Abi Salama died during the time that Tariq was amir of Madina and her bier was brought out after subh and put in al-Baqi. He said that Tariq used to pray subh right at the beginning of its time. He added, "I heard Abdullah ibn Umar say to the family, 'You can either pray over your dead now or you can wait until the sun comes up.' "

Once a meal was brought to `Abdur-Rahman bin `Auf and he was fasting. He said, "Mustab bin `Umar was martyred and he was better than I and was shrouded in his Burd and when his head was covered with it, his legs became bare, and when his legs were covered his head got uncovered. Hamza was martyred and was better than I. Now the worldly wealth have been bestowed upon us (or said a similar thing). No doubt, I fear that the rewards of my deeds might have been given earlier in this world." Then he started weeping and left his food.

"`Umar bin Al-Khattab addressed the Corner (Black Stone) saying, 'By Allah! I know that you are a stone and can neither benefit nor harm. Had I not seen the Prophet touching (and kissing) you, I would never have touched (and kissed) you.' Then he kissed it and said, 'There is no reason for us to do Ramal (in Tawaf) except that we wanted to show off before the pagans, and now Allah has destroyed them.' `Umar added, '(Nevertheless), the Prophet did that and we do not want to leave it (i.e. Ramal).'

Allah's Apostle in his fatal illness came out, wrapped with a sheet, and his head was wrapped with an oiled bandage. He sat on the pulpit, and praising and glorifying Allah, he said, "Now then, people will increase but the Ansar will decrease in number, so much so that they, compared with the people, will be just like the salt in the meals. So, if any of you should take over the authority by which he can either benefit some people or harm some others, he should accept the goodness of their good people (i.e. Ansar) and excuse the faults of their wrong-doers." That was the last gathering which the Prophet attended.

One day the Prophet went out and offered the (funeral) prayer for the people (i.e. martyrs) of Uhud as he used to offer a funeral prayer for any dead person, and then (after returning) he ascended the pulpit and said, "I am your predecessor before you, and I am a witness upon you, and I am looking at my Tank just now, and I have been given the keys of the treasures of the world (or the keys of the world). By Allah, I am not afraid that you will worship others besides Allah after me, but I am afraid that you will compete with each other for (the pleasures of) this world."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Abu Hazim ibn Dinar from Said ibn al-Musayyab that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, forbade the sale with uncertainty in it.

Malik said, "An example of one type of uncertain transaction and risk is that a man intends the price of a stray animal or escaped slave to be fifty dinars. A man says, 'I will take him from you for twenty dinars.' If the buyer finds him, thirty dinars goes from the seller, and if he does not find him, the seller takes twenty dinars from the buyer."

Malik said, "There is another fault in that. If that stray is found, it is not known whether it will have increased or decreased in value or what defects may have befallen it. This transaction is greatly uncertain and risky."

Malik said, "According to our way of doing things, one kind of uncertain transaction and risk is selling what is in the wombs of females - women and animals - because it is not known whether or not it will come out, and if it does come out, it is not known whether it will be beautiful or ugly, normal or disabled, male or female. All that is disparate. If it has that, its price is such-and-such, and if it has this, its price is such-and-such."

Malik said, "Females must not be sold with what is in their wombs excluded. That is that, for instance, a man says to another, 'The price of my sheep which has much milk is three dinars. She is yours for two dinars while I will have her future offspring.' This is disapproved because it is an uncertain transaction and a risk."

Malik said, "It is not halal to sell olives for olive oil or sesame for sesame oil, or butter for ghee because muzabana comes into that, because the person who buys the raw product for something specified which comes from it, does not know whether more or less will come out of that, so it is an uncertain transaction and a risk."

Malik said, "A similar case is the selling of ben-nuts for ben-nut oil. This is an uncertain transaction because what comes from the ben-nut is ben-oil. There is no harm in selling ben-nuts for perfumed ben because perfumed ben has been perfumed, mixed and changed from the state of raw ben-nut oil."

Malik, speaking about a man who sold goods to a man on the provision that there was to be no loss for the buyer, (i.e. if the buyer could not re-sell the goods they could go back to the seller), said, "This transaction is not permitted and it is part of risk. The explanation of why it is so, is that it is as if the seller hired the buyer for the profit if the goods make a profit. If he sells the stock at a loss, he has nothing, and his efforts are not compensated. This is not good. In such a transaction, the buyer should have a wage according to the work that he has contributed. Whatever there is of loss or profit in those goods is for and against the seller. This is only when the goods are gone and sold. If they do not go, the transaction between them is null and void."

