AbuSalamah said: Zaynab daughter of AbuSalamah reported to me that a woman had a copious flow of blood. She was the wife of AbdurRahman ibn Awf. The Messenger of Allah (saws) commanded her to take a bath at the time of every prayer, and then to pray. He reported to me that Umm Bakr told him that Aisha said: The Messenger of Allah (saws) said about a woman who was doubtful of her menstruation after purification that it was a vein or veins.

Abu Dawud said: The two commands (of which the Prophet gave option) were as follows in the version reported by Ibn 'Aqil: He said: If you are strong enough, then take a bath for every prayer; otherwise combine the (two prayers), as al-Qasim reported in his version. This statement was also narrated by Sa'id b. Jubair from 'Ali and Ibn 'Abbas.

On his father's authority, said that his grandfather said: A woman came to the Prophet (saws) and said: Messenger of Allah, I have taken a vow to play the tambourine over you.

He said: Fulfil your vow.

She said: And I have taken a vow to perform a sacrifice in such a such a place, a place in which people had performed sacrifices in pre-Islamic times.

He asked: For an Idol?

She replied: No.

He asked: For an image?

She replied: No.

He said: Fulfil your vow.

Ibn Shihab: I do not know whether he (the Prophet) said it is a third or a fourth time.

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that a man wanted to buy food from a man in advance. The man who wanted to sell the food to him went with him to the market, and he began to show him heaps, saying, "Which one would you like me to buy for you." The buyer said to him, "Are you selling me what you do not have?" So they came to Abdullah ibn Umarand mentioned that to him. Abdallah ibn Umar said to the buyer, "Do not buy from him what he does not have." He said to the seller, "Do not sell what you do not have."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Yahya ibn Said that Marwan ibn al-Hakam wrote to Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan that a madman was brought to him who had killed a man. Muawiya wrote to him, "Tie him up and do not inflict any retaliation on him. There is no retaliation against a madman."

Malik said about an adult and a child when they murder a man together, "The adult is killed and the child pays half the full blood-money."

Malik said, "It is like that with a freeman and a slave when they murder a slave. The slave is killed and the freeman pays half of his value."

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that if Sad ibn Abi Waqqas entered Makka late, he would go to Arafa before doing tawaf of the House and say between Safa and Marwa, and then do tawaf when he got back.

Malik said, "The leeway is broad, if Allah wills."

Malik was asked whether somebody that was doing obligatory tawaf could stop and talk with another man, and he said, "I do not like him to do that."

Malik said, "Only someone who is pure (by being in wudu) should do tawaf of the House or say between Safa and Marwa."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab from Urwa ibn az- Zubayr that a mawla of the tribe of Banu Adi called Zabra told him that she had been the wife of a slave when she was a slave-girl. Then she was set free and she sent a message to Hafsa, the wife of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Hafsa called her and said, "I will tell you something., but I would prefer that you did not act upon it. You have authority over yourself as long as your husband does not have intercourse with you. If he has intercourse with you, you have no authority at all." Therefore she pronounced her divorce from him three times.

Allah's Apostle sent his letter to Khusrau and ordered his messenger to hand it over to the Governor of Bahrain who was to hand it over to Khusrau. So, when Khusrau read the letter he tore it. Sa`id bin Al- Musaiyab said, "The Prophet then invoked Allah to disperse them with full dispersion, (destroy them (i.e. Khusrau and his followers) severely)".

Uqbah said to the Prophet (saws): My sister has taken a vow that she will walk to the House of Allah (the Ka'bah). Thereupon he said: Allah will not do anything of the walking of your sister to the House of Allah (i.e. the Ka'bah).

When the verse: "O ye who believe! eat not up your property among yourselves in vanities, but let there be amongst you traffic and trade by mutual good will" was revealed, a man thought it a sin to eat in the house of another man after the revelation of this verse.

Then this (injunction) was revealed by the verse in Surat an-Nur: "No blame on you whether you eat in company or separately."

