While the Prophet was on a journey, he said (regarding the performance of the Zuhr prayer), "Wait till it (i.e. the weather) gets cooler." He said the same again till the shade of the hillocks extended. Then he said, "Delay the (Zuhr) Prayer till it gets cooler, for the severity of heat is from the increase in heat of Hell (fire).

Yahya related to me from Malik from Yahya ibn Said that he said to Salim ibn Abdullah, "What is the latest you have seen your father delay maghrib while on a journey?" and Salim replied, "One time the sun set when we were at Dhat al-Jaysh and he prayed maghrib at al- Aqiq."

Yazid ibn Khumayr ar-Rahbi said: Abdullah ibn Busr, the Companion of the Messenger of Allah (saws) came out along with the people on the day of the breaking of the fast or on the day of sacrifice (to offer the prayer). He disliked the delay of the imam, and said: We would finish (our 'Id prayer) at this moment, that is, at the time of forenoon.

A man came to the Prophet and asked, "O Allah's Apostle! Which charity is the most superior in reward?" He replied, "The charity which you practice while you are healthy, niggardly and afraid of poverty and wish to become wealthy. Do not delay it to the time of approaching death and then say, 'Give so much to such and such, and so much to such and such.' And it has already belonged to such and such (as it is too late)."

Malik said, "If someone advances for goods to be delivered after a time, and those goods are neither something to be eaten nor drunk, he can sell them to whomever he likes for cash or goods, before he takes delivery of them, to some one other than the person from whom he purchased them. He must not sell them to the person from whom he bought them except in exchange for goods which he takes possession of immediately and does not defer."

Malik said, "If the delivery date for the goods has not arrived, there is no harm in selling them to the original owner for goods which are clearly different and which he takes immediate possession of and does not defer."

Malik spoke about the case of a man who advanced dinars or dirhams for four specified pieces of cloth to be delivered before a specified time and when the term fell due, he demanded delivery from the seller and the seller did not have them. He found that the seller had cloth but inferior quality, and the seller said that he would give him eight of those cloths. Malik said, "There is no harm in that if he takes the cloths which he offers him before they separate. It is not good if delayed terms enter into the transaction. It is also not good if that is before the end of the term, unless he sells him cloth which is notthetypeof cloth for which he made an advance.

Yahya said that Malik said, "The generally agreed on way of doing things among us about an investor who pays qirad money to an agent to buy goods, and the agent then sells the goods for a price to be paid later, and has a profit in the transaction, then the agent dies before he has received payment, is that if his heirs want to take that money, they have their father's stipulated portion from the profit. That is theirs if they are trustworthy to take the payment. If they dislike to collect it from the debtor and they refer him to the investor, they are not obliged to collect it and there is nothing against them and nothing for them by their surrendering it to the investor. If they do collect it, they have a share of it and expenses like their father had. They are in the position of their father. If they are not trustworthy to do so, they can bring someone reliable and trustworthy to collect the money. If he collects all the capital and all the profit, they are in the position of their father."

Malik spoke about an investor who paid qirad money to a man provided that he used it and was responsible for any delayed payment for which he sold it. He said, "This is obligatory on the agent. If he sells it for delayed payment, he is responsible for it."

Yahya related to me, and I (myself) heard Malik say, "The best that I have heard about some one who has to fast for two consecutive months because of having killed someone by mistake or having pronounced the dhihar form of divorce, becoming very ill and having to break his fast, is that if he recovers from his illness and is strong enough to fast, he must not delay doing so. He continues his fast from where he left off.

Similarly, a woman who has to fast because of having killed some one by mistake should not delay resuming her fast when she has become pure after her period. She continues her fast from where she left off.

No one who, by the Book of Allah, has to fast for two consecutive months may break his fast except for a reason - illness or menstruation. He must not travel and break his fast."

Malik said, "This is the best that I have heard about the matter."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Abu'z-Zubayr al-Makki from Abu't-Tufayl Amir ibn Wathila that Muadh ibn Jabal told him that they went out with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, in the year of Tabuk, and the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, joined dhuhr with asr and maghrib with isha. Muadh said, "One day he delayed the prayer, and then came out and prayed dhuhr and asr together. Then he said, 'Tomorrow you will come, insha' llah, to the spring of Tabuk. But you will not get there until well into the morning. No one who arrives should touch any of its water until I come.' We came to it and two men had got to it before us and the spring was dripping with a little water. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, asked them, 'Have you touched any of its water?' They said, 'Yes.' The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, reviled them and said what Allah wished him to say. Then they took water with their hands from the spring little by little until it had been collected in something. Then the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, washed his face and hands in it. Then he put it back into the spring and the spring flowed with an abundance of water and the people drew water from it. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'If you live long enough, Muadh, you will soon see this place filled with gardens.' "