Malik said, "As for a man who buys goods from a man and he concludes the sale and then the buyer regrets and asks to have the price reduced and the seller refuses and says, 'Sell it and I will compensate you for any loss.' There is no harm in this because there is no risk. It is something he proposes to him, and their transaction was not based on that. That is what is done among us."

Malik related to me from Yahya ibn Said from Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Amr ibn Hazm from Umar ibn Abdal-Aziz from Abu Bakr ibn Abd ar-Rahman ibn al-Harith ibn Hisham from Abu Hurayra that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "If anyone goes bankrupt, and a man finds his own property intact with him, he is more entitled to it than anyone else."

Malik spoke about a man who sold a man wares, and the buyer went bankrupt. He said, "The seller takes whatever of his goods he finds. If the buyer has sold some of them and distributed them, the seller of the wares is more entitled to them than the creditors. What the buyer has distributed does not prevent the seller from taking whatever of it he finds. It is the seller's right if he has received any of the price from the buyer and he wants to return it to take what he finds of his wares, and in what he does not find, he is like the creditors."

Malik spoke about some one who bought spun wool or a plot of land, and then did some work on it, like building a house on the plot of land or weaving the spun wool into cloth. Then he went bankrupt after he had bought it, and the original owner of the plot said, "I will take the plot and whatever structure is on it." Malik said, "That structure is not his. However, the plot and what is in it that the buyer has improved is appraised. Then one sees what the price of the plot is and how much of that value is the price of the structure. They are partners in that. The owner of the plot has as much as his portion, and the creditors have the amount of the portion of the structure."

Malik said, "The explanation of that is that the value of it all is fifteen hundred dirhams. The value of the plot is five hundred dirhams, and the value of the building is one thousand dirhams. The owner of the plot has a third, and the creditors have two-thirds."

Malik said, "It is like that with spinning and other things of the same nature in these circumstances and the buyer has a debt which he cannot pay. This is the behaviour in such cases."

Malik said, "As for goods which have been sold and which the buyer does not improve, but those goods sell well and have gone up in price, so their owner wants them and the creditors also want to seize them, then the creditors choose between giving the owner of the goods the price for which he sold them and not giving him any loss and surrendering his goods to him.

"If the price of the goods has gone down, the one who sold them has a choice. If he likes, he can take his goods and he has no claim to any of his debtor's property, and that is his right. If he likes, he can be one of the creditors and take a portion of his due and not take his goods. That is up to him."

Malik said about someone who bought a slave-girl or animal and she gave birth in his possession and the buyer went bankrupt, "The slave-girl or the animal and the offspring belong to the seller unless the creditors desire it. In that case they give him his complete due and they take it."

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that Marwan ibn al-Hakam decided about a man who had made a vow to abstain from intercourse with his wife, that when four months had passed, it was a divorce and he could return to her as long as she was in her idda.

Malik added, "That was also the opinion of Ibn Shihab."

Malik said that if a man made a vow to abstain from intercourse with his wife and at the end of four months he declared his intent to continue to abstain, he was divorced. He could go back to his wife, but if he did not have intercourse with her before the end of her idda, he had no access to her and he could not go back to her unless he had an excuse - illness, imprisonment, or a similar excuse. His return to her maintained her as his wife. If her idda passed and then he married her after that and did not have intercourse with her until four months had passed and he declared his intent to continue to abstain, divorce was applied to him by the first vow. If four months passed, and he had not returned to her, he had no idda against her nor access because he had married her and then divorced her before touching her.

Malik said that a man who made a vow to abstain from intercourse with his wife and continued to abstain after four months and so divorced her, but then returned and did not touch her and four months were completed before her idda was completed, did not have to declare his intent and divorce did not befall him. If he had intercourse with her before the end of her idda, he was entitled to her. If her idda passed before he had intercourse with her, he had no access to her. This is what Malik preferred of what he had heard on the subject.

Malik said that if a man made a vow to abstain from intercourse with his wife and then divorced her, and the four months of the vow were completed before completion of the idda of the divorce, it counted as two pronouncements of divorce. If he declared his intention to continue to abstain and the idda of the divorce finished before the four months the vow of abstention was not a divorce. That was because the four months had passed and she was not his on that day.

Malik said, "If someone makes a vow not to have intercourse with his wife for a day or a month and then waits until more than four months have passed, it is not ila. Ila only applies to someone who vows more than four months. As for the one who vows not to have intercourse with his wife for four months or less than that, I do not think that it is ila because when the term enters into it at which it stops, he comes out of his oath and he does not have to declare his intention."

