Yahya related to me from Malik from Jafar ibn Muhammad ibn Ali from his father that Umar ibn al-Khattab mentioned the magians and said, "I do not know what to do about them." Abd ar-Rahman ibn Awf said, "I bear witness that I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say, 'Follow the same sunna with them that you follow with the people of the Book . ' "

I asked Ibn `Umar, "What is your opinion about the two rak`at before the Fajr (compulsory) prayer, as to prolonging the recitation in them?" He said, "The Prophet used to pray at night two rak`at followed by two and so on, and end the prayer by one rak`ah witr. He used to offer two rak`at before the Fajr prayer immediately after the Adhan." (Hammad, the sub-narrator said, "That meant (that he prayed) quickly.)"

Hisham ibn Sa'd reported: We entered upon Mu'adh ibn Abdullah ibn Khubayb al-Juhani. He said to his wife: When (at what age) should a boy pray? She replied: Some person of us reported: The Messenger of Allah (saws) was asked about it; he said: When a boy distinguishes right hand from the left hand, then command him to pray.

Yunus asked Ibn Shihab about the address of the Messenger of Allah (saws) on Friday. He mentioned it in like manner. He added: Anyone who disobeys them (Allah and His Apostle) goes astray. We beseech Allah, our Lord, to make us from those who obey Him and obey His Apostle, and follow what He likes, and abstain from His anger; we are due to Him and we belong to Him.

I asked Ibn `Abbas about Salam for (the fruits of) date-palms. He replied "The Prophet forbade the sale a dates on the trees till they became fit for eating and could be weighed." A man asked what to be weighed (as the dates were still on the trees). Another man sitting beside Ibn `Abbas replied, "Till they are cut and stored." Narrated Abu Al-Bakhtari: I heard Ibn `Abbas (saying) that the Prophet forbade ... etc. as above.

A Jew from Hira asked me which one of the two periods Musa (i.e. Prophet Moses) completed. I said, "I don't know, (but wait) till I see the most learned 'Arab and inquire him about it." So, I went to Ibn `Abbas and asked him. He replied, "Moses completed the longer and better period." Ibn `Abbas added, "No doubt, an apostle of Allah always does what he says."

Once Hassan bin Thabit asked the permission of the Prophet to lampoon (i.e. compose satirical poetry defaming) the infidels. The Prophet said, "What about the fact that I have common descent with them?" Hassan replied, "I shall take you out of them as a hair is taken out of dough." Narrated `Urwa: I started abusing Hassan in front of `Aisha, whereupon she said. "Don't abuse him, for he used to defend the Prophet (with his poetry).

Hind bint `Utba bin Rabi`a said, "O Allah 's Apostle! (Before I embraced Islam), there was no family on the surface of the earth, I wish to have degraded more than I did your family. But today there is no family whom I wish to have honored more than I did yours." Allah's Apostle said, "I thought similarly, by Him in Whose Hand Muhammad's soul is!" Hind said, "O Allah's Apostle! (My husband) Abu Sufyan is a miser. Is it sinful of me to feed my children from his property?" The Prophet said, "No, unless you take it for your needs what is just and reasonable."

The Prophet sent (an army unit under the command of) Khalid bin Al-Walid to fight against the tribe of Bani Jadhima and those people could not express themselves by saying, "Aslamna," but they said, "Saba'na! Saba'na! " Khalid kept on killing some of them and taking some others as captives, and he gave a captive to everyone of us and ordered everyone of us to kill his captive. I said, "By Allah, I shall not kill my captive and none of my companions shall kill his captive!" Then we mentioned that to the Prophet and he said, "O Allah! I am free from what Khalid bin Al-Walid has done," and repeated it twice.

"Allah's Apostle said to me, "Have you got married O Jabir?" I replied, "Yes." He asked "What, a virgin or a matron?" I replied, "Not a virgin but a matron." He said, "Why did you not marry a young girl who would have fondled with you?" I replied, "O Allah's Apostle! My father was martyred on the day of Uhud and left nine (orphan) daughters who are my nine sisters; so I disliked to have another young girl of their age, but (I sought) an (elderly) woman who could comb their hair and look after them." The Prophet said, "You have done the right thing."

