By Allah other than Whom none has the right to be worshipped! There is no Sura revealed in Allah's Book but I know at what place it was revealed; and there is no Verse revealed in Allah's Book but I know about whom it was revealed. And if I know that there is somebody who knows Allah's Book better than I, and he is at a place that camels can reach, I would go to him.

[Al-Bukhari].

By Allah, Al-Hasan bin `Ali led large battalions like mountains against Muawiya. `Amr bin Al-As said (to Muawiya), "I surely see battalions which will not turn back before killing their opponents." Muawiya who was really the best of the two men said to him, "O `Amr! If these killed those and those killed these, who would be left with me for the jobs of the public, who would be left with me for their women, who would be left with me for their children?" Then Muawiya sent two Quraishi men from the tribe of `Abd-i-Shams called `Abdur Rahman bin Sumura and `Abdullah bin 'Amir bin Kuraiz to Al-Hasan saying to them, "Go to this man (i.e. Al-Hasan) and negotiate peace with him and talk and appeal to him." So, they went to Al-Hasan and talked and appealed to him to accept peace. Al-Hasan said, "We, the offspring of `Abdul Muttalib, have got wealth and people have indulged in killing and corruption (and money only will appease them)." They said to Al-Hasan, "Muawiya offers you so and so, and appeals to you and entreats you to accept peace." Al-Hasan said to them, "But who will be responsible for what you have said?" They said, "We will be responsible for it." So, whatever Al- Hasan asked they said, "We will be responsible for it for you." So, Al-Hasan concluded a peace treaty with Muawiya. Al-Hasan (Al-Basri) said: I heard Abu Bakr saying, "I saw Allah's Apostle on the pulpit and Al-Hasan bin `Ali was by his side. The Prophet was looking once at the people and once at Al-Hasan bin `Ali saying, 'This son of mine is a Saiyid (i.e. a noble) and may Allah make peace between two big groups of Muslims through him."

`Umar set out along with the Prophet (p.b.u.h) with a group of people to Ibn Saiyad till they saw him playing with the boys near the hillocks of Bani Mughala. Ibn Saiyad at that time was nearing his puberty and did not notice (us) until the Prophet stroked him with his hand and said to him, "Do you testify that I am Allah's Apostle?" Ibn Saiyad looked at him and said, "I testify that you are the Messenger of illiterates." Then Ibn Saiyad asked the Prophet (p.b.u.h), "Do you testify that I am Allah's Apostle?" The Prophet (p.b.u.h) refuted it and said, "I believe in Allah and His Apostles." Then he said (to Ibn Saiyad), "What do you think?" Ibn Saiyad answered, "True people and liars visit me." The Prophet said, "You have been confused as to this matter." Then the Prophet said to him, "I have kept something (in my mind) for you, (can you tell me that?)" Ibn Saiyad said, "It is Al-Dukh (the smoke)." (2) The Prophet said, "Let you be in ignominy. You cannot cross your limits." On that `Umar, said, "O Allah's Apostle! Allow me to chop his head off." The Prophet (p.b.u.h) said, "If he is he (i.e. Dajjal), then you cannot overpower him, and if he is not, then there is no use of murdering him." (Ibn `Umar added): Later on Allah's Apostle (p.b.u.h) once again went along with Ubai bin Ka`b to the date-palm trees (garden) where Ibn Saiyad was staying. The Prophet (p.b.u.h) wanted to hear something from Ibn Saiyad before Ibn Saiyad could see him, and the Prophet (p.b.u.h) saw him lying covered with a sheet and from where his murmurs were heard. Ibn Saiyad's mother saw Allah's Apostle while he was hiding himself behind the trunks of the date-palm trees. She addressed Ibn Saiyad, "O Saf ! (and this was the name of Ibn Saiyad) Here is Muhammad." And with that Ibn Saiyad got up. The Prophet said, "Had this woman left him (Had she not disturbed him), then Ibn Saiyad would have revealed the reality of his case.

I saw the trace of a wound in Salama's leg. I said to him, "O Abu Muslim! What is this wound?" He said, "This was inflicted on me on the day of Khaibar and the people said, 'Salama has been wounded.' Then I went to the Prophet and he puffed his saliva in it (i.e. the wound) thrice., and since then I have not had any pain in it till this hour."

