I heard Allah's Apostle saying, "My example and the example of the people is that of a man who made a fire, and when it lighted what was around it, Moths and other insects started falling into the fire. The man tried (his best) to prevent them, (from falling in the fire) but they overpowered him and rushed into the fire. The Prophet added: Now, similarly, I take hold of the knots at your waist (belts) to prevent you from falling into the Fire, but you insist on falling into it."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Yahya ibn Said that A'isha, the wife of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "I saw three moons fall into my room, and I related my vision to Abu Bakr as-Siddiq. Then, when the Messenger of Allah died, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and was buried in my house, Abu Bakr said to me, 'This is one of your moons, and he is the best of them.' "

Once the Prophet came while a woman was sitting with me. He said, "Who is she?" I replied, "She is so and so," and told him about her (excessive) praying. He said disapprovingly, "Do (good) deeds which is within your capacity (without being overtaxed) as Allah does not get tired (of giving rewards) but (surely) you will get tired and the best deed (act of Worship) in the sight of Allah is that which is done regularly."

Allah's Apostle said "Three persons will have a double reward:

1. A Person from the people of the scriptures who believed in his prophet (Jesus or Moses) and then believed in the Prophet Muhammad (i .e. has embraced Islam).

2. A slave who discharges his duties to Allah and his master.

3. A master of a woman-slave who teaches her good manners and educates her in the best possible way (the religion) and manumits her and then marries her."

"The Messenger of Allah got a camel in advance. Some camels from the charity." Abu Rafi' said: "So the Messenger of Allah (saws) told me to pay the man back for his camel. I said: 'I did not find among the camels but a superior selection of Raba'. The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: 'Give it to him, for indeed the base of people is the best of them in repaying.'"

[Abu 'Eisa said:] This Hadith is Hasan Sahih.

"The Messenger of Allah (saws) was asked: 'Which deed is the most virtuos ? And which deed is the best ?' He (saws) said: 'Faith in Allah and His Messenger.' It was said: 'Then what ?' He said: 'Jihad is the hump (the most prominent) of the deeds.' Then what O Messenger of Allah ? He said: 'Then Hajj Mabrur.'"

[Abu 'Eisa said:] This Hadith is Hasan Sahih, it has been reported through other routes from Abu Hurairah from the Prophet (saws).

The Prophet owed a camel of a certain age to a man who came to demand it back. The Prophet ordered his companions to give him. They looked for a camel of the same age but found nothing but a camel one year older. The Prophet told them to give it to him. The man said, "You have paid me in full, and may Allah pay you in full." The Prophet said, "The best amongst you is he who pays his debts in the most handsome manner."

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).

"Allah's Apostle said, 'The best of my followers are those living in my generation (i.e. my contemporaries). and then those who will follow the latter" `Imran added, "I do not remember whether he mentioned two or three generations after his generation, then the Prophet added, 'There will come after you, people who will bear witness without being asked to do so, and will be treacherous and untrustworthy, and they will vow and never fulfill their vows, and fatness will appear among them."

Allah's Apostle neither talked in an insulting manner nor did he ever speak evil intentionally. He used to say, "The most beloved to me amongst you is the one who has the best character and manners." He added, " Learn the Qur'an from (any of these) four persons. `Abdullah bin Mas`ud, Salim the freed slave of Abu Hudhaifa, Ubai bin Ka`b, and Mu`adh bin Jabal."

Allah's Apostle said, "Who is willing to kill Ka`b bin Al-Ashraf who has hurt Allah and His Apostle?" Thereupon Muhammad bin Maslama got up saying, "O Allah's Apostle! Would you like that I kill him?" The Prophet said, "Yes," Muhammad bin Maslama said, "Then allow me to say a (false) thing (i.e. to deceive Ka`b). "The Prophet said, "You may say it." Then Muhammad bin Maslama went to Ka`b and said, "That man (i.e. Muhammad demands Sadaqa (i.e. Zakat) from us, and he has troubled us, and I have come to borrow something from you." On that, Ka`b said, "By Allah, you will get tired of him!" Muhammad bin Maslama said, "Now as we have followed him, we do not want to leave him unless and until we see how his end is going to be. Now we want you to lend us a camel load or two of food." (Some difference between narrators about a camel load or two.) Ka`b said, "Yes, (I will lend you), but you should mortgage something to me." Muhammad bin Mas-lama and his companion said, "What do you want?" Ka`b replied, "Mortgage your women to me." They said, "How can we mortgage our women to you and you are the most handsome of the 'Arabs?" Ka`b said, "Then mortgage your sons to me." They said, "How can we mortgage our sons to you? Later they would be abused by the people's saying that so-and-so has been mortgaged for a camel load of food. That would cause us great disgrace, but we will mortgage our arms to you." Muhammad bin Maslama and his companion promised Ka`b that Muhammad would return to him. He came to Ka`b at night along with Ka`b's foster brother, Abu Na'ila. Ka`b invited them to come into his fort, and then he went down to them. His wife asked him, "Where are you going at this time?" Ka`b replied, "None but Muhammad bin Maslama and my (foster) brother Abu Na'ila have come." His wife said, "I hear a voice as if dropping blood is from him, Ka`b said. "They are none but my brother Muhammad bin Maslama and my foster brother Abu Naila. A generous man should respond to a call at night even if invited to be killed." Muhammad bin Maslama went with two men. (Some narrators mention the men as 'Abu bin Jabr. Al Harith bin Aus and `Abbad bin Bishr). So Muhammad bin Maslama went in together with two men, and sail to them, "When Ka`b comes, I will touch his hair and smell it, and when you see that I have got hold of his head, strip him. I will let you smell his head." Ka`b bin Al-Ashraf came down to them wrapped in his clothes, and diffusing perfume. Muhammad bin Maslama said. " have never smelt a better scent than this. Ka`b replied. "I have got the best 'Arab women who know how to use the high class of perfume." Muhammad bin Maslama requested Ka`b "Will you allow me to smell your head?" Ka`b said, "Yes." Muhammad smelt it and made his companions smell it as well. Then he requested Ka`b again, "Will you let me (smell your head)?" Ka`b said, "Yes." When Muhammad got a strong hold of him, he said (to his companions), "Get at him!" So they killed him and went to the Prophet and informed him. (Abu Rafi`) was killed after Ka`b bin Al-Ashraf."