Abu Sufyan bin Harb informed me that Heraclius had sent a messenger to him while he had been accompanying a caravan from Quraish. They were merchants doing business in Sham (Syria, Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan), at the time when Allah's Apostle had truce with Abu Sufyan and Quraish infidels. So Abu Sufyan and his companions went to Heraclius at Ilya (Jerusalem). Heraclius called them in the court and he had all the senior Roman dignitaries around him. He called for his translator who, translating Heraclius's question said to them, "Who amongst you is closely related to that man who claims to be a Prophet?" Abu Sufyan replied, "I am the nearest relative to him (amongst the group)."

Heraclius said, "Bring him (Abu Sufyan) close to me and make his companions stand behind him." Abu Sufyan added, Heraclius told his translator to tell my companions that he wanted to put some questions to me regarding that man (The Prophet) and that if I told a lie they (my companions) should contradict me." Abu Sufyan added, "By Allah! Had I not been afraid of my companions labeling me a liar, I would not have spoken the truth about the Prophet. The first question he asked me about him was:

'What is his family status amongst you?'

I replied, 'He belongs to a good (noble) family amongst us.'

Heraclius further asked, 'Has anybody amongst you ever claimed the same (i.e. to be a Prophet) before him?'

I replied, 'No.'

He said, 'Was anybody amongst his ancestors a king?'

I replied, 'No.'

Heraclius asked, 'Do the nobles or the poor follow him?'

I replied, 'It is the poor who follow him.'

He said, 'Are his followers increasing decreasing (day by day)?'

I replied, 'They are increasing.'

He then asked, 'Does anybody amongst those who embrace his religion become displeased and renounce the religion afterwards?'

I replied, 'No.'

Heraclius said, 'Have you ever accused him of telling lies before his claim (to be a Prophet)?'

I replied, 'No. '

Heraclius said, 'Does he break his promises?'

I replied, 'No. We are at truce with him but we do not know what he will do in it.' I could not find opportunity to say anything against him except that.

Heraclius asked, 'Have you ever had a war with him?'

I replied, 'Yes.'

Then he said, 'What was the outcome of the battles?'

I replied, 'Sometimes he was victorious and sometimes we.'

Heraclius said, 'What does he order you to do?'

I said, 'He tells us to worship Allah and Allah alone and not to worship anything along with Him, and to renounce all that our ancestors had said. He orders us to pray, to speak the truth, to be chaste and to keep good relations with our Kith and kin.'

Heraclius asked the translator to convey to me the following, I asked you about his family and your reply was that he belonged to a very noble family. In fact all the Apostles come from noble families amongst their respective peoples. I questioned you whether anybody else amongst you claimed such a thing, your reply was in the negative. If the answer had been in the affirmative, I would have thought that this man was following the previous man's statement. Then I asked you whether anyone of his ancestors was a king. Your reply was in the negative, and if it had been in the affirmative, I would have thought that this man wanted to take back his ancestral kingdom.

I further asked whether he was ever accused of telling lies before he said what he said, and your reply was in the negative. So I wondered how a person who does not tell a lie about others could ever tell a lie about Allah. I, then asked you whether the rich people followed him or the poor. You replied that it was the poor who followed him. And in fact all the Apostle have been followed by this very class of people. Then I asked you whether his followers were increasing or decreasing. You replied that they were increasing, and in fact this is the way of true faith, till it is complete in all respects. I further asked you whether there was anybody, who, after embracing his religion, became displeased and discarded his religion. Your reply was in the negative, and in fact this is (the sign of) true faith, when its delight enters the hearts and mixes with them completely. I asked you whether he had ever betrayed. You replied in the negative and likewise the Apostles never betray. Then I asked you what he ordered you to do. You replied that he ordered you to worship Allah and Allah alone and not to worship any thing along with Him and forbade you to worship idols and ordered you to pray, to speak the truth and to be chaste. If what you have said is true, he will very soon occupy this place underneath my feet and I knew it (from the scriptures) that he was going to appear but I did not know that he would be from you, and if I could reach him definitely, I would go immediately to meet him and if I were with him, I would certainly wash his feet.' Heraclius then asked for the letter addressed by Allah's Apostle