Allah's Apostle said, "Once three persons (from the previous nations) were traveling, and suddenly it started raining and they took shelter in a cave. The entrance of the cave got closed while they were inside. They said to each other, 'O you! Nothing can save you except the truth, so each of you should ask Allah's Help by referring to such a deed as he thinks he did sincerely (i.e. just for gaining Allah's Pleasure).' So one of them said, 'O Allah! You know that I had a laborer who worked for me for one Faraq (i.e. three Sas) of rice, but he departed, leaving it (i.e. his wages). I sowed that Faraq of rice and with its yield I bought cows (for him). Later on when he came to me asking for his wages, I said (to him), 'Go to those cows and drive them away.' He said to me, 'But you have to pay me only a Faraq of rice,' I said to him, 'Go to those cows and take them, for they are the product of that Faraq (of rice).' So he drove them. O Allah! If you consider that I did that for fear of You, then please remove the rock.' The rock shifted a bit from the mouth of the cave. The second one said, 'O Allah, You know that I had old parents whom I used to provide with the milk of my sheep every night. One night I was delayed and when I came, they had slept, while my wife and children were crying with hunger. I used not to let them (i.e. my family) drink unless my parents had drunk first. So I disliked to wake them up and also disliked that they should sleep without drinking it, I kept on waiting (for them to wake) till it dawned. O Allah! If You consider that I did that for fear of you, then please remove the rock.' So the rock shifted and they could see the sky through it. The (third) one said, 'O Allah! You know that I had a cousin (i.e. my paternal uncle's daughter) who was most beloved to me and I sought to seduce her, but she refused, unless I paid her one-hundred Dinars (i.e. gold pieces). So I collected the amount and brought it to her, and she allowed me to sleep with her. But when I sat between her legs, she said, 'Be afraid of Allah, and do not deflower me but legally. 'I got up and left the hundred Dinars (for her). O Allah! If You consider that I did that for fear of you than please remove the rock. So Allah saved them and they came out (of the cave)."

The Prophet (saws) said: Seek it (laylat al-Qadr) in the last ten days of Ramadan. Seek it on the ninth, seventh and fifth night. I (AbuNadrah) said: You know counting better than us, AbuSa'id. He said: Yes. I asked: What do you mean by the ninth, seventh and fifth night? He said: When the twenty-first night passes, the night which follows it is the night; when the twenty-third night passes, the night which follows it is the seventh; when the twenty-fifth passes, the night which follows it is the fifth.

Abu Dawud said: I do not know whether anything remained hidden from me or not.

Some men amongst the companions of the Prophet were shown in their dreams that the night of Qadr was in the last seven nights of Ramadan. Allah's Apostle said, "It seems that all your dreams agree that (the Night of Qadr) is in the last seven nights, and whoever wants to search for it (i.e. the Night of Qadr) should search in the last seven (nights of Ramadan).

The Prophet said, "Look for the Night of Qadr in the last ten nights of Ramadan ,' on the night when nine or seven or five nights remain out of the last ten nights of Ramadan (i.e. 21, 23, 25, respectively).

The Messenger of Allah (saws) said to us: Seek it (laylat al-Qadr) on the seventeenth night of Ramadan, and on the twenty first night, and on the twenty-third night. He then kept silence.

Abu Dawud said: This tradition has been transmitted from al-Zuhri by Ma'mar, Malik, Ibn 'Uyainah, Shu'aib b. Abi Hamzah, and al-Laith b. Sa'd and others; but they did not mention the time in which he (the Prophet) had prayer, nor did they explain it. And similarly it has been narrated by Hisham b. 'Urwah and Habib b. Abu Mazruq from 'Urwah like the report of Ma'mar and his companions. But Habib did not make a mention of Bashir. And Wahb b. Kaisan reported on the authority of Jabir from the Prophet (saws) the time of the Maghrib prayer. He said: "Next day he (Gabriel) came to him at the time of the Maghrib prayer when the sun had already set. (He came both days) at the same time."

Abu Dawud said: Similarly, this tradition has been transmitted by Abu Hurairah from the Prophet (saws). He said: "Then he (Gabriel) led me in the sunset prayer next day at the same time."

Similarly, this tradition has been narrated through a different chain by 'Abd Allah b. 'Amr b. al-'As, through a chain from Hassan b. 'Atiyyah, from 'Amr b. Shu'aib, from his father, on the authority from the Prophet (saws).

In Surat al-Muzzammil (73), the verse: "Keep vigil at night but a little, a half thereof" (2-3) has been abrogated by the following verse: "He knoweth that ye count it not, and turneth unto you in mercy. Recite then of the Qur'an that which is easy for you" (v.20). The phrase "the vigil of the night" (nashi'at al-layl) means the early hours of the night. They (the companions) would pray (the tahajjud prayer) in the early hours of the night.