Malik said, "If someone vows to his wife not to have intercourse with her until her child has been weaned, that is not ila. I have heard that Ali ibn Abi Talib was asked about that and he did not think that it was ila."

I heard Allah's Apostle saying, "Three men from among those who were before you, set out together till they reached a cave at night and entered it. A big rock rolled down the mountain and closed the mouth of the cave. They said (to each other), Nothing could save you from this rock but to invoke Allah by giving reference to the righteous deed which you have done (for Allah's sake only).' So, one of them said, 'O Allah! I had old parents and I never provided my family (wife, children etc.) with milk before them. One day, by chance I was delayed, and I came late (at night) while they had slept. I milked the sheep for them and took the milk to them, but I found them sleeping. I disliked to provide my family with the milk before them. I waited for them and the bowl of milk was in my hand and I kept on waiting for them to get up till the day dawned. Then they got up and drank the milk. O Allah! If I did that for Your Sake only, please relieve us from our critical situation caused by this rock.' So, the rock shifted a little but they could not get out." The Prophet added, "The second man said, 'O Allah! I had a cousin who was the dearest of all people to me and I wanted to have sexual relations with her but she refused. Later she had a hard time in a famine year and she came to me and I gave her one-hundred-and-twenty Dinars on the condition that she would not resist my desire, and she agreed. When I was about to fulfill my desire, she said: It is illegal for you to outrage my chastity except by legitimate marriage. So, I thought it a sin to have sexual intercourse with her and left her though she was the dearest of all the people to me, and also I left the gold I had given her. O Allah! If I did that for Your Sake only, please relieve us from the present calamity.' So, the rock shifted a little more but still they could not get out from there." The Prophet added, "Then the third man said, 'O Allah! I employed few laborers and I paid them their wages with the exception of one man who did not take his wages and went away. I invested his wages and I got much property thereby. (Then after some time) he came and said to me: O Allah's slave! Pay me my wages. I said to him: All the camels, cows, sheep and slaves you see, are yours. He said: O Allah's slave! Don't mock at me. I said: I am not mocking at you. So, he took all the herd and drove them away and left nothing. O Allah! If I did that for Your Sake only, please relieve us from the present suffering.' So, that rock shifted completely and they got out walking.

Malik related to me that Yahya ibn Said said, ''Abd ar-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr died in his sleep, and A'isha, the wife of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, set free many slaves for him." Malik said, "This is what I like best of what I have heard on the subject."

I said, "O Allah's Apostle! Shouldn't we participate in Holy battles and Jihad along with you?" He replied, "The best and the most superior Jihad (for women) is Hajj which is accepted by Allah." `Aisha added: Ever since I heard that from Allah's Apostle I have determined not to miss Hajj.

Malik related to me from Humayd ibn Qays al-Makki that a son of al-Mutawakkil had a mukatab who died at Makka and left (enough to pay) the rest of his kitaba and he owed some debts to people. He also left a daughter. The governor of Makka was not certain about how to judge in the case, so he wrote to Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan to ask him about it. Abd al-Malik wrote to him, "Begin with the debts owed to people, and then pay what remains of his kitaba. Then divide what remains of the property between the daughter and the master."

Malik said, "What is done among us is that the master of a slave does not have to give his slave a kitaba if he asks for it. I have not heard of any of the Imams forcing a man to give a kitaba to his slave. I heard that one of the people of knowledge, when someone asked about that and mentioned that Allah the Blessed, the Exalted, said, 'Give them their kitaba, if you know some good in them' (Sura 24 ayat 33) recited these two ayats, 'When you are free of the state of ihram, then hunt for game.' (Sura 5 ayat 3) 'When the prayer is finished, scatter in the land and seek Allah's favour.' " (Sura 62 ayat 10)

Malik commented, "It is a way of doing things for which Allah, the Mighty, the Majestic, has given permission to people, and it is not obligatory for them." Malik said, "I heard one of the people of knowledge say about the word of Allah, the Blessed, the Exalted, 'Give them of the wealth which Allah has given you,' that it meant that a man give his slave a kitaba and then reduce the end of his kitaba for him by some specific amount."

Malik said, "This is what I have heard from the people of knowledge and what I see people doing here."

Malik said, "I have heard that Abdullah ibn Umar gave one of his slaves his kitaba for 35,000 dirhams, and then reduced the end of his kitaba by 5,000 dirhams."