which was delivered by Dihya to the Governor of Busra, who forwarded it to Heraclius to read. The contents of the letter were as follows: "In the name of Allah the Beneficent, the Merciful (This letter is) from Muhammad the slave of Allah and His Apostle to Heraclius the ruler of Byzantine. Peace be upon him, who follows the right path. Furthermore I invite you to Islam, and if you become a Muslim you will be safe, and Allah will double your reward, and if you reject this invitation of Islam you will be committing a sin of Arisiyin (tillers, farmers i.e. your people). And (Allah's Statement:)

'O people of the scripture! Come to a word common to you and us that we worship none but Allah and that we associate nothing in worship with Him, and that none of us shall take others as Lords beside Allah. Then, if they turn away, say: Bear witness that we are Muslims (those who have surrendered to Allah).' (3:64).

Abu Sufyan then added, "When Heraclius had finished his speech and had read the letter, there was a great hue and cry in the Royal Court. So we were turned out of the court. I told my companions that the question of Ibn-Abi-Kabsha) (the Prophet Muhammad) has become so prominent that even the King of Bani Al-Asfar (Byzantine) is afraid of him. Then I started to become sure that he (the Prophet) would be the conqueror in the near future till I embraced Islam (i.e. Allah guided me to it)."

The sub narrator adds, "Ibn An-Natur was the Governor of llya' (Jerusalem) and Heraclius was the head of the Christians of Sham. Ibn An-Natur narrates that once while Heraclius was visiting ilya' (Jerusalem), he got up in the morning with a sad mood. Some of his priests asked him why he was in that mood? Heraclius was a foreteller and an astrologer. He replied, 'At night when I looked at the stars, I saw that the leader of those who practice circumcision had appeared (become the conqueror). Who are they who practice circumcision?' The people replied, 'Except the Jews nobody practices circumcision, so you should not be afraid of them (Jews).

'Just Issue orders to kill every Jew present in the country.'

While they were discussing it, a messenger sent by the king of Ghassan to convey the news of Allah's Apostle to Heraclius was brought in. Having heard the news, he (Heraclius) ordered the people to go and see whether the messenger of Ghassan was circumcised. The people, after seeing him, told Heraclius that he was circumcised. Heraclius then asked him about the Arabs. The messenger replied, 'Arabs also practice circumcision.'

(After hearing that) Heraclius remarked that sovereignty of the 'Arabs had appeared. Heraclius then wrote a letter to his friend in Rome who was as good as Heraclius in knowledge. Heraclius then left for Homs. (a town in Syrian and stayed there till he received the reply of his letter from his friend who agreed with him in his opinion about the emergence of the Prophet and the fact that he was a Prophet. On that Heraclius invited all the heads of the Byzantines to assemble in his palace at Homs. When they assembled, he ordered that all the doors of his palace be closed. Then he came out and said, 'O Byzantines! If success is your desire and if you seek right guidance and want your empire to remain then give a pledge of allegiance to this Prophet (i.e. embrace Islam).'

(On hearing the views of Heraclius) the people ran towards the gates of the palace like onagers but found the doors closed. Heraclius realized their hatred towards Islam and when he lost the hope of their embracing Islam, he ordered that they should be brought back in audience.

(When they returned) he said, 'What already said was just to test the strength of your conviction and I have seen it.' The people prostrated before him and became pleased with him, and this was the end of Heraclius's story (in connection with his faith).