He (Ibn Abbas) says: It is advisable to offer the prayer at night (tahajjud), prescribed by Allah for you (in the early hours of the night). This is because when a person sleeps, he does not know when he will awake. The words "speech more certain" (aqwamu qilan) means that this time is more suitable for the understanding of the Qur'an. He says: The verse: "Lo, thou hast by day a chain of business" (v.7) means engagement for long periods (in the day's work).

A person died and Allah's Apostle used to visit him. He died at night and (the people) buried him at night. In the morning they informed the Prophet (about his death). He said, "What prevented you from informing me?" They replied, "It was night and it was a dark night and so we disliked to trouble you." The Prophet went to his grave and offered the (funeral) prayer.

"One night Allah's Apostle led us in the `Isha' prayer and that is the one called Al-`Atma [??] by the people. After the completion of the prayer, he faced us and said, "Do you know the importance of this night? Nobody present on the surface of the earth tonight will be living after one hundred years from this night." (See Hadith No. 575).

Allah's Apostle offered witr prayer at different nights at various hours extending (from the `Isha' prayer) up to the last hour of the night.

Al-Aswad ibn Yazid said that he entered upon Aisha and asked her about the prayer of the Messenger of Allah (saws) during the night. She said: He used to pray thirteen rak'ahs during the night. Then he began to pray eleven rak'ahs and left two rak'ahs. When he died, he would pray nine rak'ahs during the night. His last prayer during the night was witr.

Allah's Apostle used to practice I`tikaf in the last ten nights of Ramadan and used to say, "Look for the Night of Qadr in the last ten nights of the month of Ramadan."

Ibn 'Abbas reported that Nabidh was prepared for Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) in the beginning of the night and he would drink it in the morning and the following night and the following day and the night after that up to the afternoon. If anything was left out of that he gave it to his servant, or gave orders for it to be poured out.

A man asked the Prophet, "O Allah's Apostle! What kind of charity is the best?" He replied. "To give in charity when you are healthy and greedy hoping to be wealthy and afraid of becoming poor. Don't delay giving in charity till the time when you are on the death bed when you say, 'Give so much to soand- so and so much to so-and so,' and at that time the property is not yours but it belongs to so-and-so (i.e. your inheritors).

Abu Dawud said: The narrator Mufaddal was the judge of Egypt. His supplication was accepted by Allah; he was the son of Fudalah.

Once I stayed overnight at the house of Maimuna and the Prophet was there with her. When it was the last third of the night, or some part of the night, the Prophet got up looking towards the sky and recited: 'Verily! In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and in the alternation of Night and Day, there are indeed signs for men of u understanding.' (3.190)

Allah's Apostle used to pray in his room at night. As the wall of the room was LOW, the people saw him and some of them stood up to follow him in the prayer. In the morning they spread the news. The following night the Prophet stood for the prayer and the people followed him. This went on for two or three nights. Thereupon Allah's Apostle did not stand for the prayer the following night, and did not come out. In the morning, the people asked him about it. He replied, that he way afraid that the night prayer might become compulsory.

Allah's Apostle used to practice I`tikaf in the middle ten days of Ramadan and once he stayed in I`tikaf till the night of the twenty-first and it was the night in the morning of which he used to come out of his I`tikaf. The Prophet said, "Whoever was in I`tikaf with me should stay in I`tikaf for the last ten days, for I was informed (of the date) of the Night (of Qadr) but I have been caused to forget it. (In the dream) I saw myself prostrating in mud and water in the morning of that night. So, look for it in the last ten nights and in the odd ones of them." It rained that night and the roof of the mosque dribbled as it was made of leaf stalks of date-palms. I saw with my own eyes the mark of mud and water on the forehead of the Prophet (i.e. in the morning of the twenty-first).

When the delegate of Hawazin came to Allah's Apostle declaring their conversion to Islam and asked him to return their properties and captives, Allah's Apostle got up and said to them, "There Is involved in this matter, the people whom you see with me, and the most beloved talk to me, is the true one. So choose one of two alternatives: Either the captives or the properties. I have been waiting for you (i.e. have not distributed the booty)." Allah's Apostle had delayed the distribution of their booty over ten nights after his return from Ta'if. So when they came to know that Allah's Apostle was not going to return to them but one of the two, they said, "We prefer to have our captives." So Allah's Apostle got up amongst the Muslims, and praising Allah as He deserved, said, "To proceed! Your brothers have come to you with repentance and I see (it logical) to return their captives. So, whoever of you likes to do that as a favor then he can do it. And whoever of you likes to stick to his share till we give him from the very first booty which Allah will give us, then he can do so." The people said, "We do that (i.e. return the captives) willingly as a favor, 'O Allah's Apostle!" Allah's Apostle said, "We do not know which of you have agreed to it and which have not; so go back and let your chiefs forward us your decision." They went back and their chief's spoke to them, and they (i.e. the chiefs) returned to Allah's Apostle and informed him that all of them had agreed (to give up their captives) with pleasure, and had given their permission (i.e. that the captives be returned to their people). (The sub-narrator said, "That is what has reached me about the captives of Hawazin tribe.")