We have nothing except the Book of Allah and this written paper from the Prophet (wherein is written:) Medina is a sanctuary from the 'Air Mountain to such and such a place, and whoever innovates in it an heresy or commits a sin, or gives shelter to such an innovator in it will incur the curse of Allah, the angels, and all the people, none of his compulsory or optional good deeds of worship will be accepted. And the asylum (of protection) granted by any Muslim is to be secured (respected) by all the other Muslims; and whoever betrays a Muslim in this respect incurs the curse of Allah, the angels, and all the people, and none of his compulsory or optional good deeds of worship will be accepted, and whoever (freed slave) befriends (take as masters) other than his manumitters without their permission incurs the curse of Allah, the angels, and all the people, and none of his compulsory or optional good deeds of worship will be accepted.

(the wife of the Prophet) I bought a cushion having pictures on it. When Allah's Apostle saw it, he stopped at the gate and did not enter. I noticed the signs of hatred (for that) on his face! I said, "O Allah's Apostle! I turn to Allah and His Apostle in repentance! What sin have I committed?" He said, "What about this cushion?" I said, 'I bought it for you to sit on and recline on." Allah's Apostle said, "The makers of these pictures will be punished (severely) on the Day of Resurrection and it will be said to them, 'Make alive what you have created.'" He added, "Angels do not enter a house in which there are pictures."

I visited the Prophet during his ailments and he was suffering from a high fever. I said, "You have a high fever. Is it because you will have a double reward for it?" He said, "Yes, for no Muslim is afflicted with any harm but that Allah will remove his sins as the leaves of a tree fall down."

Allah's Apostle said, "If somebody is ordered (by the ruler or the judge) to take an oath, and he takes a false oath in order to grab the property of a Muslim, then he will incur Allah's Wrath when he will meet Him." And Allah revealed in its confirmation: 'Verily! Those who purchase a small gain at the cost of Allah's covenants and their own oaths.' (3.77) (The sub-narrator added:) Al-Ash'ath bin Qais entered, saying, "What did Abu `Abdur-Rahman narrate to you?" They said, "So-and-so," Al-Ash'ath said, "This verse was revealed in my connection. I had a well on the land of my cousin (and we had a dispute about it). I reported him to Allah 's Apostle who said (to me). "You should give evidence (i.e. witness) otherwise the oath of your opponent will render your claim invalid." I said, "Then he (my opponent) will take the oath, O Allah's Apostle." Allah's Apostle said, "Whoever is ordered (by the ruler or the judge) to give an oath, and he takes a false oath in order to grab the property of a Muslim, then he will incur Allah's Wrath when he meets Him on the Day of Resurrection."

A woman from the tribe of Bani Asad was sitting with me and Allah's Apostle (p.b.u.h) came to my house and said, "Who is this?" I said, "(She is) So and so. She does not sleep at night because she is engaged in prayer." The Prophet said disapprovingly: Do (good) deeds which is within your capacity as Allah never gets tired of giving rewards till you get tired of doing good deeds."

The Prophet said, "No fatigue, nor disease, nor sorrow, nor sadness, nor hurt, nor distress befalls a Muslim, even if it were the prick he receives from a thorn, but that Allah expiates some of his sins for that."

The Prophet said, "Allah likes sneezing and dislikes yawning, so if someone sneezes and then praises Allah, then it is obligatory on every Muslim who heard him, to say: May Allah be merciful to you (Yar-hamuka-l-lah). But as regards yawning, it is from Satan, so one must try one's best to stop it, if one says 'Ha' when yawning, Satan will laugh at him."

The slave-mother of Ibrahim ibn AbdurRahman ibn Awf asked Umm Salamah, the wife of the Prophet (saws): I am a woman having a long border of clothe and I walk in filthy place; (then what should I do?). Umm Salamah replied: The Messenger of Allah ( peace be upon him) said: What comes after it cleanses it.

I did not see any man with locks hanging down to shoulders in red robe more beautiful than the Messenger of Allah (saws). Muhammad b. Sulaiman added: He had hair which touched his shoulders.

Abu Dawud said: Isra'il also transmitted it in a similar way from Abu Ishaq saying: "(his hair) touched his shoulders". Shu'bah added: (His hair) reached the lobes of his ears.

Abu Dawud said: Malik's version of this tradition is sounder.

