I went to al-Hirah and saw them (the people) prostrating themselves before a satrap of theirs, so I said: The Messenger of Allah (saws) has most right to have prostration made before him. When I came to the Prophet (saws), I said: I went to al-Hirah and saw them prostrating themselves before a satrap of theirs, but you have most right, Messenger of Allah, to have (people) prostrating themselves before you. He said: Tell me , if you were to pass my grave, would you prostrate yourself before it? I said: No. He then said: Do not do so. If I were to command anyone to make prostration before another I would command women to prostrate themselves before their husbands, because of the special right over them given to husbands by Allah.

Malik said, "I do not see that there is any harm in the Muslims eating whatever food they come across in enemy territory before the spoils are divided."

Malik said, "I think that any camels, cattle and sheep (taken as booty) are considered as food which the Muslims can eat in enemy territory. If they could not be eaten until the people had gathered for the division and the spoils had been distributed among them, that would be harmful for the army. I do not see any objection to eating such things within acceptable limits. I do not think, however, that anyone should store up any of it to take back to his family."

Malik was asked whether it was proper for a man who obtained food in enemy territory and ate some of it and made provision so that there was some of it left over to keep and eat with his family, or to sell before he had come to his country and make use of its price. He said, "If he sells it while he is on a military expedition, I think that he should put its price into the booty of the Muslims. If he takes it back to his country, I see no objection to his eating it and using it if it is a small insignificant thing."

My father got me married to a lady of a noble family, and often used to ask my wife about me, and she used to reply, "What a wonderful man he is! He never comes to my bed, nor has he approached me since he married me." When this state continued for a long period, my father told the story to the Prophet who said to my father, "Let me meet him." Then I met him and he asked me, "How do you fast?" I replied, "I fast daily," He asked, "How long does it take you to finish the recitation of the whole Qur'an?" I replied, "I finish it every night." On that he said, "Fast for three days every month and recite the Qur'an (and finish it) in one month." I said, "But I have power to do more than that." He said, "Then fast for three days per week." I said, "i have the power to do more than that." He said, "Therefore, fast the most superior type of fasting, (that is, the fasting of (prophet) David who used to fast every alternate day; and finish the recitation of the whole Qur'an In seven days." I wish I had accepted the permission of Allah's Apostle as I have become a weak old man. It is said that `Abdullah used to recite one-seventh of the Qur'an during the day-time to some of his family members, for he used to check his memorization of what he would recite at night during the daytime so that it would be easier for him to read at night. And whenever he wanted to gain some strength, he used to give up fasting for some days and count those days to fast for a similar period, for he disliked to leave those things which he used to do during the lifetime of the Prophet.

Muslim ibn Yasar al-Juhani said: When Umar ibn al-Khattab was asked about the verse "When your Lord took their offspring from the backs of the children of Adam" - al-Qa'nabi recited the verse--he said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (saws) say when he was questioned about it: Allah created Adam, then passed His right hand over his back, and brought forth from it his offspring, saying: I have these for Paradise and these will do the deeds of those who go to Paradise. He then passed His hand over his back and brought forth from it his offspring, saying: I have created these for Hell, and they will do the deeds of those who go to Hell.

A man asked: What is the good of doing anything, Messenger of Allah? The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: When Allah creates a servant for Paradise, He employs him in doing the deeds of those who will go to Paradise, so that his final action before death is one of the deeds of those who go to Paradise, for which He will bring him into Paradise. But when He creates a servant for Hell, He employs him in doing the deeds of those who will go to Hell, so that his final action before death is one of the deeds of those who go to Hell, for which He will bring him into Hell.

Abu Dawud said: I heard Ahmad b. Hanbal say: 'Abd al-Razzaq said that Ibn al-Mubarak said to Ma'mar: Who is this Abu al-Hasan ? He bore a big rock.

Abu Dawud said: Al-Zuhri has narrated (traditions) on the authority of this Abu al-Hasan. Al-Zuhri said: He was lawyer, and al-Zuhri narrated many traditions from Abu al-Hasan.

Abu Dawud said: Abu al-Hasan is well known narrator. This tradition is not practiced.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Abd ar-Rahman ibn al-Qasim from his father that a man of Thaqif gave his wife command over herself, and she said, "You are divorced." He was silent. She said, "You are divorced." He said, "May a stone be in your mouth." She said, "You are divorced." He said, "May a stone be in your mouth." They argued and went to Marwan ibn al-Hakam. He took an oath that he had only given her control over one pronouncement, and then she returned to him.

