Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi from Abdullah ibn Umar that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "I dreamt at night that I was at the Kaba, and I saw a dark man like the most handsome of dark men you have ever seen. He had hair reaching to between his ears and his shoulders like the most excellent of such hair that you have seen. He had combed his hair, and water was dripping from it. He was leaning on two men or on the shoulders of two men doing tawaf around Kaba. I asked, 'Who is this?' It was said, 'al- Masih ibn Maryam.' Then we were with a man with wiry hair and blind in his right eye, as if it was a floating grape. I asked 'Who is this?' It was said to me, 'This is al-Masih ad-Dajjal.' "

The Prophet used to construct a loom with a Hasir at night m order to pray therein, and during the day he used to spread it out and sit on it. The people started coming to the Prophet at night to offer the prayer behind him When their number increased, the Prophet faced them and said. O people! Do only those good deeds which you can do, for Allah does not get tired (of giving reward) till you get tired, and the best deeds to Allah are the incessant ones though they were few.

I heard Allah's Apostle saying, "From my followers there will enter Paradise a crowd, seventy thousand in number, whose faces will glitter as the moon does when it is full." On hearing that, 'Ukasha bin Mihsan Al-Asdi got up, lifting his covering sheet, and said, "O Allah's Apostle! Invoke Allah that He may make me one of them." The Prophet said, "O Allah, make him one of them." Another man from the Ansar got up and said, "O Allah's Apostle! Invoke Allah to make me one of them. "The Prophet said (to him), "'Ukasha has preceded you."

We came to the Prophet and stayed with him for twenty days and nights. We were all young and of about the same age. The Prophet was very kind and merciful. When he realized our longing for our families, he asked about our homes and the people there and we told him. Then he asked us to go back to our families and stay with them and teach them (the religion) and to order them to do good things. He also mentioned some other things which I have (remembered or [??] ) forgotten. The Prophet then added, "Pray as you have seen me praying and when it is the time for the prayer one of you should pronounce the Adhan and the oldest of you should lead the prayer.

The Prophet "Whoever gets up at night and says: -- 'La ilaha il-lallah Wahdahu la Sharika lahu Lahu-lmulk, waLahu-l-hamd wahuwa 'ala kullishai'in Qadir. Al hamdu lil-lahi wa subhanal-lahi wa la-ilaha il-lal-lah wa-l-lahu akbar wa la hawla Wala Quwata il-la-bil-lah.' (None has the right to be worshipped but Allah. He is the Only One and has no partners . For Him is the Kingdom and all the praises are due for Him. He is Omnipotent. All the praises are for Allah. All the glories are for Allah. And none has the right to be worshipped but Allah, And Allah is Great And there is neither Might nor Power Except with Allah). And then says: -- Allahumma, Ighfir li (O Allah! Forgive me). Or invokes (Allah), he will be responded to and if he performs ablution (and prays), his prayer will be accepted."

When Abu Huraira accompanied by his slave set out intending to embrace Islam they lost each other on the way. The slave then came while Abu Huraira was sitting with the Prophet. The Prophet said, "O Abu Huraira! Your slave has come back." Abu Huraira said, "Indeed, I would like you to witness that I have manumitted him." That happened at the time when Abu Huraira recited (the following poetic verse):-- 'What a long tedious tiresome night! Nevertheless, it has delivered us From the land of Kufr (disbelief).