While we were with Allah's Apostle he said, "Tell me of a tree which resembles a Muslim man. Its leaves do not fall and it does not, and does not, and does not, and it gives its fruits every now and then." It came to my mind that such a tree must be the date palm, but seeing Abu Bakr and `Umar saying nothing, I disliked to speak. So when they did not say anything, Allah's Apostle said, "It is the date-palm tree." When we got up (from that place), I said to `Umar, "O my father! By Allah, it came to my mind that it must be the date palm tree." `Umar said, "What prevented you from speaking" I replied, "I did not see you speaking, so I misliked to speak or say anything." `Umar then said, "If you had said it, it would have been dearer to me than so-and-so."

I said, "O Allah's Apostle! Do you like to have (my sister) the daughter of Abu Sufyan?" The Prophet said, "What shall I do (with her)?" I said, "Marry her." He said, "Do you like that?" I said, "(Yes), for even now I am not your only wife, so I like that my sister should share you with me." He said, "She is not lawful for me (to marry)." I said, "We have heard that you want to marry." He said, "The daughter of Um Salama?" I said, "Yes." He said, "Even if she were not my stepdaughter, she should be unlawful for me to marry, for Thuwaiba suckled me and her father (Abu Salama). So you should neither present your daughters, nor your sisters, to me."

When the Prophet intended to perform `Umra in the month of Dhul-Qada, the people of Mecca did not let him enter Mecca till he settled the matter with them by promising to stay in it for three days only. When the document of treaty was written, the following was mentioned: 'These are the terms on which Muhammad, Allah's Apostle agreed (to make peace).' They said, "We will not agree to this, for if we believed that you are Allah's Apostle we would not prevent you, but you are Muhammad bin `Abdullah." The Prophet said, "I am Allah's Apostle and also Muhammad bin `Abdullah." Then he said to `Ali, "Rub off (the words) 'Allah's Apostle' ", but `Ali said, "No, by Allah, I will never rub off your name." So, Allah's Apostle took the document and wrote, 'This is what Muhammad bin `Abdullah has agreed upon: No arms will be brought into Mecca except in their cases, and nobody from the people of Mecca will be allowed to go with him (i.e. the Prophet ) even if he wished to follow him and he (the Prophet ) will not prevent any of his companions from staying in Mecca if the latter wants to stay.' When the Prophet entered Mecca and the time limit passed, the Meccans went to `Ali and said, "Tell your Friend (i.e. the Prophet ) to go out, as the period (agreed to) has passed." So, the Prophet went out of Mecca. The daughter of Hamza ran after them (i.e. the Prophet and his companions), calling, "O Uncle! O Uncle!" `Ali received her and led her by the hand and said to Fatima, "Take your uncle's daughter." Zaid and Ja`far quarreled about her. `Ali said, "I have more right to her as she is my uncle's daughter." Ja`far said, "She is my uncle's daughter, and her aunt is my wife." Zaid said, "She is my brother's daughter." The Prophet judged that she should be given to her aunt, and said that the aunt was like the mother. He then said to 'All, "You are from me and I am from you", and said to Ja`far, "You resemble me both in character and appearance", and said to Zaid, "You are our brother (in faith) and our freed slave."

Allah's Apostle shrouded every two martyrs of Uhud in one piece of cloth and then he would ask, "Which of them knew more Qur'an?" When one of them was pointed out he would put him first in the grave. He said, "I am a witness on these." Then he ordered them to be buried with blood on their bodies. Neither did he offer their funeral prayer nor did he get them washed. (Jabir bin `Abdullah added): Allah's Apostle used to ask about the martyrs of Uhud as to which of them knew more of the Qur'an." And when one of them was pointed out as having more of it he would put him first in the grave and then his companions. (Jabir added): My father and my uncle were shrouded in one sheet.

Hilal ibn Yasaf said: I came to ar-Raqqah (a place in Syria). One of my companions said to me: Do you want to see any of the Companions of the Prophet (saws)? I said: A good opportunity. So we went to Wabisah.

I said to my friend: Let us first see his mode of living. He had a cap with two ears stuck (to his head), and wearing a brown silken robe. He was resting on a staff during prayer. We asked him (about resting on the staff) after salutation; He said: Umm Qays daughter of Mihsan said to me that when the Messenger of Allah (saws) became aged and the flesh grew increasingly on him, he took a prop at his place of prayer and rested on it.