Malik said that Abd ar-Rahman declared that this decision had amazed al-Qasim, who thought it the best that he had heard on the subject.

Malik added, "That is also the best of what I have heard on the subject."

Here (i.e. in Mecca) there was a man called Nawwas and he had camels suffering from the disease of excessive and unquenchable thirst. Ibn `Umar went to the partner of Nawwas and bought those camels. The man returned to Nawwas and told him that he had sold those camels. Nawwas asked him, "To whom have you sold them?" He replied, "To such and such Sheikh." Nawwas said, "Woe to you; By Allah, that Sheikh was Ibn `Umar." Nawwas then went to Ibn `Umar and said to him, "My partner sold you camels suffering from the disease of excessive thirst and he had not known you." Ibn `Umar told him to take them back. When Nawwas went to take them, Ibn `Umar said to him, "Leave them there as I am happy with the decision of Allah's Apostle that there is no oppression . "

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.

I heard Muawiya bin Abi Sufyan (repeating the statements of the Adhan) while he was sitting on the pulpit. When the Mu'adh-dhin pronounced the Adhan saying, "Allahu-Akbar, Allahu Akbar", Muawiya said: "Allah Akbar, Allahu Akbar." And when the Mu'adh-dhin said, "Ash-hadu an la ilaha illal-lah (I testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah)", Muawiya said, "And (so do) I". When he said, "Ash-hadu anna Muhammadan Rasulullah" (I testify that Muhammad is Allah's Apostle), Muawiya said, "And (so do) I". When the Adhan was finished, Muawiya said, "O people, when the Mu'adh-dhin pronounced the Adhan I heard Allah's Apostle on this very pulpit saying what you have just heard me saying".

I offered the `Isha' prayer behind Abu Huraira and he recited, "Idha s-samaa'u n-shaqqat" (84) and prostrated. On my inquiring, he said, "I prostrated behind Abul-Qasim (the Prophet) (when he recited that Sura) and I will go on doing it till I meet him."

`Abdur-Rahman bin `Auf said to Suhaib, 'Fear Allah and do not ascribe yourself to somebody other than your father.' Suhaib replied, 'I would not like to say it even if I were given large amounts of money, but I say I was kidnapped in my childhood.' "

Yahya related to me from Malik from Hisham ibn Urwa from his father that Abdullah ibn Masud said, "I do not mind if the iqama for the subh prayer is called while I am still praying witr."

Al-`Aqib and Saiyid, the rulers of Najran, came to Allah's Apostle with the intention of doing Lian one of them said to the other, "Do not do (this Lian) for, by Allah, if he is a Prophet and we do this Lian, neither we, nor our offspring after us will be successful." Then both of them said (to the Prophet ), "We will give what you should ask but you should send a trustworthy man with us, and do not send any person with us but an honest one." The Prophet said, "I will send an honest man who Is really trustworthy." Then every one of the companions of Allah's Apostle wished to be that one. Then the Prophet said, "Get up, O Abu 'Ubaida bin Al-Jarrah." When he got up, Allah's Apostle said, "This is the Trustworthy man of this (Muslim) nation."

The Prophet (saws) said: One of you should not say: I fasted the whole of Ramadan, and I prayed during the night in the whole of Ramadan. I do not know whether he disliked the purification; or he (the narrator) said: He must have slept a little and taken rest.

I came to the Prophet (saws) and I had long hair. When the Messenger of Allah (saws) saw me, he said: Evil, evil! He said: I then returned and cut them off. I then came to him in the morning. He said (to me): I did not intend to do evil to you. This is much better.

Yahya related to me from Malik that Yahya ibn Said said, "I vowed to walk, but I was struck by a pain in the kidney, so I rode until I came to Makka. I questioned Ata ibn Abi Rabah and others, and they said, 'You must sacrifice an animal.' When I came to Madina I questioned the ulama there, and they ordered me to walk again from the place from which I was unable to go on. So I walked."

Yahya said that he had heard Malik say, "What is done among us regarding someone who makes a vow to walk to the House of Allah, and then cannot do it and so rides, is that he must return and walk from the place from which he was unable to go on. If he cannot walk, he should walk what he can and then ride, and he must sacrifice a camel, a cow, or a sheep if that is all that he can find."