Malik said, "What is done among us is that when a master gives a mukatab his kitaba, the mukatab's property goes with him but his children do not go with him unless he stipulates that in his kitaba."

Yahya said, "I heard Malik say that if a mukatab whose master had given him a kitaba had a slave- girl who was pregnant by him, and neither he nor his master knew that on the day he was given his kitaba, the child did not follow him because he was not included in the kitaba. He belonged to the master. As for the slave-girl, she belonged to the mukatab because she was his property."

Malik said that if a man and his wife's son (by another husband) inherited a mukatab from the wife and the mukatab died before he had completed his kitaba, they divided his inheritance between them according to the Book of Allah. If the slave paid his kitaba and then died, his inheritance went to the son of the woman, and the husband had nothing of his inheritance.

Malik said that if a mukatab gave his own slave a kitaba, the situation was looked at. If he wanted to do his slave a favour and it was obvious by his making it easy for him, that was not permitted. If he was giving him a kitaba from desire to find money to pay off his own kitaba, that was permitted for him.

Malik said that if a man had intercourse with a mukataba of his and she became pregnant by him, she had an option. If she liked she could be an umm walad. If she wished, she could confirm her kitaba. If she did not conceive, she still had her kitaba.

Malik said, "The generally agreed on way of doing things among us about a slave who is owned by two men is that one of them does not give a kitaba for his share, whether or not his companion gives him permission to do so, unless they both write the kitaba together, because that alone would effect setting him free. If the slave were to fulfil what he had agreed on to free half of himself, and then the one who had given a kitaba for half of him was not obliged to complete his setting free, that would be in opposition to the words of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. 'If someone frees his share in a slave and has enough money to cover the full price of the slave, justly evaluated for him, he must give his partners their shares, so the slave is completely free . ' "

Malik said, "If he is not aware of that until the mukatab has met the terms or before he has met them the owner who has written him the kitaba returns what he has taken from the mukatab to him, and then he and his partner divide him according to their original shares and the kitaba is invalid. He is the slave of both of them in his original state."

Malik spoke about a mukatab who was owned by two men and one of them granted him a delay in the payment of the right which he was owed, and the other refused to defer it, and so the one who refused to defer the payment exacted his part of the due. Malik said that if the mukatab then died and left property which did not complete his kitaba, "They divide it according to what they are still owed by him. Each of them takes according to his share. If the mukatab leaves more than his kitaba, each of them takes what remains to them of the kitaba, and what remains after that is divided equally between them. If the mukatab is unable to pay his kitaba fully and the one who did not allow him to defer his payment has exacted more than his associate did, the slave is still divided equally between them, and he does not return to his associates the excess of what he has exacted, because he only exacted his right with the permission of his associate. If one of them remits what is owed to him and then his associate exacts part of what he is owed by him and then the mukatab is unable to pay, he belongs to both of them. And the one who has exacted something does not return anything because he only demanded what he was owed. That is like the debt of two men in one writing against one man. One of them grants him time to pay and the other is greedy and exacts his due. Then the debtor goes bankrupt. The one who exacted his due does not have to return any of what he took."

`Umar said, Ubai was the best of us in the recitation (of the Qur'an) yet we leave some of what he recites.' Ubai says, 'PI have taken it from the mouth of Allah's Apostle and will not leave for anything whatever." But Allah said "None of Our Revelations do We abrogate or cause to be forgotten but We substitute something better or similar." 2.106

A bedouin came to the Prophet and said, "O Allah's Apostle! Who is the best of mankind!" The Prophet said, "A man who strives for Allah's Cause with his life and property, and also a man who lives (all alone) in a mountain path among the mountain paths to worship his Lord and save the people from his evil."

The Quraysh sent me to the Messenger of Allah (saws), and when I saw the Messenger of Allah (saws), Islam was cast into my heart, so I said: Messenger of Allah, I swear by Allah, I shall never return to them. The Messenger of Allah (saws) replied: I do not break a covenant or imprison messengers, but return, and if you feel the same as you do just now, come back. So I went away, and then came to the Prophet (saws) and accepted Islam.

The narrator Bukair said: He informed me that Abu Rafi' was a Copt.

Abu Dawud said: This was valid in those days, but today it is not valid.