We were in the company of Allah's Apostle at Al-Hudaibiya in the state of Ihram and the pagans did not allow us to proceed (to the Ka`ba). I had thick hair and lice started falling on my face. The Prophet passed by me and said, "Are the lice of your head troubling you?" I replied, Yes." (The sub-narrator added, "Then the following Divine Verse was revealed:-- "And if anyone of you is ill or has an ailment in his scalp, (necessitating shaving) must pay a ransom (Fida) of either fasting or feeding the poor, Or offering a sacrifice." (2.196)

Allah's Apostle sent `Abdullah bin 'Atik and `Abdullah bin `Utba with a group of men to Abu Rafi` (to kill him). They proceeded till they approached his castle, whereupon `Abdullah bin Atik said to them, "Wait (here), and in the meantime I will go and see." `Abdullah said later on, "I played a trick in order to enter the castle. By chance, they lost a donkey of theirs and came out carrying a flaming light to search for it. I was afraid that they would recognize me, so I covered my head and legs and pretended to answer the call to nature. The gatekeeper called, 'Whoever wants to come in, should come in before I close the gate.' So I went in and hid myself in a stall of a donkey near the gate of the castle. They took their supper with Abu Rafi` and had a chat till late at night. Then they went back to their homes. When the voices vanished and I no longer detected any movement, I came out. I had seen where the gate-keeper had kept the key of the castle in a hole in the wall. I took it and unlocked the gate of the castle, saying to myself, 'If these people should notice me, I will run away easily.' Then I locked all the doors of their houses from outside while they were inside, and ascended to Abu Rafi` by a staircase. I saw the house in complete darkness with its light off, and I could not know where the man was. So I called, 'O Abu Rafi`!' He replied, 'Who is it?' I proceeded towards the voice and hit him. He cried loudly but my blow was futile. Then I came to him, pretending to help him, saying with a different tone of my voice, ' What is wrong with you, O Abu Rafi`?' He said, 'Are you not surprised? Woe on your mother! A man has come to me and hit me with a sword!' So again I aimed at him and hit him, but the blow proved futile again, and on that Abu Rafi` cried loudly and his wife got up. I came again and changed my voice as if I were a helper, and found Abu Rafi` lying straight on his back, so I drove the sword into his belly and bent on it till I heard the sound of a bone break. Then I came out, filled with astonishment and went to the staircase to descend, but I fell down from it and got my leg dislocated. I bandaged it and went to my companions limping. I said (to them), 'Go and tell Allah's Apostle of this good news, but I will not leave (this place) till I hear the news of his (i.e. Abu Rafi`'s) death.' When dawn broke, an announcer of death got over the wall and announced, 'I convey to you the news ...

Two men reviled each other in the presence of the Prophet (saws) and one of them became excessively angry so much so that I thought that his nose will break up on account of excess of anger. The Prophet (saws) said: I know a phrase which, if he repeated, he could get rid of this angry feeling. They asked: What is it, Messenger of Allah? He replied: He should say: I seek refuge in Thee from the accursed devil. Mu'adh then began to ask him to do so, but he refused and persisted in quarrelling, and began to enhance his anger.

Allah's Apostle said, "Today I saw myself in a dream near the Ka`ba. I saw a whitish brown man, the handsomest of all brown men you might ever see. He had the most beautiful Limma (hair hanging down to the earlobes) you might ever see. He had combed it and it was dripping water; and he was performing the Tawaf around the Ka`ba leaning on two men or on the shoulders of two men. l asked, "Who is this?" It was said. "Messiah, the son of Mary." Suddenly I saw a curly-haired man, blind in the right eye which looked like a protruding out grape. I asked, "Who is this?" It was said, "He is Masiah Ad-Dajjal."

One night I slept at the house of (my aunt) Maimuna and the Prophet was there on that night. He performed ablution and stood up for the prayer. I joined him and stood on his left side but he drew me to his right and prayed thirteen rak`at and then slept till I heard his breath sounds. And whenever he slept, he used to breathe with audible sounds. The Mu'adh-dhin came to the Prophet and he went out and prayed the morning prayer) without repeating the ablution.

(Reporting the speech of Ka`b bin Umra) Allah's Apostle saw him (i.e. Ka`b) while the lice were falling on his face. He asked (him), "Have your lice troubled you?" He replied in the affirmative. So, he ordered him to get his head shaved while he was at Al-Hudaibiya. At that time they were not permitted to finish their Ihram, and were still hoping to enter Mecca. So, Allah revealed the verses of Al-Fidya. Allah's Apostle ordered him to feed six poor persons with one Faraq of food or to slaughter one sheep (as a sacrifice) or to fast for three days.

