I was with the Prophet (saws) when a man who was a murderer and had a strap round his neck was brought to him.

He then called the legal guardian of the victim and asked him: Do you forgive him?

He said: No. He asked: Will you accept the blood-money? He said: No. He asked: Will you kill him? He said: Yes. He said: Take him. When he turned his back, he said: Do you forgive him? He said: No. He said: Will you accept the blood-money? He said: No. He said: Will you kill him? He said: Yes. He said: Take him. After repeating all this a fourth time, he said: If you forgive him, he will bear the burden of his own sin and the sin of the victim. He then forgave him. He (the narrator) said: I saw him pulling the strap.

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that Said ibn al-Musayyab was asked whether a man who had vowed to fast a month could fast voluntarily, and Said said, "He should fulfil his vow before he does any voluntary fasting."

Malik said, "I have heard the same thing from Sulayman ibn Yasar."

Malik said, "If someone dies with an unfulfilled vow to free a slave or to fast or to give sadaqa or to give away a camel, and makes a bequest that his vow should be fulfilled from his estate, then the sadaqa or the gift of the camel are taken from one third of his estate. Preference is given to it over other bequests, except things of a similar nature, because by his vow it has become incumbent on him, and this is not the case with something he donates voluntarily. They (vows and voluntary donations) are settled from a limited one-third of his estate, and not from the whole of it, since if the dying man were free to dispose of all of his estate, he might delay settling what had become incumbent on him (i.e. his vows), so that when death came and the estate passed into the hands of his heirs, he would have bequeathed such things (i.e. his vows) that were not claimed by anyone (like debts). If that (i.e. to dispose freely of his property) were allowed him, he would delay these things (i.e. his vows) until when he was near death, he would designate them and they might take up all of his estate. He must not do that."

When the Divine Revelation: "For those who can fast, they had a choice either fast, or feed a poor for every day," (2.184) was revealed, it was permissible for one to give a ransom and give up fasting, till the Verse succeeding it was revealed and abrogated it.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi that Abdullah ibn Umar, when asked about the fear prayer said, "The imam and a group of people go forward and the imam prays a raka with them, while another group, who have not yet prayed, position themselves between him and the enemy. When those who are with him have prayed a raka they draw back to where those who have not prayed are, and do not say the taslim. Then those who have not prayed come forward and pray a raka with him. Then the imam leaves, as he has now prayed two rakas. Everyone else in the two groups stands and prays a raka by himself after the imam has left. In this way each of the two groups will have prayed two rakas. If the fear is greater than that, then the men pray standing on their feet or mounted, either facing the qibla or otherwise."

That the Prophet (saws) said: "A house without dates, its inhabitants will be hungry."

He said: There are narrations on this topic from Salma the wife of Abu Rafi'.

[Abu 'Eisa said:] This Hadith is Hasan Gharib from this route. We do not know of it to be a narration of Hisham bin 'Urwah except through this route. He said: I asked Al-Bukhari about this Hadith and he said: "I do not know of anyone who reported it other than Yahya bin Hassan."

Allah's Apostle said, "The best of the Ansar's houses are those of Bani An-Najjar, then those of Bani `Abdul Ash-hal, then those of Bani Al-Harith bin Al-Khazraj, then those of Bani Saida; but there is goodness in all the houses of the Ansar." Sa`d bin Ubada who was one of those who embraced Islam early, said, "I see that Allah's Apostle is giving others superiority above us." Some people said to him, "But he has given you superiority above many other people."

I heard `Ali saying, "Allah's Apostle sent me, Az-Zubair and Al-Miqdad somewhere saying, 'Proceed till you reach Rawdat Khakh. There you will find a lady with a letter. Take the letter from her.' " So, we set out and our horses ran at full pace till we got at Ar-Rawda where we found the lady and said (to her). "Take out the letter." She replied, "I have no letter with me." We said, "Either you take out the letter or else we will take off your clothes." So, she took it out of her braid. We brought the letter to Allah's Apostle and it contained a statement from Hatib bin Abi Balta a to some of the Meccan pagans informing them of some of the intentions of Allah's Apostle. Then Allah's Apostle said, "O Hatib! What is this?" Hatib replied, "O Allah's Apostle! Don't hasten to give your judgment about me. I was a man closely connected with the Quraish, but I did not belong to this tribe, while the other emigrants with you, had their relatives in Mecca who would protect their dependents and property . So, I wanted to recompense for my lacking blood relation to them by doing them a favor so that they might protect my dependents. I did this neither because of disbelief not apostasy nor out of preferring Kufr (disbelief) to Islam." Allah's Apostle, said, "Hatib has told you the truth." `Umar said, O Allah's Apostle! Allow me to chop off the head of this hypocrite." Allah's Apostle said, "Hatib participated in the battle of Badr, and who knows, perhaps Allah has already looked at the Badr warriors and said, 'Do whatever you like, for I have forgiven you."