I asked Abu Sa'id al-Khudri about wearing lower garment. He said: You have come to the man who knows it very well. The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: The way for a believer to wear a lower garment is to have it halfway down his legs and he is guilty of no sin if it comes halfway between that and the ankles, but what comes lower than the ankles is in Hell. On the day of Resurrection. Allah will not look at him who trails his lower garment conceitedly.

I heard my father saying, "Never did Allah's Apostle assume Ihram except at the Mosque, that is, at the Mosque of Dhul-Hulaifa.

I, al-Abbas, Fatimah and Zayd ibn Harithah gathered with the Prophet (saws) and I said: Messenger of Allah, if you think to assign us our right (portion) in this fifth ( of the booty) as mentioned in the Book of Allah, and this I may divide during your lifetime so that no one may dispute me after you, then do it. He said: He did that. He said: I divided it during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah (saws). AbuBakr then assigned it to me. During the last days of the caliphate of Umar a good deal of property came to him and took out our portion. I said to him: We are well to do this year; but the Muslims are needy, so return it to them. He, therefore, returned it to them. No one called me after Umar. I met al-Abbas when I came out from Umar. He said: Ali, today you have deprived us of a thing that will never be returned to us. He was indeed a man of wisdom.

While I was a youngster, I asked `Aisha the wife of the Prophet. "What about the meaning of the Statement of Allah; "Verily! (the mountains) As-Safa and Al Marwa, are among the symbols of Allah. So, it is not harmful if those who perform Hajj or `Umra of the House (Ka`ba at Mecca) to perform the going (Tawaf) between them? (2.158) I understand (from that) that there is no harm if somebody does not perform the Tawaf between them." `Aisha replied, "No, for if it were as you are saying, then the recitation would have been like this: 'It is not harmful not to perform Tawaf between them.' This verse was revealed in connection with the Ansar who used to assume the Ihram for the idol Manat which was put beside a place called Qudaid and those people thought it not right to perform the Tawaf of As- Safa and Al-Marwa. When Islam came, they asked Allah's Apostle about that, and Allah revealed:-- "Verily! (the mountains) As-Safa and Al-Marwa Are among the symbols of Allah. So, it is not harmful of those who perform Hajj or `Umra of the House (Ka`ba at Mecca) to perform the going (Tawaf) between them." (2.158) Sufyan and Abu Muawiya added from Hisham (from `Aisha): "The Hajj or `Umra of the person who does not perform the going (Tawaf) between As-Safa and Al-Marwa is incomplete in Allah's sight.

Allah's Apostle said, "Inform me of a tree which resembles a Muslim, giving its fruits at every season by the permission of its Lord, and the leaves of which do not fall." I thought of the date-palm tree, but I disliked to speak because Abu Bakr and `Umar were present there. When nobody spoke, the Prophet said, "It is the date-palm tree" When I came out with my father, I said, "O father! It came to my mind that it was the date-palm tree." He said, "What prevented you from saying it?" Had you said it, it would have been more dearer to me than such-and-such a thing (fortune)." I said, "Nothing prevented me but the fact that neither you nor Abu Bakr spoke, so I disliked to speak (in your presence).

I heard `Urwa bin Az-Zubair, Sa`id bin Al-Musaiyab, 'Alqama bin Waqqas and 'Ubaidullah bin `Abdullah bin `Uqba relating from `Aisha, the wife of the Prophet the narration of the people (i.e. the liars) who spread the slander against her and they said what they said, and how Allah revealed her innocence. Each of them related to me a portion of that narration. (They said that `Aisha said), ''Then Allah revealed the ten Verses starting with:--'Verily! Those who spread the slander..' (24.11-21) All these verses were in proof of my innocence. Abu Bakr As-Siddiq who used to provide for Mistah some financial aid because of his relation to him, said, "By Allah, I will never give anything (in charity) to Mistah, after what he has said about `Aisha" Then Allah revealed:-- 'And let not those among you who are good and are wealthy swear not to give (any sort of help) to their kins men....' (24.22) On that, Abu Bakr said, "Yes, by Allah, I like that Allah should forgive me." and then resumed giving Mistah the aid he used to give him and said, "By Allah! I will never withhold it from him."