When a rich man (after revelation) invited a man from his people to eat food in his house, he would say: I consider it a sin to eat from it, and he said: a poor man is more entitled to it than I. The Arabic word tajannah means sin or fault. It was then declared lawful to eat something on which the name of Allah was mentioned, and it was made lawful to eat the flesh of an animal slaughtered by the people of the Book.

AbdulHamid, a client of Banu Hashim, said that his mother who served some of the daughters of the Prophet (saws) told him that one of the daughters of the Prophet (saws) said that the Prophet (saws) used to teach her saying: Say in the morning: Glory be to Allah, and I begin with praise of Him; there is no power but in Allah ; what Allah wills comes to pass and what He does not will does not come to pass; I know that Allah is Omnipotent and that Allah has comprehended everything in knowledge" ; for whoever says it in the morning will be guarded till the evening, and whoever says it in the evening will be guarded till the morning.

Ayyub ibn Bushayr ibn Ka'b al-Adawi quoted a man of Anazah who said that he asked AbuDharr when he left Syria: I wish to ask you about a tradition of the Messenger of Allah (saws). He said: I shall tell you except that it is something secret. Did the Messenger of Allah (saws) shake hands with you when you met him? He replied: I never met him without his shaking hands with me. One day he sent for me when I was not at home. When I came I was informed that he had sent for me. I came to him and found him on a couch. He embraced me and that was better and better.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi that Abdullah ibn Umar would say, "A man should not have intercourse with a slave girl except one whom, if he wished, he could sell, if he wished, he could give away, if he wished, he could keep, if he wished, he could do with her what he wanted ."

Malik said that a man who bought a slave- girl on condition that he did not sell her, give her away, or do something of that nature, was not to have intercourse with her. That was because he was not permitted to sell her or to give her away, so if he did not own that from her, he did not have complete ownership of her because an exception had been made concerning her by the hand of someone else. If that sort of condition entered into it, it was a messy situation, and the sale was not recommended.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi that the slave girls of Abdullah ibn Umar used to wash his feet and bring him a mat of palm leaves while they were menstruating.

Malik was asked whether a man who had women and slavegirlscould have intercourse with all of them before he did ghusl. He said, "There is no harm in a man having intercourse with two of his slave girls before he does ghusl. It is disapproved of, however, to go to a freewoman on another's day. There is no harm in making love first to one slave girl and then to another when one is junub."

Malik was asked about a man who was junub and water was put down for him to do ghusl with.Then he forgot and put his finger into it to find out whether it was hot or cold. Malik said, "If no filth has soiled his fingers, I do not consider that that makes the water impure."

I asked `Uthman bin `Affan about a man who engaged in the sexual intercourse with his wife but did not discharge. `Uthman replied, "He should perform ablution like that for the prayer after washing his private parts." `Uthman added, "I heard that from Allah's Apostle." I asked `Ali bin Abi Talib, Az- Zubair bin Al-`Awwam, Talha bin 'Ubaidullah and Ubai bin Ka`b and they gave the same reply. (Abu Aiyub said that he had heard that from Allah's Apostle ) (This order was canceled later on so one has to take a bath. See, Hadith No. 180).

Ibn `Abbas addressed us on a (rainy and) muddy day and when the Mu'adh-dhin said, "Come for the prayer" Ibn `Abbas ordered him to say, "Pray in your homes." The people began to look at one another with surprise as if they did not like it. Ibn `Abbas said, "It seems that you thought ill of it but no doubt it was done by one who was better than I (i.e. the Prophet). It (the prayer) is a strict order and I disliked to bring you out." Ibn `Abbas narrated the same as above but he said, "I did not like you to make you sinful (in refraining from coming to the mosque) and to come (to the mosque) covered with mud up to the knees."