Asim ibn Humayd said: I asked Aisha: By what words the Messenger of Allah (saws) would begin his supererogatory prayer at night?

She replied: You ask me about a thing of which no one asked me before you. When he stood up, be uttered the takbir (Allah is most great) ten times, and uttered "Praise be to Allah" ten times, and uttered "Glory be to Allah " ten times, and uttered "There is no god but Allah" ten times, and sought forgiveness ten times, and said: O Allah, forgive me, and guide me, and give me sustenance, and keep me well, and he sought refuge in Allah from the hardship of standing before Allah on the Day of Judgment.

Abu Dawud said: This tradition has also been narrated by Khalid b. Ma'dan from Rab'iah al-Jarashi on the authority of 'Aishah.

The Prophet said to me, "I have been informed that you pray all the nights and observe fast all the days; is this true?" I replied, "Yes." He said, "If you do so, your eyes will become weak and you will get bored. So fast three days a month, for this will be the fasting of a whole year, or equal to the fasting of a whole year." I said, "I find myself able to fast more." He said, "Then fast like the fasting of (the Prophet) David who used to fast on alternate days and would not flee on facing the enemy."

Allah's Apostle said, "I saw myself (in a dream) near the Ka`ba last night, and I saw a man with whitish red complexion, the best you may see amongst men of that complexion having long hair reaching his earlobes which was the best hair of its sort, and he had combed his hair and water was dropping from it, and he was performing the Tawaf around the Ka`ba while he was leaning on two men or on the shoulders of two men. I asked, 'Who is this man?' Somebody replied, '(He is) Messiah, son of Mary.' Then I saw another man with very curly hair, blind in the right eye which looked like a protruding out grape. I asked, 'Who is this?' Somebody replied, '(He is) Messiah, Ad-Dajjal.'"

Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi', the mawla of Abdullah ibn Umar, that Umar ibn al-Khattab wrote to his governors saying, "The most important of your affairs in my view is the prayer. Whoever protects it and observes it carefully is protecting his deen, while whoever is negligent about it will be even more negligent about other things." Then he added, "Pray dhuhr any time from when the afternoon shade is the length of your forearm until the length of your shadow matches your height. Pray asr when the sun is still pure white, so that a rider can travel two or three farsakhs before the sun sets. Pray maghrib when the sun has set. Pray isha any time from when the redness in the western sky has disappeared until a third of the night has passed - and a person who sleeps, may he have no rest, a person who sleeps, may he have no rest. And pray subh when all the stars are visible and like a haze in the sky."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Abdullah ibn Abi Bakr from his father that Abdullah ibn Qays ibn Makhrama told him that Zayd ibn Khalid al-Juhani said one night that he was going to observe the prayer of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. He said, "I rested my head on his threshold. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, got up and prayed two long, long, long rakas. Then he prayed two rakas which were slightly less long than the two before them. Then he prayed two rakas which were slightly less long than the two before them. Then he prayed two rakas which were slightly less long than the two before them. Then he prayed two rakas which were slightly less long than the two before them. Then he prayed two rakas which were slightly less long than the two before them. Then he prayed an odd raka, making thirteen rakas in all."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Salih ibn Kaysan from Ubaydullah ibn Abdullah ibn Utba ibn Masud that Zayd ibn Khalid al- Juhani said, "The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, took the subh prayer with us at Hudaybiyya after it had rained in the night. When he had finished he went up to the people and said, 'Do you know what your Lord has said?' They said, 'Allah and His Messenger know best.' He said, 'Some of my slaves have begun the morning believing in Me, and others have begun it rejecting Me. As for those who say, 'We were rained on by the overflowing favour of Allah and His mercy,' they believe in Me and reject the stars. But as for those who say, 'We were rained on by such and such a star, they reject Me and believe in the stars.' "