The Prophet said, "If one recites the last two verses of Surat al-Baqarah at night, it is sufficient for him (for that night)."

Allah's Apostle said, "The Night of Qadr is in the last ten nights of the month (Ramadan), either on the first nine or in the last (remaining) seven nights (of Ramadan)." Ibn `Abbas added, "Search for it on the twenty-fourth (of Ramadan).

The Messenger of Allah (saws) appointed AbuBakr our commander and we fought with some people who were polytheists, and we attacked them at night, killing them. Our war-cry that night was "put to death; put to death." Salamah said: I killed that night with my hand polytheists belonging to seven houses.

We fasted with the Messenger of Allah (saws) during Ramadan, but he did not make us get up at night for prayer at any time during the month till seven nights remained; then he made us get up for prayer till a third of the night had passed. When the sixth remaining night came, he did not make us get up for prayer. When the fifth remaining night came, he made us stand in prayer till a half of the night had gone.

So I said: Messenger of Allah, I wish you had led us in supererogatory prayers during the whole of tonight.

He said: When a man prays with an imam till he goes he is reckoned as having spent a whole night in prayer. On the fourth remaining night he did not make us get up. When the third remaining night came, he gathered his family, his wives, and the people and prayed with us till we were afraid we should miss the falah (success).

I said: What is falah? He said: The meal before daybreak. Then he did not make us get up for prayer during the remainder of the month.

'A'isha reported that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) used to observe Witr every night, and he would (at times) complete his Witr at the end of the night.

Allah's Apostle said, "Search for the Night of Qadr in the odd nights of the last ten days of Ramadan."

I heard Allah's Apostle saying, "Three men from among those who were before you, set out together till they reached a cave at night and entered it. A big rock rolled down the mountain and closed the mouth of the cave. They said (to each other), Nothing could save you from this rock but to invoke Allah by giving reference to the righteous deed which you have done (for Allah's sake only).' So, one of them said, 'O Allah! I had old parents and I never provided my family (wife, children etc.) with milk before them. One day, by chance I was delayed, and I came late (at night) while they had slept. I milked the sheep for them and took the milk to them, but I found them sleeping. I disliked to provide my family with the milk before them. I waited for them and the bowl of milk was in my hand and I kept on waiting for them to get up till the day dawned. Then they got up and drank the milk. O Allah! If I did that for Your Sake only, please relieve us from our critical situation caused by this rock.' So, the rock shifted a little but they could not get out." The Prophet added, "The second man said, 'O Allah! I had a cousin who was the dearest of all people to me and I wanted to have sexual relations with her but she refused. Later she had a hard time in a famine year and she came to me and I gave her one-hundred-and-twenty Dinars on the condition that she would not resist my desire, and she agreed. When I was about to fulfill my desire, she said: It is illegal for you to outrage my chastity except by legitimate marriage. So, I thought it a sin to have sexual intercourse with her and left her though she was the dearest of all the people to me, and also I left the gold I had given her. O Allah! If I did that for Your Sake only, please relieve us from the present calamity.' So, the rock shifted a little more but still they could not get out from there." The Prophet added, "Then the third man said, 'O Allah! I employed few laborers and I paid them their wages with the exception of one man who did not take his wages and went away. I invested his wages and I got much property thereby. (Then after some time) he came and said to me: O Allah's slave! Pay me my wages. I said to him: All the camels, cows, sheep and slaves you see, are yours. He said: O Allah's slave! Don't mock at me. I said: I am not mocking at you. So, he took all the herd and drove them away and left nothing. O Allah! If I did that for Your Sake only, please relieve us from the present suffering.' So, that rock shifted completely and they got out walking.

I asked Aidh bin `Amr, who was one of the companions of the Prophet one of those (who gave the allegiance to the Prophet the Tree: "Can the witr prayer be repeated (in one night)?" He said, "If you have offered it in the first part of the night, you should not repeat it in the last part 'of the night." (See Fath-ul-Bari page 458 Vol 8th).

Once the Prophet led us in the `Isha' prayer during the last days of his life and after finishing it (the prayer) (with Taslim) he said: "Do you realize (the importance of) this night?" Nobody present on the surface of the earth tonight will be living after the completion of one hundred years from this night."

The Prophet had a mat which he used to spread during the day and use as a curtain at night. So a number of people gathered at night facing it and prayed behind him.