Malik related to me that he had heard that Abdullah ibn Umar was asked whether a slave could be bought on the specific condition that it was to be used to fulfil the obligation of freeing a slave, and he said, "No."

Malik said, "That is the best of what I have heard on the obligation of freeing slaves. Someone who has to set a slave free because of an obligation on him, may not buy one on the condition that he sets it free because if he does that, whatever he buys is not completely a slave because he has reduced its price by the condition he has made of setting it free."

Malik added, "There is no harm, however, in someone buying a person expressly to set him free."

Malik said, "The best of what I have heard on the obligation of freeing slaves is that it is not permitted to free a christian or a jew to fulfil it, and one does not free a mukatab or a mudabbar or an umm walad or a slave to be freed after a certain number of years, or a blind person. There is no harm in freeing a christian, jew, or magian voluntarily, because Allah, the Blessed, the Exalted, said in His Book, 'either as a favour then or by ransom,' (Sura 47 ayat 4) The favour is setting free."

Malik said, "As for obligations of freeing slaves which Allah has mentioned in the Book, one only frees a mumin slave for them."

Malik said, "It is like that in feeding poor people for kaffara. One must only feed muslims and one does not feed anyone outside of the deen of Islam."

Allah's Apostle was informed about my fasts, and he came to me and I spread for him a leather cushion stuffed with palm fires, but he sat on the ground and the cushion remained between me and him, and then he said, "Isn't it sufficient for you to fast three days a month?" I replied, "O Allah's Apostle! (I can fast more)." He said, "Five?" I replied, "O Allah's Apostle! (I can fast more)." He said, "Seven?" I replied, "O Allah's Apostle! (I can fast more)." He said, "Nine (days per month)?" I replied, "O Allah's Apostle! (I can fast more)" He said, "Eleven (days per month)?" And then the Prophet said, "There is no fast superior to that of the Prophet David it was for half of the year. So, fast on alternate days."

The Prophet came visiting me while I was (sick) in Mecca, ('Amir the sub-narrator said, and he disliked to die in the land, whence he had already migrated). He (i.e. the Prophet) said, "May Allah bestow His Mercy on Ibn Afra (Sa`d bin Khaula)." I said, "O Allah's Apostle! May I will all my property (in charity)?" He said, "No." I said, "Then may I will half of it?" He said, "No". I said, "One third?" He said: "Yes, one third, yet even one third is too much. It is better for you to leave your inheritors wealthy than to leave them poor begging others, and whatever you spend for Allah's sake will be considered as a charitable deed even the handful of food you put in your wife's mouth. Allah may lengthen your age so that some people may benefit by you, and some others be harmed by you." At that time Sa`d had only one daughter.

The news of my fasting was mentioned to the Prophet . So he entered upon me and I put for him a leather cushion stuffed with palm-fibres. The Prophet sat on the floor and the cushion was between me and him. He said to me, "Isn't it sufficient for you (that you fast) three days a month?" I said, "O Allah's Apostle! (I can fast more than this)." He said, "You may fast) five days a month." I said, "O Allah's Apostle! (I can fast more than this)." He said, "(You may fast) seven days." I said, "O Allah's Apostle!" He said, "Nine." I said, "O Allah's Apostle!" He said, "Eleven." I said, "O Allah's Apostle!" He said, "No fasting is superior to the fasting of (the Prophet David) which was one half of a year, and he used, to fast on alternate days. (See Hadith No. 300, Vol 3)

That the Messenger of Allah (saws) said: "Dying in the cause of Allah expiates every sin." Jibril said: "Except for debt." So the Messenger of Allah (saws) said: "Except the debt."

[Abu 'Eisa said:] There are narrations on this topic from Ka'b bin 'Ujrah, Jabir, Abu Hurairah, and Abu Qatadah. This Hadith is Gharib, we do not know of it as a Hadith of Abu Bakr (a narrator) except from this Shaikh (Yahya bin Talhah)

He said: I asked Muhammad bin Isma'il about this Hadith and he did not know it. He said: "I think that he intended the Hadith of Humaid, from Anas, from the Prophet (saws) that he said: 'There is none from the people of Paradise who would like to return to the world except for the martyr.'"