Malik, when asked about a man who said to another, "I will carry you to the House of Allah", answered, "If he intended to carry him on his shoulder, by that he meant hardship and exhaustion to himself, and he does not have to do that. Let him walk by foot and make sacrifice. If he did not intend anything, let him do hajj and ride, and take the man on hajj with him. That is because he said, 'I will carry you to the house of Allah.' If the man refuses to do hajj with him, then there is nothing against him, and what is demanded of him is cancelled."

Yahya said that Malik was asked whether it was enough for a man who had made a vow that he would walk to the House of Allah a certain (large) number of times, or who had forbidden himself from talking to his father and brother, if he did not fulfil a certain vow, and he had taken upon himself, by the oath, something which he was incapable of fulfilling in his lifetime, even though he were to try every year, to fulfil only one or a (smaller) number of vows by Allah? Malik said, "The only satisfaction for that that I know is fulfilling what he has obliged himself to do. Let him walk for as long as he is able and draw near Allah the Exalted by what he can of good."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab that Said ibn al- Musayyab said that Abu Hurayra was asked, "May a man pray in one garment?" He said, "Yes." The man then said to him "Do you do that?" and he replied, "Yes, I pray in one garment while my clothes are on the clothes-rack."

That Allah's Apostle said, "Allah will not look on the Day of Judgment at him who drags his robe (behind him) out of pride." Abu Bakr said "One side of my robe slacks down unless I get very cautious about it." Allah's Apostle said, "But you do not do that with a pride."

That the Messenger of Allah (saws) said: "Both the buyer and the seller retain the option as long as they have not separated. If they spoke the truth and clarified (any defects or conditions), then they would be blessed in their sale, and if they hid something and lied then their sale would be deprived of blessings."

And this is a Sahih Hadith.

This is how it was reported from Abu Barzah Al-Aslami, that two men came disputing to him after the sale of a horse, and they were on a ship, so he said: "I did not see the two of your separate, and the Messenger of Allah (saws) said: 'The buyer and the seller retain the choice as long as they did not separate.'"

Some of the people of knowledge, among the people of Al-Kufah and others, held the view that the separation refers to speech. This is the saying of [Sufyan] Ath-Thawri. This has been reported from Malik bin Anas, and it has been reported from Ibn al-Mubarak that he said: "How could this be refuted ?" And the Hadith about it from the Prophet (saws) is Sahih, and it strenghtens this view.

And the meaning of the saying of the Prophet (saws): "Except for the optional sale" is, that (while they are still together) the seller gives the buyer the option to cancel after the conclusion of the sale. If he chooses to agree to the sale, then he does not have the choice to cancel the sale after then, even if they did not separate. This is how Ash-Shafi'i and others explained it. And what strenghtens the view of those who said that the separation refers to them parting, (and) it does not refer to speech, is the (following) Hadith of 'Abdullah bin 'Amr from the Prophet (saws).

Yahya related to me from Malik from Muslim ibn Abi Maryam that AIi ibn Abd ar-Rahman al-Muawi said, "Abdullah ibn Umar saw me playing with some small pebbles in the prayer. When I finished he forbade me, saying, 'Do as the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, did.' I said, 'What did the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, do?' He said, 'When he sat in the prayer, he placed his right hand on his right thigh and he closed his fist and pointed his index finger, and he placed his left hand on his left thigh. That is what he used to do.' "

My friend (the Prophet) advised me to do three things and I shall not leave them till I die, these are: To fast three days every month, to offer the Duha prayer, and to offer witr before sleeping.

I heard the Messenger of Allah (saws) say: Allah, the Exalted, says: Son of Adam, do not be helpless in performing four rak'ahs for Me at the beginning of the day: I will supply what you need till the end of it.

Al-Bara' had a she-camel which was accustomed to graze the standing crop belonging to the people. She entered a garden and did damage to it. The Messenger of Allah (saws) was informed about it.

So he gave decision that the owners of gardens are responsible for guarding them by day, and the owners of the animals are responsible for guarding them by night. Any damage done by animals during the night is a responsibility lying on their owners.

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that Salim ibn Abdullah and Sulayman ibn Yasar said that if a woman whose husband had died feared that an inflammation of her eyes might affect her sight or that some complaint might befall her, she should put kohl on and seek a remedy with kohl or some other cure even if it had perfume in it.

Malik said, "If there is a necessity, the deen of Allah is ease."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Himas from his paternal uncle from Abu Hurayra that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Madina will be left in the best way that it is until a dog or wolf enters it and urinates on one of the pillars of the mosque or on the mimbar." They asked, "Messenger of Allah! Who will have the fruit at that time?" He replied, "Animals seeking food, birds and wild beasts."