Malik related to me from Yazid ibn Abdullah ibn al-Hadi from Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn al-Harith at-Taymi from Sulayman ibn Yasar from Abdullah ibn Abi Umayya that a woman's husband died, and she did the idda of four months and ten days. Then she married when she was free to marry. She stayed with her husband for four and a half months, then gave birth to a fully developed child. Her husband went to Umar ibn al-Khattab and mentioned that to him, so Umar called some of the old women of the Jahiliyya and asked them about that. One of the women said, "I will tell you what happened with this woman. When her husband died, she was pregnant by him, but then the blood flowed from her because of his death and the child became dry in her womb. When her new husband had intercourse with her and the water reached the child, the child moved in the womb and grew." Umar ibn al-Khattab believed her and separated them (until she had completed her idda). Umar said, "Only good has reached me about you two," and he connected the child to the first husband.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Abdullah ibn Abi Bakr from his father that Abu Salama ibn Abd ar-Rahman told him that Umm Sulaym bint Milhan asked the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, for advice one time when she had begun menstruating, or had given birth to a child after she had done tawaf al-ifada on the Day of Sacrifice. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, gave her permission to leave.

Malik said, "A woman menstruating at Mina stays until she has done tawaf of the House. There is no escape from that for her. If she has already done the tawaf al-ifada and she starts to menstruate afterwards, she may leave for her country, since permission for the menstruating women to leave has been transmitted to us from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace."

He added, "If a woman starts her period at Mina before she does the tawaf al-ifada, and the period lasts longer than usual, she has to stay longer than the time that bleeding would usually detain women."

The Prophet (saws) Said: The disputants should refrain from taking retaliation. The one who is nearer should forgive first and then the one who is next to him, even if (the one who forgives) were a woman.

Abu Dawud said: I have been informed that forgiving by women in the case of murder is permissible if a woman were one of the heirs (of the slain). I have been told on the authority of Abu 'Ubaid about the meaning of the word yanhajizu, that is, they should refrain from retaliation.

Another chain reports a similar hadith.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Abu Bakr ibn Nafi from his father Nafi, the mawla of Ibn Umar that Safiyya bint Abi Ubayd informed him that Umm Salama, the wife of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said that when the lower garment of women was mentioned to the Messenger of Allah, he said, "She lets it down a handspan." Umm Salama said, "If it leaves her uncovered?" He said, "Then the length of a forearm and let her not increase it."

(regarding His Statement): 'They ask your instruction concerning the women. Say: Allah instructs you about them ...' (4.127) It is about the female orphan who is under the guardianship of a man with whom she shares her property and he does not want to marry her and dislikes that someone else should marry her, lest he should share the property with him, so he prevents her from marrying. So Allah forbade such a guardian to do so (i.e. to prevent her from marrying).

Regarding the Qur'anic Verse: 'O you who believe! You are forbidden to inherit women against their will.' (4.19) The custom (in the Pre-lslamic Period) was that if a man died, his relatives used to have the right to inherit his wife, and if one of them wished, he could marry her, or they could marry her to somebody else, or prevent her from marrying if they wished, for they had more right to dispose of her than her own relatives. Therefore this Verse was revealed concerning this matter.

`Aisha said, "Once Allah's Apostle delayed the `Isha' prayer till `Umar reminded him by saying, "The prayer!" The women and children have slept. Then the Prophet came out and said, 'None amongst the dwellers of the earth has been waiting for it (the prayer) except you." `Urwa said, "Nowhere except in Medina the prayer used to be offered (in those days)." He further said, "The Prophet used to offer the `Isha' prayer in the period between the disappearance of the twilight and the end of the first third of the night."