Yahya related to me from Malik that Yahya ibn Said heard Jamil ibn Abd ar-Rahman the Muadhdhin say to Said ibn al-Musayyab, "I am a man who buys whatever Allah wills of the receipts for the provisions which people are offered at al-Jar. I want to take payment for goods that I guarantee to deliver at a future date." Said said to him, "Do you intend to settle these things with receipts for provisions you have bought?" He said, "Yes." So he forbade that.

Malik said, "The generally agreed on way of doing things among us in which there is no dispute, about buying food - wheat, barley, durra-sorghum, pearl millet, or any pulse or anything resembling pulses on which zakat is obliged, or condiments of any sort - oil, ghee, honey, vinegar, cheese, sesame oil, milk and so on, is that the buyer should not re- sell any of that until he has taken possession and complete delivery of it.

Ibn `Umar never offered the Duha prayer except on two occasions: (1) Whenever he reached Mecca; and he always used to reach Mecca in the forenoon. He would perform Tawaf round the Ka`ba and then offer two rak`at at the rear of Maqam Ibrahim. (2) Whenever he visited Quba, for he used to visit it every Saturday. When he entered the Mosque, he disliked to leave it without offering a prayer. Ibn `Umar narrated that Allah's Apostle used to visit the Mosque of Quba (sometime) walking and (sometime) riding. And he (i.e. Ibn `Umar) used to say, "I do only what my companions used to do and I don't forbid anybody to pray at any time during the day or night except that one should not intend to pray at sunrise or sunset."

That the Messenger of Allah (saws) said: "Every intoxicant is unlawful. Whatever a Faraq of it intoxicates, then a handful of it is unlawful."

[Abu 'Eisa said:] One of them said in his Hadith: "A sip of it is unlawful."

He said: This Hadith is Hasan. Al-Laith bin Abi Sulaim and Ar-Rabi' bin Sabih reported similar to the narration of Mahdi bin Maimun from Abu 'Uthman Al-Ansari. Abu 'Uthman Al-Ansari's (a narrator in this chain) name is 'Amr bin Salim, and they say: "Umar bin Salim" (as well).

The Prophet (saws) said: The mu'adhdhin will receive forgiveness to the extent to which his voice reaches, and every moist and dry place will testify on his behalf; and he who attends (the congregation of) prayer will have twenty-five prayers recorded for him and will have expiation for sins committed between every two times of prayer.

Ibn 'Umar (Allah be pleased with them) reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) having forbidden Muzabana, and Muzabana is the selling of dry dates by measure for fresh dates and the selling of raisins by measure for grapes and selling of all Ports of fruits on the basis of calculation.

Allah's Apostle gave a verdict regarding Shuf'a in every undivided joint thing (property). But if the limits are defined (or demarcated) or the ways and streets are fixed, then there is no pre-emption.

When Allah Apostle was in Ta'if (trying to conquer it), he said to his companions, "Tomorrow we will return (to Medina), if Allah wills." Some of the companions of Allah's Apostle said, "We will not leave till we conquer it." The Prophet said, "Therefore, be ready to fight tomorrow." On the following day, they (Muslims) fought fiercely (with the people of Ta'if) and suffered many wounds. Then Allah's Apostle said, "Tomorrow we will return (to Medina), if Allah wills." His companions kept quiet this time. Allah's Apostle then smiled.

(the wife of the Prophet) A group of Jews entered upon the Prophet and said, "As-Samu-Alaikum." (i.e. death be upon you). I understood it and said, "Wa-Alaikum As-Samu wal-la'n. (death and the curse of Allah be Upon you)." Allah's Apostle said "Be calm, O `Aisha! Allah loves that on, should be kind and lenient in all matters." I said, "O Allah's Apostle! Haven't you heard what they (the Jews) have said?" Allah's Apostle said "I have (already) said (to them) "And upon you ! "

The Prophet said, "A wound which a Muslim receives in Allah's cause will appear on the Day of Resurrection as it was at the time of infliction; blood will be flowing from the wound and its color will be that of the blood but will smell like musk."