The Messenger of Allah (saws) made a brotherhood between two men, one of whom was killed (in Allah's path), and a week or thereabouts later the other died, and we prayed at his funeral). The Messenger of Allah (saws) asked: What did you say? We replied: We prayed for him and said: O Allah, forgive him, and join him to his companion. The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: What about his prayers since the time the other died, and his fasting since the time the other died--the narrator Shu'bah doubted the words, "his fasting--and his deeds since the time the other died. The distance between them is just like the distance between heaven and earth.

Yahya said from Malik that he heard from Sulayman ibn Yasar and others that when they were asked whether the testimony of a man flogged for a hadd crime was permitted, they said, "Yes, when repentance (tawba) appears from him."

Malik related to me that he heard Ibn Shihab being asked about that and he said the like of what Sulayman ibn Yasar said.

Malik said, "That is what is done in our community. It is by the word of Allah, the Blessed, the Exalted, 'And those who accuse women who are muhsan, and then do not bring four witnesses, flog them with eighty lashes, and do not accept any testimony of theirs ever. They indeed are evil-doers, save those who turn in tawba after that and make amends. Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.' " (Sura 24 ayat 4).

Yahya related to me from Malik from Abu'n Nadr, the mawla of Umar ibn Ubaydullah from Busr ibn Said that Zayd ibn Khalid al-Juhani sent him to Abu Juhaym to ask him what he had heard from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, about passing in front of someone praying. Abu Juhaym said, "The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'If the one who passes in front of a man praying knew what he was bringing upon himself it would be better for him to stop for forty than to pass in front of him.' "

Abu'n-Nadr said, "I do not know whether he said forty days or months or years."

Ibn `Abbas said, "O Muslims? How do you ask the people of the Scriptures, though your Book (i.e. the Qur'an) which was revealed to His Prophet is the most recent information from Allah and you recite it, the Book that has not been distorted? Allah has revealed to you that the people of the scriptures have changed with their own hands what was revealed to them and they have said (as regards their changed Scriptures): This is from Allah, in order to get some worldly benefit thereby." Ibn `Abbas added: "Isn't the knowledge revealed to you sufficient to prevent you from asking them? By Allah I have never seen any one of them asking (Muslims) about what has been revealed to you."

While we were with the Prophet , a man stood up and said (to the Prophet ), "I beseech you by Allah, that you should judge us according to Allah's Laws." Then the man's opponent who was wiser than him, got up saying (to Allah's Apostle) "Judge us according to Allah's Law and kindly allow me (to speak)." The Prophet said, "'Speak." He said, "My son was a laborer working for this man and he committed an illegal sexual intercourse with his wife, and I gave one-hundred sheep and a slave as a ransom for my son's sin. Then I asked a learned man about this case and he informed me that my son should receive one hundred lashes and be exiled for one year, and the man's wife should be stoned to death." The Prophet said, "By Him in Whose Hand my soul is, I will judge you according to the Laws of Allah. Your one-hundred sheep and the slave are to be returned to you, and your son has to receive one-hundred lashes and be exiled for one year. O Unais! Go to the wife of this man, and if she confesses, then stone her to death." Unais went to her and she confessed. He then stoned her to death.

Yahya related to me that Malik said, "What is done in our community in the case of a man who makes his slave-girl a mudabbara and she gives birth to children after that, and then the slave-girl dies before the one who gave her a tadbir is that her children are in her position. The conditions which were confirmed for her are confirmed for them. The death of their mother does not harm them. If the one who made her mudabbara dies, they are free if their value is less than one third of his total property."

Malik said, "For every mother by birth as opposed to mother by suckling, her children are in her position. If she is free and she gives birth after she is free, her children are free. If she is a mudabbara or mukataba, or freed after a number of years in service, or part of her is free or pledged or she is an umm walad, each of her children are in the same position as their mother. They are set free when she is set free and they are slaves when she is a slave."

Malik said about the mudabbara given a tadbir while she was pregnant, "Her children are in her position. That is also the position of a man who frees his slave- girl while she is pregnant and does not know that she is pregnant."