My father said, "When Allah's Apostle became seriously ill, he was told about the prayer. He said, 'Tell Abu Bakr to lead the people in the prayer.' `Aisha said, 'Abu Bakr is a softhearted man and he would be overpowered by his weeping if he recited the Qur'an.' He said to them, 'Tell him (Abu Bakr) to lead the prayer. The same reply was given to him. He said again, 'Tell him to lead the prayer. You (women) are the companions of Joseph."

One of the wives of `Umar (bin Al-Khattab) used to offer the Fajr and the `Isha' prayer in congregation in the Mosque. She was asked why she had come out for the prayer as she knew that `Umar disliked it, and he has great ghaira (self-respect). She replied, "What prevents him from stopping me from this act?" The other replied, "The statement of Allah's Apostle : 'Do not stop Allah's women-slaves from going to Allah's Mosques' prevents him."

I did not feel jealous of any of the wives of the Prophet as much as I did of Khadija though I did not see her, but the Prophet used to mention her very often, and when ever he slaughtered a sheep, he would cut its parts and send them to the women friends of Khadija. When I sometimes said to him, "(You treat Khadija in such a way) as if there is no woman on earth except Khadija," he would say, "Khadija was such-and-such, and from her I had children."

The Ansar said to the Prophet, "Divide our date-palms between us and our emigrant brothers." The Prophet said, "No." The Ansar said to the emigrants, "You may do the labor (in our gardens) and we will share the fruits with you." The emigrants said, "We hear and obey."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Yahya ibn Said from a man of the Ansar that his wife asked him for a divorce, and he said to her, "When you have had your period, then tell me." When she had her period, she told him. He said, "When you are purified then tell me." When she was purified, she told him and he divorced her.

Malik said, "This is the best of what I have heard about it."

that he was asked about the wages of the one who cups others. He said, 'Allah's Apostle was cupped by `Abd Taiba, to whom he gave two Sa of food and interceded for him with his masters who consequently reduced what they used to charge him daily. Then the Prophet s said, "The best medicines you may treat yourselves with are cupping and sea incense.' He added, "You should not torture your children by treating tonsillitis by pressing the tonsils or the palate with the finger, but use incense."

The Prophet was asked, "Who are the best people?" He replied: The people of my generation, and then those who will follow (come after) them, and then those who will come after the later; after that there will come some people whose witness will precede their oaths and their oaths will go ahead of their witness." Ibrahim (a sub-narrator) said, "When we were young, our elder friends used to prohibit us from taking oaths by saying, 'I bear witness swearing by Allah, or by Allah's Covenant."'

I entered the mosque while Allah's Apostle was sitting there. When the sun had set, the Prophet said, "O Abu Dharr! Do you know where this (sun) goes?" I said, "Allah and His Apostle know best." He said, "It goes and asks permission to prostrate, and it is allowed, and (one day) it, as if being ordered to return whence it came, then it will rise from the west." Then the Prophet recited, "That: "And the sun runs on its fixed course (for a term decreed)," (36.38) as it is recited by `Abdullah.

The Prophet said, "The best of the Ansar's families (homes) are those of Banu An-Najjar and then (those of) Banu `Abdul Ash-hal, then (those of) Banu Al-Harith bin Al-Khazraj and then (those of) Banu Sa`ida; nevertheless, there is good in all the families (houses) of the Ansar." On this, Sa`d (bin Ubada) said, "I see that the Prophet has preferred some people to us." Somebody said (to him), "No, but he has given you superiority to many." (Hadith similar to above with a different chain)

Yahya related to me from Malik from Abu'z Zinad from al-Araj from Abu Hurayra that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Every child is born on the fitra and it is his parents who make him a jew or a christian. Just as a camel is born whole - do you perceive any defect?" They said, "Messenger of Allah, what happens to people who die when they are (very) young?" He said, "Allah knows best what they used to do."

Allah's Apostle was asked, "What is the best deed?" He replied, "To believe in Allah and His Apostle (Muhammad). The questioner then asked, "What is the next (in goodness)? He replied, "To participate in Jihad (religious fighting) in Allah's Cause." The questioner again asked, "What is the next (in goodness)?" He replied, "To perform Hajj (Pilgrim age to Mecca) 'Mubrur, (which is accepted by Allah and is performed with the intention of seeking Allah's pleasure only and not to show off and without committing a sin and in accordance with the traditions of the Prophet)."

The Prophet owed somebody a camel of a certain age. When he came to demand it back, the Prophet said (to some people), "Give him (his due)." When the people searched for a camel of that age, they found none, but found a camel one year older. The Prophet said, "Give (it to) him." On that, the man remarked, "You have given me my right in full. May Allah give you in full." The Prophet said, "The best amongst you is the one who pays the rights of others generously."