I said, "O Allah's Apostle! What is the meaning of the white thread distinct from the black thread? Are these two threads?" He said, "You are not intelligent if you watch the two threads." He then added, "No, it is the darkness of the night and the whiteness of the day.''

The Prophet (saws) said: If anyone finds an animal whose owners were helpless to provide fodder to it and so they turned it out (of their house), and he took it and looked after it, it will belong to him.

Abu Dawud said: This is the tradition of Hammad. It is more plain and perfect.

I asked Anas, "Tell me about the name 'Al-Ansar.; Did you call yourselves by it or did Allah call you by it?" He said, "Allah called us by it." We used to visit Anas (at Basra) and he used to narrate to us the virtues and deeds of the Ansar, and he used to address me or a person from the tribe of Al-Azd and say, "Your tribe did so-and-so on such-and-such a day."

Allah's Apostle bought some foodstuff from a Jew and mortgaged his armor to him.

The Prophet had a she-camel called Al-`Adba' and it was too fast to surpass in speed. There came a bedouin riding a camel of his, and that camel outstripped it (i.e. Al-Aqba'). That result was hard on the Muslims who said sorrowfully, "Al- Adba has been outstripped." Allah's Apostle said, "It is due from Allah that nothing would be raised high in this world except that He lowers or puts it down."

I was a guest of Abu Huraira for seven days. Abu Huraira, his wife and his slave used to get up and remain awake for one-third of the night by turns. Each would offer the night prayer and then awaken the other. I heard Abu Huraira saying, "Allah's Apostle distributed dates among his companions and my share was seven dates, one of which was a Hashafa (a date which dried on the tree before it was fully ripe).

Do you make us (women) equal to dogs and donkeys? While I used to lie in my bed, the Prophet would come and pray facing the middle of the bed. I used to consider it not good to stand in front of him in his prayers. So I used to slip away slowly and quietly from the foot of the bed till I got out of my guilt.

The Prophet (p.b.u.h) offered the funeral prayer of a man one night after he was buried, he and his companions stood up (for the Prayer). He had asked them about him before standing, saying, "Who is this?" They said, "He is so and so and was buried last night." So all of them offered the funeral prayer.

A man was crushed to death by his she-camel and was brought to Allah's Apostle who said, "Give him a bath and shroud him, but do not cover his head, and do not bring any perfume near to him, as he will be resurrected reciting Talbiya."

The Prophet said, "Last night I saw (in a dream) two men coming to me. One of them said, "The person who kindles the fire is Malik, the gate-keeper of the (Hell) Fire, and I am Gabriel, and this is Michael."

The Prophet said, "None spoke in cradle but three: (The first was) Jesus, (the second was), there a man from Bani Israel called Juraij. While he was offering his prayers, his mother came and called him. He said (to himself), 'Shall I answer her or keep on praying?" (He went on praying) and did not answer her, his mother said, "O Allah! Do not let him die till he sees the faces of prostitutes." So while he was in his hermitage, a lady came and sought to seduce him, but he refused. So she went to a shepherd and presented herself to him to commit illegal sexual intercourse with her and then later she gave birth to a child and claimed that it belonged to Juraij. The people, therefore, came to him and dismantled his hermitage and expelled him out of it and abused him. Juraij performed the ablution and offered prayer, and then came to the child and said, 'O child! Who is your father?' The child replied, 'The shepherd.' (After hearing this) the people said, 'We shall rebuild your hermitage of gold,' but he said, 'No, of nothing but mud.'(The third was the hero of the following story) A lady from Bani Israel was nursing her child at her breast when a handsome rider passed by her. She said, 'O Allah ! Make my child like him.' On that the child left her breast, and facing the rider said, 'O Allah! Do not make me like him.' The child then started to suck her breast again. (Abu Huraira further said, "As if I were now looking at the Prophet sucking his finger (in way of demonstration.") After a while the people passed by, with a lady slave and she (i.e. the child's mother) said, 'O Allah! Do not make my child like this (slave girl)!, On that the child left her breast and said, 'O Allah! Make me like her.' When she asked why, the child replied, 'The rider is one of the tyrants while this slave girl is falsely accused of theft and illegal sexual intercourse."

Al-Aqra', the mu'adhdhin (announcer) of Umar ibn al-Khattab said: Umar sent me to a bishop and I called him.

Umar said to him: Do you find me in the Book? He said: Yes. He asked: How do you find me? He said: I find you (like a) castle. Then he raised a whip to him, saying: What do you mean by castle? He replied: An iron castle and severely trustworthy. He asked: How do you find the one who will come after me? He said: I find him a pious caliph, except that he will prefer his relatives. Umar said: May Allah have mercy on Uthman: He said it three times. He then asked: How do you find the one who will come after him?

He replied: I find him like rusty iron. Umar then put his hand on his head, and said: O filthy! O filthy! He said: Commander of the Faithful! He is a pious caliph, but when he is made caliph, the sword will be unsheathed and blood will be shed.

Abu Dawud said: Al-dafr means filth or evil smell.