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz during his khalifate, wrote to one of his governors, "Whatever a father, or guardian, who gives someone in marriage, makes a condition in the way of unreturnable gift or of favour, belongs to the woman if she wants it."

Malik spoke about a woman whose father gave her in marriage and made an unreturnable gift a condition of the bride-price which was to be given. He said, "Whatever is given as a condition by which marriage occurs belongs to the woman if she wants it. If the husband parts from her before the marriage is consummated, the husband has half of the unreturnable gift by which the marriage occurred."

Malik said about a man who married off his young son and the son had no wealth at all, that the bride- price was obliged of the father if the young man had no property on the day of marriage. If the young man did have property the bride- price was taken from his property unless the father stipulated that he would pay the bride-price. The marriage was affirmed for the son if he was a minor only if he was under the guardianship of his father.

Malik said that if a man divorced his wife before he had consummated the marriage and she was a virgin, her father returned half of the bride-price to him. That half was permitted to the husband from the father to compensate him for his expenses.

Malik said that that was because Allah, the Blessed, the Exalted, said in His Book, "Unless they (women with whom he had not consummated marriage) make remission or he makes remission to him in whose hand is the knot of marriage." (Sura 2 ayat 237). (He being the father of a virgin daughter or the master of a female slave.)

Malik said, "That is what I have heard about the matter, and that is how things are done among us."

Malik said that a jewish or christian woman who was married to a jew or christian and then became muslim before the marriage had been consummated, did not keep anything from the bride-price.

Malik said, "I do not think that women should be married for less than a quarter of a dinar. That is the lowest amount for which cutting off the hand is obliged ."

A man displayed some merchandise in the market and took an oath that he had been offered a certain price for it while in fact he had not, in order to cheat a man from the Muslims. So then was revealed:-- "Verily! Those who purchase a small gain at the cost of Allah's Covenant and their oaths..."(3.77)

The Messenger of Allah (saws) encamped at Ulat al-Jaysh and Aisha was in his company. Her necklace of onyx of Zifar was broken (and fell somewhere). The people were detained to make a search for that necklace until the dawn broke. There was no water with the people. Therefore AbuBakr became angry with her and said: You detained the people and they have no water with them.

Thereupon Allah, the Exalted, sent down revelation about it to His Apostle (saws) granting concession to purify themselves with pure earth. Then the Muslims stood up with the Messenger of Allah (saws) and struck the ground with their hands and then they raised their hands, and did not take any earth (in their hands). Then they wiped with them their faces and hands up to the shoulders, and from their palms up to the armpits.

Ibn Yahya added in his version: Ibn Shihab said in his tradition: The people do not take this (tradition) into account.

Abu Dawud said: Ibn Ishaq also reported it in a similar way. In this (version) he said on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas. He mentioned the words "two strikes" (i.e. striking the earth twice) as mentioned by Yunus. And Ma'mar also narrated on the authority of al-Zuhri "two strikes". And Malik said: From al-Zuhri from 'Ubaid Allah b. 'Abd Allah from his father on the authority of 'Ammar. Abu Uwais also reported it in a similar way on the authority of al-Zuhri. But Ibn 'Uyainah doubted it, he sometimes said: from his father, and sometimes he said: from Ibn 'Abbas. Ibn 'Uyainah was confused in it and in his hearing from al-Zuhri. No one has mentioned "two strikes" in this tradition except those whose names I have mentioned.

Allah's Apostle said, "Your period (i.e. the Muslims' period) in comparison to the periods of the previous nations, is like the period between the `Asr prayer and sunset. And your example in comparison to the Jews and the Christians is like the example of a person who employed some laborers and asked them, 'Who will work for me till midday for one Qirat each?' The Jews worked for half a day for one Qirat each. The person asked, 'Who will do the work for me from midday to the time of the `Asr (prayer) for one Qirat each?' The Christians worked from midday till the `Asr prayer for one Qirat. Then the person asked, 'Who will do the work for me from the `Asr till sunset for two Qirats each?' " The Prophet added, "It is you (i.e. Muslims) who are doing the work from the `Asr till sunset, so you will have a double reward. The Jews and the Christians got angry and said, 'We have done more work but got less wages.' Allah said, 'Have I been unjust to you as regards your rights?' They said, 'No.' So Allah said, 'Then it is My Blessing which I bestow on whomever I like. "