Malik said, "The sunna about such women is that their children follow them and are set free by their being set free."

Malik said, "It is the same as if a man had bought a slave-girl while she was pregnant. The slave-girl and what is in her womb belong to the one who bought her whether or not the buyer stipulates that."

Malik continued, "It is not halal for the seller to make an exception about what is in her womb because that is an uncertain transaction. It reduces her price and he does not know if that will reach him or not. That is as if one sold the foetus in the womb of the mother. That is not halal because it is an uncertain transaction ."

Malik said about the mukatab or mudabbar who bought a slave- girl and had intercourse with her and she became pregnant by him and gives birth, "The children of both of them by a slave-girl are in his position. They are set free when he is set free and they are slaves when he is a slave."

Malik said, "When he is set free, the umm walad is part of his property which is surrendered to him when he is set free."

A man from the Companions of the Prophet (saws) died on the day of Khaybar. They mentioned the matter to the Messenger of Allah. He said: Offer prayer over your companion. When the faces of the people looked perplexed, he said: Your companion misappropriated booty in the path of Allah. We searched his belongings and found some Jewish beads not worth two dirhams.

Jabir said: An Ansari man made his slave a Mudabbar and he had no other property than him. When the Prophet heard of that, he said (to his companions), "Who wants to buy him (i.e., the slave) for me?" Nu'aim bin An-Nahham bought him for eight hundred Dirhams. I heard Jabir saying, "That was a coptic slave who died in the same year."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Zayd ibn Aslam that Ibn Wala al-Misri asked Abdullah ibn Abbas about what is squeezed from the grapes. Ibn Abbas replied, "A man gave the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, a small water-skin of wine. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to him, 'Don't you know that Allah has made it haram?' He said, 'No.' Then a man at his side whispered to him. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, asked what he had whispered, and the man replied, 'I told him to sell it.' The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'The One who made drinking it haram has made selling it haram.' The man then opened the water- skins and poured out what was in them ."

A man came to the Prophet and said that he had been burnt (ruined). The Prophet asked him what was the matter. He replied, "I had sexual intercourse with my wife in Ramadan (while I was fasting)." Then a basket full of dates was brought to the Prophet and he asked, "Where is the burnt (ruined) man?" He replied, "I am present." The Prophet told him to give that basket in charity (as expiation).

When the people of Mecca sent about ransoming their prisoners Zaynab sent some property to ransom Abul'As, sending among it a necklace of hers which Khadijah had had, and (which she) had given to her when she married Abul'As. When the Messenger of Allah (saws) saw it, he felt great tenderness about it and said: If you consider that you should free her prisoner for her and return to her what belongs to her, (it will be well). They said: Yes. The Messenger of Allah (saws) made an agreement with him that he should let Zaynab come to him, and the Messenger of Allah (saws) sent Zayd ibn Harithah and a man of the Ansar (the Helpers) and said: Wait in the valley of Yajij till Zaynab passes you, then you should accompany her and bring her back.

That they visited Abu Sa`id Al-Khudri and asked him about Al-Harauriyya, a special unorthodox religious sect, "Did you hear the Prophet saying anything about them?" Abu Sa`id said, "I do not know what Al-Harauriyya is, but I heard the Prophet saying, "There will appear in this nation---- he did not say: From this nation ---- a group of people so pious apparently that you will consider your prayers inferior to their prayers, but they will recite the Qur'an, the teachings of which will not go beyond their throats and will go out of their religion as an arrow darts through the game, whereupon the archer may look at his arrow, its Nasl at its Risaf and its Fuqa to see whether it is blood-stained or not (i.e. they will have not even a trace of Islam in them).

Some people of Bani Tamim came to the Prophet and he said (to them), "O Bani Tamim! rejoice with glad tidings." They said, "You have given us glad tidings, now give us something." On hearing that the color of his face changed then the people of Yemen came to him and he said, "O people of Yemen ! Accept the good tidings, as Bani Tamim has refused them." The Yemenites said, "We accept them. Then the Prophet started taking about the beginning of creation and about Allah's Throne. In the mean time a man came saying, "O `Imran! Your she-camel has run away!'' (I got up and went away), but l wish I had not left that place (for I missed what Allah's Apostle had said).