Yahya related to me from Malik from Abu'z Zubayr al-Makki from Tawus al-Yamani from Abdullah ibn Abbas that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to say, when he rose for prayer in the middle of the night, "O Allah, praise belongs to You. You are the light of the heavens and the earth and praise belongs toYou.You are the Sustainer of the heavens and the earth and praise belongs to You. You are the Lord of the heavens and the earth and whoever is in them. You are the Truth, and Your words are true. Your promise is true, and the meeting with You is true. The Garden is true and the Fire is true and the Hour is true. O Allah, I submit toYou and I accept You and I trust in You and I turn to You and I argue by You and I summon toYou for judgement. Forgive me what I have sent before me and what I have left behind, what I have kept secret and what I have proclaimed, You are my god - there is no god but You."

Allahumma laka'l-hamdu anta nuru's-samawati wa'l-ardi, wa laka'l-hamdu anta qayamu's-Samawati wa'l-ardi, wa laka'l-hamdu anta rabbu's-Samawati wa'l-ardi,wamanfihina.Anta'l-haqqu,waqawluka'lhaqqu, wa waduka'l-haqqu, wa liqa'uka haqqun, wa jannatu haqqun, wa naru haqqun, wa sactu haqqun. Allahumma laka aslamtu, wa bikaamantu, waalayka tawakaltu, wa ilayka anabtu, wa bika khasamtu, wa ilayka hakamtu, fa'ghfirliy ma qadamtu wa akhartu wa asrartu, wa alantu. Anta ilahiy, la ilaha illa ant.

The Prophet led us in the Fajr prayer at Hudaibiya after a rainy night. On completion of the prayer, he faced the people and said, "Do you know what your Lord has said (revealed)?" The people replied, "Allah and His Apostle know better." He said, "Allah has said, 'In this morning some of my slaves remained as true believers and some became non-believers; whoever said that the rain was due to the Blessings and the Mercy of Allah had belief in Me and he disbelieves in the stars, and whoever said that it rained because of a particular star had no belief in Me but believes in that star.' "

Allah's Apostle led the morning prayer in Al-Hudaibiya and it had rained the previous night. When the Prophet (p.b.u.h) had finished the prayer he faced the people and said, "Do you know what your Lord has said?" They replied, "Allah and His Apostle know better." (The Prophet said), "Allah says, 'In this morning some of My worshipers remained as true believers and some became non-believers; he who said that it had rained with the blessing and mercy of Allah is the one who believes in Me and does not believe in star, but he who said it had rained because of such and such (star) is a disbeliever in Me and is a believer in star.' "

When the Messenger of Allah (saws) got up to pray at night (for tahajjud prayer) he uttered the takbir and then said: "Glory be to Thee, O Allah," and "Praise be to Thee" and "Blessed is Thy name," and Exalted is Thy greatness." and "There is no god but Thee." He then said: "There is no god but Allah" three times; he then said: "Allah is altogether great" three times: "I seek refuge in Allah, All-Hearing and All-Knowing from the accursed devil, from his evil suggestion (hamz), from his puffing up (nafkh), and from his spitting (nafth)" He then recited (the Qur'an).

Abu Dawud said: It is said that this tradition has been narrated by 'Ali b. 'Ali from al-Hasan omitting the name of the Companion of the Prophet (saws). The misunderstanding occurred on the part of Ja'far.

That Allah's Apostle saw him with the lice falling (from his head) on his face. Allah's Apostle said, "Are your lice troubling you? Ka`b said, "Yes." Allah's Apostle thus ordered him to shave his head while he was at Al-Hudaibiya. Up to then there was no indication that all of them would finish their state of Ihram and they hoped that they would enter Mecca. Then the order of Al-Fidya was revealed, so Allah's Apostle ordered Ka`b to feed six poor persons with one Faraq of food or slaughter a sheep or fast for three days.