Hakim bin Hizam said, "(Once) I asked Allah's Apostle (for something) and he gave it to me. Again I asked and he gave (it to me). Again I asked and he gave (it to me). And then he said, "O Hakim! This property is like a sweet fresh fruit; whoever takes it without greediness, he is blessed in it, and whoever takes it with greediness, he is not blessed in it, and he is like a person who eats but is never satisfied; and the upper (giving) hand is better than the lower (receiving) hand." Hakim added, "I said to Allah's Apostle , 'By Him (Allah) Who sent you with the Truth, I shall never accept anything from anybody after you, till I leave this world.' " Then Abu Bakr (during his caliphate) called Hakim to give him his share from the war booty (like the other companions of the Prophet ), he refused to accept anything. Then `Umar (during his caliphate) called him to give him his share but he refused. On that `Umar said, "O Muslims! I would like you to witness that I offered Hakim his share from this booty and he refused to take it." So Hakim never took anything from anybody after the Prophet till he died.

That Al-Miqdad bin `Amr Al-Kindi, who was an ally of Bani Zuhra and one of those who fought the battle of Badr together with Allah's Apostle told him that he said to Allah's Apostle, "Suppose I met one of the infidels and we fought, and he struck one of my hands with his sword and cut it off and then took refuge in a tree and said, "I surrender to Allah (i.e. I have become a Muslim),' could I kill him, O Allah's Apostle, after he had said this?" Allah's Apostle said, "You should not kill him." Al- Miqdad said, "O Allah's Apostle! But he had cut off one of my two hands, and then he had uttered those words?" Allah's Apostle replied, "You should not kill him, for if you kill him, he would be in your position where you had been before killing him, and you would be in his position where he had been before uttering those words."

The Prophet (saws) said: I hope my community will not fail to maintain their position in the sight of their Lord if He delays them half a day. Sa'd was asked: How long is half a day? He said: It is five hundred years.

The one who asked (the Prophet) was Gabriel (refer to Hadith 5.327).

Mu'awiyah said to the Companions of the Prophet (saws): Do you know that the Messenger of Allah (saws) prohibited from doing so and so (and he prohibited from) riding on the skins of leopards? They said: Yes.

He again said: You know that he prohibited combining hajj and umrah. They replied: This we do not (know). He said: This was prohibited along with other things, but you forgot.

Malik related to me from Ibn Shihab that Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan gave a judgment that the rapist had to pay the raped woman her bride- price.

Yahya said that he heard Malik say, "What is done in our community about the man who rapes a woman, virgin or non-virgin, if she is free, is that he must pay the bride-price of the like of her. If she is a slave, he must pay what he has diminished of her worth. The hadd-punishment in such cases is applied to the rapist, and there is no punishment applied to the raped woman. If the rapist is a slave, that is against his master unless he wishes to surrender him."

Malik related to me from Nafi that Safiyya bint Abi Ubayd informed him that Umar ibn al-Khattab said, "What is the matter with men who have intercourse with their slave-girls and then leave them to go? No slave-girl comes to me whose master confesses that he has had intercourse with her but that I connect her child to him, whether or not he has practised coitus interruptus or left off from intercourse with her."

Yahya said that he heard Malik say, "What is done in our community about an umm walad who commits a crime is that her master is liable for what she has done up to her value. He does not have to surrender her, and he cannot be made to bear more than her value for her crime."

The wife of Rifa`a Al-Qurazi came to Allah's Apostle and said, "O Allah's Apostle! Rifa`a divorced me irrevocably. After him I married `Abdur-Rahman bin Az-Zubair Al-Qurazi who proved to be impotent." Allah's Apostle said to her, "Perhaps you want to return to Rifa`a? Nay (you cannot return to Rifa`a) until you and `Abdur-Rahman consummate your marriage."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi that she saw Safiyya bint Abi Ubayd, the wife of Abdullah ibn 'Umar, take off her head- covering and wipe her head with water. Nafi was a child at the time.

Malik was asked about a man who did wudu but forgot to wipe his head until the water had dried. He said, "I consider that he should wipe his head and then repeat the prayer if he has already performed it."