`Aisha said, "The Jews came to the Prophet and said to him, "As-Samu 'Alaika (i.e., Death be upon you)." He replied, 'The same on you.' " `Aisha said to them, "Death be upon you, and may Allah curse you and shower His wrath upon you!" Allah's Apostle I said, "Be gentle and calm, O `Aisha! Be gentle and beware of being harsh and of saying evil things." She said, "Didn't you hear what they said?" He said, "Didn't you hear what I replied (to them)? have returned their statement to them, and my invocation against them will be accepted but theirs against me will not be accepted."

The Prophet (saws) said: If any of you prays two rak'ahs before the dawn prayer, he should lie at his right side.

Marwan ibn al-Hakam said to him: Is it not enough that one of us walks to the mosque until he lies at his right side? According to the version of Ubaydullah, he (AbuHurayrah) replied: No.

This statement (of AbuHurayrah) reached Ibn Umar. He said: AbuHurayrah exceed limits on himself. He was asked: Do you look askance at what he says? He replied: No, but he dared and we showed cowardice. This (criticism of Ibn Umar) reached AbuHurayrah. He said: What is my sin if I remembered and they forgot?

We were at a place which was a thoroughfare for the people, and the caravans used to pass by us and we would ask them, "What is wrong with the people? What is wrong with the people? Who is that man?. They would say, "That man claims that Allah has sent him (as an Apostle), that he has been divinely inspired, that Allah has revealed to him such-and-such." I used to memorize that (Divine) Talk, and feel as if it was inculcated in my chest (i.e. mind) And the 'Arabs (other than Quraish) delayed their conversion to Islam till the Conquest (of Mecca). They used to say." "Leave him (i.e. Muhammad) and his people Quraish: if he overpowers them then he is a true Prophet. So, when Mecca was conquered, then every tribe rushed to embrace Islam, and my father hurried to embrace Islam before (the other members of) my tribe. When my father returned (from the Prophet) to his tribe, he said, "By Allah, I have come to you from the Prophet for sure!" The Prophet afterwards said to them, 'Offer such-and-such prayer at such-and-such time, and when the time for the prayer becomes due, then one of you should pronounce the Adhan (for the prayer), and let the one amongst you who knows Qur'an most should, lead the prayer." So they looked for such a person and found none who knew more Qur'an than I because of the Qur'anic material which I used to learn from the caravans. They therefore made me their Imam ((to lead the prayer) and at that time I was a boy of six or seven years, wearing a Burda (i.e. a black square garment) proved to be very short for me (and my body became partly naked). A lady from the tribe said, "Won't you cover the anus of your reciter for us?" So they bought (a piece of cloth) and made a shirt for me. I had never been so happy with anything before as I was with that shirt.

That his father said, "One day I was sitting with some of the Prophet's companions on the way to Mecca. Allah's Apostle was ahead of us. All of my companions were in the state of Ihram while I was a non-Muhrim. They saw an onager while I was busy repairing my shoes, so they did not tell me about it but they wished I had seen it. By chance I looked up and saw it. So, I turned to the horse, saddled it and rode on it, forgetting to take the spear and the whip. I asked them if they could hand over to me the whip and the spear but they said, 'No, by Allah, we shall not help you in that in any way.' I became angry and got down from the horse, picked up both the things and rode the horse again. I attacked the onager and slaughtered it, and brought it (after it had been dead). They took it (cooked some of it) and started eating it, but they doubted whether it was allowed for them to eat it or not, as they were in the state of Ihram. So, we proceeded and I hid with me one of its fore-legs. When we met Allah's Apostle and asked him about the case, he asked, 'Do you have a portion of it with you?' I replied in the affirmative and gave him that fleshy foreleg which he ate completely while he was in the state of Ihram .