Malik related to me that Zayd ibn Aslam said, "Usury in the Jahiliyya was that a man would give a loan to a man for a set term. When the term was due, he would say, 'Will you pay it off or increase me?' If the man paid, he took it. If not, he increased him in his debt and lengthened the term for him ."

Malik said, "The disapproved of way of doing things about which there is no dispute among us, is that a man should give a loan to a man for a term, and then the demander reduce it and the one from whom it is demanded pay it in advance. To us that is like someone who delays repaying his debt after it is due to his creditor and his creditor increases his debt." Malik said, "This is nothing else but usury. No doubt about it."

Malik spoke about a man who loaned one hundred dinars to a man for two terms. When it was due, the person who owed the debt said to him, "Sell me some goods, whose price is one hundred dinars in cash for one hundred and fifty on credit." Malik said, "This transaction is not good, and the people of knowledge still forbid it."

Malik said, "This is disapproved of because the creditor himself gives the debtor the price of what the man sells him, and he defers repayment of the hundred of the first transaction for the debtor for the term which is mentioned to him in the second transaction, and the debtor increases him with fifty dinars for his deferring him. That is disapproved of and it is not good. It also resembles the hadith of Zayd ibn Aslam about the transactions of the people of the Jahiliyya. When their debts were due, they said to the person with the debt, 'Either you pay in full or you increase it.' If they paid, they took it, and if not they increased debtors in their debts, and extended the term for them."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Zayd ibn Aslam from Ata ibn Yasar that Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan sold a gold or silver drinking- vessel for more than its weight. Abu'dDarda said, "I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, forbidding such sales except like for like." Muawiya said to him, "I don't see any harm in it." Abu'd-Darda said to him, "Who will excuse me from Muawiya? I tell him something from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and he gives me his own opinion! I will not live in the same land as you!" Then Abu'd-Darda went to Umar ibn al-Khattab and mentioned that to him. Umar ibn al-Khattab therefore wrote to Muawiya, "Do not sell it except like for like, weight for weight."

‘Asim said : I said : Abu ‘Uthman! Two men testified before you. Who are they? He said : One of them is the one who is first to shoot arrow in the path of Allah or in the path of Islam, that is to say : Sa’d b. Malik. The other is the one came from al-Taif with ten and some men on foot. He then mentioned his excellence.

Abu Dawud said : When al-Nufaili mentioned this tradition, he said : I swear by Allah, this is sweater with me than honey, that is no say, his way transmission.

Abu ‘Ali said : I heard Abu Dawud say : I heard Ahmad say : The people of Kufah have no light in their traditions. I did not see them like the people of Basrah. They learnt it from Shu’bah.

I was working in the market. A woman passed carrying a child. The people rushed towards her, and I also rushed along with them.

I then went to the Prophet (saws) while he was asking: Who is the father of this (child) who is with you? She remained silent.

A young man by her side said: I am his father, Messenger of Allah!

He then turned towards her and asked: Who is the father of this child with you?

The young man said: I am his father, Messenger of Allah! The Messenger of Allah (saws) then looked at some of those who were around him and asked them about him. They said: We only know good (about him).

The Prophet (saws) said to him: Are you married? He said: Yes. So he gave orders regarding him and he was stoned to death.

He (the narrator) said: We took him out, dug a pit for him and put him in it. We then threw stones at him until he died. A man then came asking about the man who was stoned.

We brought him to the Prophet (saws) and said: This man has come asking about the wicked man.

The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: He is more agreeable than the fragrance of musk in the eyes of Allah. The man was his father. We then helped him in washing, shrouding and burying him. (The narrator said:) I do not know whether he said or did not say "in praying over him." This is the tradition of Abdah, and it is more accurate.

Once the Messenger of Allah (saws) intended to go on an expedition. He said: O group of the emigrants (Muhajirun) and the helpers (Ansar), among your brethren there are people who have neither property nor family. So one of you should take with him two or three persons; with me. I also rode on my camel by turns like one of them.