A hadith like this has been narrated by A'mash by the same chain of transmitters

The family of Muhammad had never eaten their fill of wheat bread for three successive days since they had migrated to Medina till the death of the Prophet.

I saw Safwan and Jundab and Safwan's companions when Jundab was advising. They said, "Did you hear something from Allah's Apostle?" Jundab said, "I heard him saying, 'Whoever does a good deed in order to show off, Allah will expose his intentions on the Day of Resurrection (before the people), and whoever puts the people into difficulties, Allah will put him into difficulties on the Day of Resurrection.'" The people said (to Jundab), "Advise us." He said, "The first thing of the human body to purify is the `Abdomen, so he who can eat nothing but good food (Halal and earned lawfully) should do so, and he who does as much as he can that nothing intervene between him and Paradise by not shedding even a handful of blood, (i.e. murdering) should do so."

Once the Prophet distributed dates among his companions and gave each one seven dates. He gave me seven dates too, one of which was dry and hard, but none of the other dates was more liked by me than that one, for it prolonged my chewing it.

The Prophet forbade us to drink out of gold and silver vessels, or eat in it, Ann also forbade the wearing of silk and Dibaj or sitting on it.

I offered the prayer with `Ali in Basra and he made us remember the prayer which we used to pray with Allah's Apostle. `Ali said Takbir on each rising and bowing.

"The Messenger of Allah got a camel in advance. Some camels from the charity." Abu Rafi' said: "So the Messenger of Allah (saws) told me to pay the man back for his camel. I said: 'I did not find among the camels but a superior selection of Raba'. The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: 'Give it to him, for indeed the base of people is the best of them in repaying.'"

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

The Prophet said, "I know the person who will be the last to come out of the (Hell) Fire, and the last to enter Paradise. He will be a man who will come out of the (Hell) Fire crawling, and Allah will say to him, 'Go and enter Paradise.' He will go to it, but he will imagine that it had been filled, and then he will return and say, 'O Lord, I have found it full.' Allah will say, 'Go and enter Paradise, and you will have what equals the world and ten times as much (or, you will have as much as ten times the like of the world).' On that, the man will say, 'Do you mock at me (or laugh at me) though You are the King?" I saw Allah's Apostle (while saying that) smiling that his premolar teeth became visible. It is said that will be the lowest in degree amongst the people of Paradise.

Today a man came to me and asked me a question which I did not know how to answer. He said, "Tell me, if a wealthy active man, well-equipped with arms, goes out on military expeditions with our chiefs, and orders us to do such things as we cannot do (should we obey him?)" I replied, "By Allah, I do not know what to reply you, except that we, were in the company of the Prophet and he used to order us to do a thing once only till we finished it. And no doubt, everyone among you will remain in a good state as long as he obeys Allah. If one is in doubt as to the legality of something, he should ask somebody who would satisfy him, but soon will come a time when you will not find such a man. By Him, except Whom none has the right to be worshipped. I see that the example of what has passed of this life (to what remains thereof) is like a pond whose fresh water has been used up and nothing remains but muddy water."

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.'"

A man came to Allah's Apostle and said, "O Allah's Apostle! I am ruined!" The Prophet said, "Waihaka (May Allah be merciful to you) !" The man said, "I have done sexual intercourse with my wife while fasting in Ramadan." The Prophet said, "Manumit a slave." The man said, " I cannot afford that. " The Prophet said; "Then fast for two successive months." The man said, " I have no power to do so." The Prophet said, "Then feed sixty poor persons." The man said, "I have nothing (to feed sixty persons). Later a basket full of dates were brought to the Prophet and he said (to the man), "Take it and give it in charity." The man said, "O Allah's Apostle! Shall I give it to people other than my family? By Him in Whose Hand my life is, there is nobody poorer than me in the whole city of Medina." The Prophet smiled till his premolar teeth became visible, and said, "Take it." Az-Zuhri said (that the Prophet said). "Wailaka."

I heard Allah's Apostle, in the year of the Conquest of Mecca, saying, "Allah and His Apostle made illegal the trade of alcohol, dead animals, pigs and idols." The people asked, "O Allah's Apostle! What about the fat of dead animals, for it was used for greasing the boats and the hides; and people use it for lights?" He said, "No, it is illegal." Allah's Apostle further said, "May Allah curse the Jews, for Allah made the fat (of animals) illegal for them, yet they melted the fat and sold it and ate its price."

The Prophet had big hands, and I have never seen anybody like him after him. The hair of the Prophet was wavy, neither curly nor straight.

The Prophet used to seek Refuge with Allah for Al-Hasan and Al-Husain and say: "Your forefather (i.e. Abraham) used to seek Refuge with Allah for Ishmael and Isaac by reciting the following: 'O Allah! I seek Refuge with Your Perfect Words from every devil and from poisonous pests and from every evil, harmful, envious eye.' "

Abu Huraira has narrated this hadith with a slight variation of words.

This hadith bu been narrated on the authority of Abu Sa'id Khudri through another chain of transmitters.