Once the Prophet ascended the pulpit and it was the last gathering in which he took part. He was covering his shoulder with a big cloak and binding his head with an oily bandage. He glorified and praised Allah and said, "O people! Come to me." So the people came and gathered around him and he then said, "Amma ba'du." "From now onward the Ansar will decrease and other people will increase. So anybody who becomes a ruler of the followers of Muhammad and has the power to harm or benefit people then he should accept the good from the benevolent amongst them (Ansar) and overlook the faults of their wrong-doers."

Allah's Apostle offered the funeral prayers of the martyrs of Uhud eight years after (their death), as if bidding farewell to the living and the dead, then he ascended the pulpit and said, "I am your predecessor before you, and I am a witness on you, and your promised place to meet me will be Al- Haud (i.e. the Tank) (on the Day of Resurrection), and I am (now) looking at it from this place of mine. I am not afraid that you will worship others besides Allah, but I am afraid that worldly life will tempt you and cause you to compete with each other for it." That was the last look which I cast on Allah's Apostle.

I heard my father who was the best man of his age, saying, "I heard `Aisha saying, 'I perfumed Allah's Apostle with my own hands before finishing his Ihram while yet he has not performed Tawaf-al- Ifada.' She spread her hands (while saying so.)"

The Prophet took a camel of special age from somebody on credit. Its owner came and demanded it back (harshly). The Prophet said, "No doubt, he who has a right, can demand it." Then the Prophet gave him an older camel than his camel and said, "The best amongst you is he who repays his debts in the most handsome way."

The Prophet said, "The people of my generation are the best, then those who follow them, and then whose who follow the latter. After that there will come some people whose witness will go ahead of their oaths, and their oaths will go ahead of their witness." Ibrahim (a sub-narrator) said, "We used to be beaten for taking oaths by saying, 'I bear witness by the Name of Allah or by the Covenant of Allah."

Somebody asked, "O Allah's Apostle! Who is the best among the people?" Allah's Apostle replied "A believer who strives his utmost in Allah's Cause with his life and property." They asked, "Who is next?" He replied, "A believer who stays in one of the mountain paths worshipping Allah and leaving the people secure from his mischief."

I asked my father (`Ali bin Abi Talib), "Who are the best people after Allah's Apostle ?" He said, "Abu Bakr." I asked, "Who then?" He said, "Then `Umar. " I was afraid he would say "Uthman, so I said, "Then you?" He said, "I am only an ordinary person.

We used to speak while in prayer. One of us used to speak to his brother (while in prayer) about his need, till the Verse was revealed:-- "Guard strictly the (five obligatory) prayers, especially the middle (the Best) (`Asr) Prayer and stand before Allah with obedience (and not to speak to others during the prayers)." Then we were ordered not to speak in the prayers.

Yahya related to me, and I (myself) heard Malik say, "The best that I have heard about some one who has to fast for two consecutive months because of having killed someone by mistake or having pronounced the dhihar form of divorce, becoming very ill and having to break his fast, is that if he recovers from his illness and is strong enough to fast, he must not delay doing so. He continues his fast from where he left off.

Similarly, a woman who has to fast because of having killed some one by mistake should not delay resuming her fast when she has become pure after her period. She continues her fast from where she left off.

No one who, by the Book of Allah, has to fast for two consecutive months may break his fast except for a reason - illness or menstruation. He must not travel and break his fast."

Malik said, "This is the best that I have heard about the matter."

That the Messenger of Allah (saws): "A riding animal can be ridden while it is pawned, and a milking animal can be milked while it is pawned, and it is up to the one riding and drinking (the milk) to maintain it."

[Abu 'Eisa said:] This Hadith is Hasan Sahih.

We do now know of it being Marfu' except by the narration of 'Amir Ash-Sha'bi from Abu Hurairah. Others have reported this Hadith from Al-A'mash, from Abu Salih, from Abu Hurairah in Mawquf form.

This is acted upon according to some of the people of knowledge, and it is the view of Ahmad and Ishaq.

Some of the people of knowledge said that one may not benefit in any way from what is pawned.

By chance I went to the Prophet at noon while he was at Al-Abtah (resting) in a tent. Bilal came out (of the tent) and pronounced the Adhan for the prayer, and entering again, he brought out the water which was left after Allah's Apostle had performed the ablution. The people rushed to take some of the water. Bilal again went in and brought out a spear-headed stick, and then Allah's Apostle came out. As if I were now looking at the whiteness of his leg. Bilal fixed the stick and the Prophet offered a two-rak`at Zuhr prayer and a two-rak`at `Asr prayer, while women and donkeys were passing in front of the Prophet (beyond the stick) .