I took `Abdullah bin Abu Talha to Allah's Apostle to perform Tahnik for him. (Tahnik was a custom among the Muslims that whenever a child was born they used to take it to the Prophet who would chew a piece of date and put a part of its juice in the child's mouth). I saw the Prophet and he had an instrument for branding in his hands and was branding the camels of Zakat.

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."

Once we accompanied the Messenger of Allah (saws) on a journey. When we reached near Medina, the people began to say aloud: "Allah is most great," and they raised their voice.

The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: O people, you are not supplicating one who is deaf and absent, but you are supplicating One Who is nearer to you than the neck of your riding beast.

The Messenger of Allah (saws) then said: AbuMusa, should I not point out to you one of the treasures of Paradise?

I asked: What is that?

He replied: "There is no might and there is no power except in Allah"

Hassan came to Aisha and said the following poetic Verse: 'A chaste pious woman who arouses no suspicion. She never talks against chaste heedless women behind their backs.' `Aisha said, "But you are not," I said (to `Aisha), "Why do you allow such a person to enter upon you after Allah has revealed: "...and as for him among them who had the greater share therein'?" (24.11) She said, "What punishment is worse than blindness?" She added, "And he used to defend Allah's Apostle against the pagans (in his poetry).

Musailima Al-Kadhdhab came during the lifetime of the Prophet and started saying, "If Muhammad gives me the rule after him, I will follow him." And he came to Medina with a great number of the people of his tribe. Allah's Apostle went to him in the company of Thabit bin Qais bin Shammas, and at that time, Allah's Apostle had a stick of a date-palm tree in his hand. When he (i.e. the Prophet ) stopped near Musailima while the latter was amidst his companions, he said to him, "If you ask me for this piece (of stick), I will not give it to you, and Allah's Order you cannot avoid, (but you will be destroyed), and if you turn your back from this religion, then Allah will destroy you. And I think you are the same person who was shown to me in my dream, and this is Thabit bin Qais who will answer your questions on my behalf." Then the Prophet went away from him. I asked about the statement of Allah's Apostle : "You seem to be the same person who was shown to me in my dream," and Abu Huraira informed me that Allah's Apostle said, "When I was sleeping, I saw (in a dream) two bangles of gold on my hands and that worried me. And then I was inspired Divinely in the dream that I should blow on them, so I blew on them and both the bangles flew away. And I interpreted it that two liars (who would claim to be prophets) would appear after me. One of them has proved to be Al Ansi and the other, Musailima."

A Jewess came to ask `Aisha (the wife of the Prophet) about something. She said to her, "May Allah give you refuge from the punishment of the grave." So `Aisha ' asked Allah's Apostle "Would the people be punished in their graves?" Allah's Apostle after seeking refuge with Allah from the punishment of the grave (and thus replied in the affirmative). Then one day, Allah's Apostle rode to go to some place but the sun eclipsed. He returned in the forenoon and passed through the rear of the dwellings (of his wives) and stood for the (eclipse) prayer, and the people stood behind him. He stood up for a long period and then performed a prolonged bowing which was shorter than the first bowing. Then he raised his head and prostrated. Then he stood up (for the second rak`a) for a long while but the standing was shorter than that of the first rak`a. Then he performed a prolonged bowing which was shorter than the first one. Then he raised his head and prostrated. Then he stood up for a long time but shorter than the first. Then he performed a prolonged bowing but shorter than the first. Then he raised his head and prostrated and finished the prayer and (then delivered the sermon and) said as much as Allah wished. And then he ordered the people to seek refuge with Allah from the punishment of the grave.

I was stricken by an ailment that led me to the verge of death. The Prophet came to pay me a visit. I said, "O Allah's Apostle! I have much property and no heir except my single daughter. Shall I give two-thirds of my property in charity?" He said, "No." I said, "Half of it?" He said, "No." I said, "Onethird of it?" He said, "You may do so) though one-third is also to a much, for it is better for you to leave your off-spring wealthy than to leave them poor, asking others for help. And whatever you spend (for Allah's sake) you will be rewarded for it, even for a morsel of food which you may put in the mouth of your wife." I said, "O Allah's Apostle! Will I remain behind and fail to complete my emigration?" The Prophet said, "If you are left behind after me, whatever good deeds you will do for Allah's sake, that will upgrade you and raise you high. May be you will have long life so that some people may benefit by you and others (the enemies) be harmed by you." But Allah's Apostle felt sorry for Sa`d bin Khaula as he died in Mecca. (Sufyan, a sub-narrator said that Sa`d bin Khaula was a man from the tribe of Bani 'Amir bin Lu'ai.)