Malik was asked about a man who did wudu but forgot to wipe his head until the water had dried. He said, "I consider that he should wipe his head and then repeat the prayer if he has already performed it."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Rabia ibn Abi Abd ar-Rahman that a man came to Qasim ibn Muhammad and said, "I did the tawaf al- ifada along with my wife, and then I went off onto a mountain path and approached my wife to make love to her, and she said, 'I have not cut my hair yet.' So I bit some of her hair off with my teeth and then had intercourse with her." Qasim laughed and said, "Tell her to cut her hair with some scissors."

Malik said, "To my liking an animal should be sacrificed in an instance such as this, because Abdullah ibn Abbas said, 'Whoever forgets any of his rites on hajj should sacrifice an animal.' "

Once Allah's Apostle gave a letter to a person and ordered him to go and deliver it to the Governor of Bahrain. (He did so) and the Governor of Bahrain sent it to Chousroes, who read that letter and then tore it to pieces. (The sub-narrator (Ibn Shihab) thinks that Ibn Al-Musaiyab said that Allah's Apostle invoked Allah against them (saying), "May Allah tear them into pieces, and disperse them all totally.)"

Allah's Apostle sent a letter to Khosrau with `Abdullah bin Hudhafa As-Sahmi and told him to hand it over to the governor of Al-Bahrain. The governor of Al-Bahrain handed it over to Khosrau, and when he read the latter, he tore it into pieces. (The sub-narrator added, "I think that Ibn Al-Musaiyab said, 'Allah 's Apostle invoked (Allah) to tear them all totally Khosrau and his companions) into pieces.

Ibn al-Muthanna reported from ‘Amr from Hussain b. Abi Laila, saying ; Until Mu’adh came. Shu’bah said ; I heard it from Hussain who said : I shall follow the position (in the prayer in which I find him (the prophet)). . . you should do in a similar way.

Abu Dawud said: I then turned to the tradition reported by ‘Amr b. Marzuq he said; then Ma’adh came and they (the people) hinted at him. Shu’bah said; I heard it from hussain who said: Mu’adh then said; I shall follow the position (in the prayer when I join ...

Malik related to me from Ibn Shihab from Ubaydullah ibn Abdullah ibn Utba ibn Masud that Abu Hurayra and Zayd ibn Khalid al-Juhani informed him that two men brought a dispute to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. One of them said, "Messenger of Allah! Judge between us by the Book of Allah!" The other said, and he was the wiser of the two, "Yes, Messenger of Allah. Judge between us by the Book of Allah and give me permission to speak." He said, "Speak." He said, "My son was hired by this person and he committed fornication with his wife. He told me that my son deserved stoning, and I ransomed him for one hundred sheep and a slave-girl. Then I asked the people of knowledge and they told me that my son deserved to be flogged with one hundred lashes and exiled for a year, and they informed me that the woman deserved to be stoned." The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "By him in whose Hand myself is, I will judge between you by the Book of Allah. As for your sheep and slave girl, they should be returned to you. Your son should have one hundred lashes and be exiled for a year." He ordered Unays al-Aslami to go to the wife of the other man and to stone her if she confessed . She confessed and he stoned her.

One of the sons of Abu Talha became sick and died and Abu Talha at that time was not at home. When his wife saw that he was dead, she prepared him (washed and shrouded him) and placed him somewhere in the house. When Abu Talha came, he asked, "How is the boy?" She said, "The child is quiet and I hope he is in peace." Abu Talha thought that she had spoken the truth. Abu Talha passed the night and in the morning took a bath and when he intended to go out, she told him that his son had died, Abu Talha offered the (morning) prayer with the Prophet and informed the Prophet of what happened to them. Allah's Apostle said, "May Allah bless you concerning your night. (That is, may Allah bless you with good offspring)." Sufyan said, "One of the Ansar said, 'They (i.e. Abu Talha and his wife) had nine sons and all of them became reciters of the Qur'an (by heart).' "