Allah's Apostle decided the validity of preemption in every joint undivided property, but if the boundaries were well marked or the ways and streets were fixed, then there was no pre-emption.

The Prophet said, "The most true words said by a poet was the words of Labid." He said, Verily, Everything except Allah is perishable and Umaiya bin As-Salt was about to be a Muslim (but he did not embrace Islam).

The Prophet (saws) sent Mu`adh to Yemen and said, "Invite the people to testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and I am Allah's Apostle, and if they obey you to do so, then teach them that Allah has enjoined on them five prayers in every day and night (in twenty-four hours), and if they obey you to do so, then teach them that Allah has made it obligatory for them to pay the Zakat from their property and it is to be taken from the wealthy among them and given to the poor."

The Messenger of Allah (saws) concluded peace with the people of Najran on condition that they would pay to Muslims two thousand suits of garments, half of Safar, and the rest in Rajab, and they would lend (Muslims) thirty coats of mail, thirty horses, thirty camels, and thirty weapons of each type used in battle. Muslims will stand surely for them until they return them in case there is any plot or treachery in the Yemen. No church of theirs will be demolished and no clergyman of theirs will be turned out. There will be no interruption in their religion until they bring something new or take usury. Isma'il said: They took usury.

Abu Dawud said: If they violate any provision of the treaty, they will be deemed as bringing something new.

`Abdullah bin `Umar used to do Rami of the Jamrat-ud-Dunya with seven small pebbles and used to recite Takbir on throwing each stone. He, then, would proceed further till he reached the level ground, where he would stay for a long time, facing the Qibla to invoke (Allah) while raising his hands. Then he would do Rami of the Jamrat-ul-Wusta similarly and would go to the left towards the level ground, where he would stand for a long time facing the Qibla to invoke (Allah) while raising his hands. Then he would do Rami of the Jamrat-ul-Aqaba from the middle of the valley, but he would not stay by it. Ibn `Umar used to say, "I saw Allah's Apostle doing like that."

Allah's Apostle said, "Allah said, 'All the deeds of Adam's sons (people) are for them, except fasting which is for Me, and I will give the reward for it.' Fasting is a shield or protection from the fire and from committing sins. If one of you is fasting, he should avoid sexual relation with his wife and quarreling, and if somebody should fight or quarrel with him, he should say, 'I am fasting.' By Him in Whose Hands my soul is' The unpleasant smell coming out from the mouth of a fasting person is better in the sight of Allah than the smell of musk. There are two pleasures for the fasting person, one at the time of breaking his fast, and the other at the time when he will meet his Lord; then he will be pleased because of his fasting."

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard from Amir ibn Sad ibn Abi Waqqas that his father said, "There were two brothers, one of whom died forty nights before the other. The merit of the first was being mentioned in the presence of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and he said, 'Wasn't the other one a muslim?' They said, 'Of course, Messenger of Allah, and there was no harm in him.' The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'What will make you realise what his prayer has brought him. The prayer is like a deep river of sweet water running by your door into which you plunge five times a day. How much of your dirtiness do you think that will leave? You do not realise what his prayer has brought him.' "

The Prophet said, "The best of the Ansar families (homes) are the families (homes) of Banu An- Najjar, and then that of Banu `Abdul Ash-hal, and then that of Banu Al-Harith, and then that of Banu Saida; and there is good in all the families (homes) of the Ansar." Sa`d bin 'Ubada followed us and said, "O Abu Usaid ! Don't you see that the Prophet compared the Ansar and made us the last of them in superiority? Then Sa`d met the Prophet and said, "O Allah's Apostle! In comparing the Ansar's families (homes) as to the degree of superiority, you have made us the last of them." Allah's Apostle replied, "Isn't it sufficient that you are regarded amongst the best?"

I saw a person praying at Muqam-Ibrahim (the place of Abraham by the Ka`ba) and he was saying Takbir on every bowing, rising, standing and sitting. I asked Ibn `Abbas (about this prayer). He admonished me saying: "Isn't that the prayer of the Prophet?"