The tradition mentioned above has been transmitted by Sulaiman bin Yasar. This version has “Then some dates were brought to the Apostle of Allaah(saws) and he gave it him. They measured about fifteen sa’s “. He said “Give them in alms”. He said “Is there anyone needier than I and my family. Apostle of Allaah(saws)?” The Apostle of Allaah(saws) said “Eat them, you and your family.”

Yahya related to me from Malik that he heard Ibn Shihab say, "The woman who is absolutely divorced does not leave her house until she is free to remarry. She has no maintenance unless she is pregnant. In that circumstance the husband spends on her until she gives birth."

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

Yahya related to me from Malik that Yahya ibn Said said that he heard Said ibn al-Musayyab say, "I once prayed behind Abu Hurayra over a child who had never done a wrong action and I heard him say, 'O Allah, give him protection from the torment of the grave.' "

l entered a house in Medina with Abu Huraira, and he saw a man making pictures at the top of the house. Abu Huraira said, "I heard Allah's Apostle saying that Allah said, 'Who would be more unjust than the one who tries to create the like of My creatures? Let them create a grain: let them create a gnat.' "Abu Huraira then asked for a water container and washed his arms up to his armpits. I said, "0 Abu i Huraira! Is this something you have heard I from Allah's Apostle?" He said, "The limit for ablution is up to the place where the ornaments will reach on the Day of Resurrection.'

We went out with the Messenger of Allah (saws) to Najd. When we reached Dhat ar-Riqa at Nakhl (or in a valley with palm trees) he met a group of the tribe of Ghatafan. The narrator then reported the tradition to the same effect, but his version is other than that of Haywah. He added to the words "when he bowed along with those who were with him and prostrated" the words "when they stood up, they retraced their footsteps to the rows of their companions". He did not mention the words "their back was towards the qiblah".

When the people of Medina dethroned Yazid bin Muawiya, Ibn `Umar gathered his special friends and children and said, "I heard the Prophet saying, 'A flag will be fixed for every betrayer on the Day of Resurrection,' and we have given the oath of allegiance to this person (Yazid) in accordance with the conditions enjoined by Allah and His Apostle and I do not know of anything more faithless than fighting a person who has been given the oath of allegiance in accordance with the conditions enjoined by Allah and His Apostle , and if ever I learn that any person among you has agreed to dethrone Yazid, by giving the oath of allegiance (to somebody else) then there will be separation between him and me."

Malik said, "It is not halal to marry a christian or jewish slave-girl because Allah the Blessed, the Exalted, said in His Book, 'Believing women who are muhsanat and women of those who were given the Book before you who are muhsanat', (sura 5 ayat 6) and they are free women from the Christians and Jews. Allah, the Blessed, the Exalted, said in His Book, 'If you are not affluent enough to marry believing women who are muhsanat, take believing slave-girls whom your right hands own.' " (Sura 4 ayat 24)

Malik said, "In our opinion, Allah made marriage to believing slave-girls halal, and He did not make halal marriage to christian and jewish slave-girls from the People of the Book."

Malik said, "The christian and jewish slave-girl are halal for their master by right of possession, but intercourse with a magian slave-girl is not halal by the right of possession."

Malik related to me from Ibn Shihab from Said ibn al-Musayyab that Uthman ibn Affan said, "If someone gives something to his small child who is not old enough to look after it himself, and in order that his gift might be permitted he makes the gift public and has it witnessed, the gift is permitted, even if the father keeps charge of it."

Malik said, "What is done in our community is that if a man gives his small child some gold or silver and then dies and he has it in his own keeping, the child has none of it unless the father set it aside in coin or placed it with a man to keep for the son. If he does that, it is permitted for the son."

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?"

Allah's Apostle said, "A man bought a piece of land from another man, and the buyer found an earthenware jar filled with gold in the land. The buyer said to the seller. 'Take your gold, as I have bought only the land from you, but I have not bought the gold from you.' The (former) owner of the land said, "I have sold you the land with everything in it.' So both of them took their case before a man who asked, 'Do you have children?' One of them said, "I have a boy.' The other said, "I have a girl.' The man said, 'Marry the girl to the boy and spend the money on both of them and give the rest of it in charity.'"