Ibn `Umar intended to perform Hajj in the year when Al-Hajjaj attacked Ibn Az-Zubair. Somebody said to Ibn `Umar, "There is a danger of an impending war between them." Ibn `Umar said, "Verily, in Allah's Apostle you have a good example. (And if it happened as you say) then I would do the same as Allah's Apostle had done. I make you witness that I have decided to perform `Umra." Then he set out and when he reached Al-Baida', he said, "The ceremonies of both Hajj and `Umra are similar. I make you witness that I have made Hajj compulsory for me along with `Umra." He drove (to Mecca) a Hadi which he had bought from (a place called) Qudaid and did not do more than that. He did not slaughter the Hadi or finish his Ihram, or shave or cut short his hair till the day of slaughtering the sacrifices (10th Dhul-Hijja). Then he slaughtered his Hadi and shaved his head and considered the first Tawaf (of Safa and Marwa) as sufficient for Hajj and `Umra. Ibn `Umar said, "Allah's Apostle did the same."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Yahya ibn Said that al-Qasim ibn Muhammad said, "One of my wives died and Muhammad ibn Kab al Quradhi came to console me about her. He told me of one among the Bani Israil who was a diligent, worshipping, knowing and understanding man who had a wife that he admired and loved, and she died. He grieved over her intensely and lamented her until he withdrew into a house and locked himself in, hidden from everyone, and no-one visited him. A woman heard about him and went to him, saying, 'I need him to give me an opinion. Nothing will satisfy me except what he says about it.' Everyone went away, but she stuck to his door and said, 'I must see him.' Someone said to him, 'There is a woman who wishes to ask your opinion about something,' and she insisted, 'I will only talk to him about it.' When everyone had gone away, and she still had not left his door, he said, 'Let her in.' So she went in and saw him and said, 'I have come to ask your opinion about something.' He said, 'What is it?' She said, 'I borrowed a piece of jewellery from a neighbour of mine, and I have worn it and used it for a long time. Then they sent to me for it. Should I let them have it back?' He said, 'Yes, by Allah.' She said, 'I have had it for a long time.' He said, 'It is more correct for you to return it to them, since they have lent it to you for such a long time.' She said, 'Yes. May Allah have mercy on you. Do you then grieve over what Allah has lent you and then taken from you, when He has a greater right to it than you?' Then he saw the situation he was in, and Allah helped him by her words."

Yahya related to me from Malik that he heard that this was said "No one will die until his provision is completed for him, so behave correctly in your seeking it."

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "I forget or I am made to forget so that I may establish the sunna."

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that Abdullah ibn Umar missed the two rakas of dawn, and then did them after the sun rose.

Malik related to me that he heard that Umm Salama, the wife of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, made a settlement with her mukatab for an agreed amount of gold and silver.

Malik said, "The generally agreed on way of doing things among us in the case of a mukatab who is shared by two partners, is that one of them cannot make a settlement with him for an agreed price according to his portion without the consent of his partner. That is because the slave and his property are owned by both of them, and so one of them is not permitted to take any of the property except with the consent of his partner. If one of them settled with the mukatab and his partner did not, and he took the agreed price, and then the mukatab died while he had property or was unable to pay, the one who settled would not have anything of the mukatab's property and he could not return that for which he made settlement so that his right to the slave's person would return to him. However, when someone settles with a mukatab with the permission of his partner and then the mukatab is unable to pay, it is preferable that the one who broke with him return what he has taken from the mukatab for the severance and he can have back his portion of the mukatab. He can do that. If the mukatab dies and leaves property, the partner who has kept hold of the kitaba is paid in full the amount of the kitaba which remains to him against the mukatab from the mukatab's property. Then what remains of property of the mukatab is between the partner who broke with him and his partner, according to their shares in the mukatab. If one of the partners breaks off with him and the other keeps the kitaba, and the mukatab is unable to pay, it is said to the partner who settled with him, 'If you wish to give your partner half of what you took so the slave is divided between you, then do so. If you refuse, then all of the slave belongs to the one who held on to possession of the slave.' "

Malik spoke about a mukatab who was shared between two men and one of them made a settlement with him with the permission of his partner. Then the one who retained possession of the slave demanded the like of that for which his partner had settled or more than that and the mukatab could not pay it. He said, "The mukatab is shared between them because the man has only demanded what is owed to him. If he demands less than what the one who settled with him took and the mukatab can not manage that, and ...

Malik related to me from Yahya ibn Said from Sulayman ibn Yasar that Thabit ibn ad-Dahhak al-Ansari told him that he had found a camel at Harra, so he hobbled it and mentioned it to Umar ibn al-Khattab and Umar ordered him to make it known three times. Thabit said to him, "That would distract me from the running of my estate." Umar said to him, "Then let it go where you found it."

that he consulted the Prophet about a vow that had been made by his mother who died without fulfilling it. The Prophet gave his verdict that he should fulfill it on her behalf. The verdict became Sunna (i.e. the Prophet's tradition).

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that Abdullah ibn Umar used to disapprove of passing in front of women while they were praying.

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."

From his father that the Messenger of Allah (saws) said: 'Whoever purchases a date-palm after it has been pollinated then its fruits are for the one who sold it, unless the buyer made it a condition. And whoever purchases slave who has property, then his property is for the one who sold him, unless the buyer made it a condition."

[He said:] There is something on this topic from Jabir. The Hadith of Ibn 'Umar is a Hasan Sahih Hadith. Similarly, it has been reported by more than one route from Az-Zuhri, from Salim, from Ibn 'Umar, that the Prophet (saws) "Whoever purchases a date-palm after it has been pollinated, then its fruits are for seller, unless the buyer made it a condition. And whoever purchases a slave who has property, then his property is for the seller, unless the buyer made it a condition." And it has been reported from Nafi', from Ibn 'Umar, that the Prophet (saws) said: "Whoever purchases a date-palm that has been pollinated, then its fruits are for the seller, unless the buyer made it a condition."

It has been reported from Nafi', from Ibn 'Umar, from 'Umar, that he (saws) said: "Whoever sold a slave who has property, his property is for the seller, unless the buyer made it a condition." This is how the two Ahadith were reported by 'Ubaidullah bin 'Umar and others from Nafi'.

Some of them have also reported this Hadith from Nafi', from Ibn 'Umar, from the Prophet (saws).

'Ikrimah bin Khalid reported similar to the Hadith of Salim, from Ibn 'Umar, from the Prophet (saws).

This Hadith is acted upon according to some of the people of knowledge. It is the view of Ash-Shafi'i, Ahmad, and Ishaq.

Muhammad bin Isma'il said: "The Hadith of Az-Zuhri from Salim, from his father, from the Prophet (saws) is the most correct [of what has been reported on this topic]."

I said, "O Allah's Apostle! Marry my sister, the daughter of Abu Sufyan." He said, "Do you like that?" I said, "Yes, for even now I am not your only wife; and the most beloved person to share the good with me is my sister." The Prophet said, "But that is not lawful for me (i.e., to be married to two sisters at a time.)" I said, "O Allah's Apostle! By Allah, we have heard that you want to marry Durra, the daughter of Abu Salama." He said, "You mean the daughter of Um Salama?" I said, "Yes." He said, "By Allah ! Even if she were not my stepdaughter, she would not be lawful for me to marry, for she is my foster niece, for Thuwaiba has suckled me and Abu Salama; so you should neither present your daughters, nor your sisters to me."

Ibn `Umar bin Al-Khattab divorced his wife during her menses. Allah's Apostle ordered him to take her back till she became clean, and when she got another period while she was with him, she should wait till she became clean again and only then, if he wanted to divorce her, he could do so before having sexual relations with her. And that is the period Allah has fixed for divorcing women. Whenever `Abdullah (bin `Umar) was asked about that, he would say to the questioner, "If you divorced her thrice, she is no longer lawful for you unless she marries another man (and the other man divorces her in his turn).' Ibn `Umar further said, 'Would that you (people) only give one or two divorces, because the Prophet has ordered me so."