I purposely looked at the prayer of the Messenger of Allah (saws), how he offered it. The Messenger of Allah (saws) stood up, faced the direction of the qiblah and uttered the takbir (Allah is most great) and then raised his hands in front of his ears, then placed his right hand on his left (catching each other).

When he was about to bow, he raised them in the same manner. He then placed his hands on his knees. When he raised his head after bowing, he raised them in the like manner. When he prostrated himself he placed his forehead between his hands.

He then sat down and spread his left foot and placed his left hand on his left thigh, and kept his right elbow aloof from his right thigh. He closed his two fingers and made a circle (with the fingers).

I (Asim ibn Kulayb) saw him (Bishr ibn al-Mufaddal) say in this manner. Bishr made the circle with the thumb and the middle finger and pointed with the forefinger.

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).

An Ansari woman said to Allah's Apostle, "O Allah's Apostle! Shall I make something for you to sit on, as I have a slave who is a carpenter?" He replied, "If you wish." So, she got a pulpit made for him. When it was Friday the Prophet sat on that pulpit. The date-palm stem near which the Prophet used to deliver his sermons cried so much so that it was about to burst. The Prophet came down from the pulpit to the stem and embraced it and it started groaning like a child being persuaded to stop crying and then it stopped crying. The Prophet said,"It has cried because of (missing) what it use to hear of the religions knowledge."

A man came to Allah's Apostle and asked about Al-Luqata (a fallen thing). The Prophet said, "Recognize its container and its tying material and then make a public announcement about it for one year and if its owner shows up, give it to him; otherwise use it as you like." The man said, "What about a lost sheep?" The Prophet said, "It is for you, your brother or the wolf." The man said "What about a lost camel?" The Prophet said, "Why should you take it as it has got its water-container (its stomach) and its hooves and it can reach the places of water and can eat the trees till its owner finds it?"

A man came and asked Allah's Apostle about picking a lost thing. The Prophet said, "Remember the description of its container and the string it is tied with, and make public announcement about it for one year. If the owner shows up, give it to him; otherwise, do whatever you like with it." He then asked, "What about a lost sheep?" The Prophet said, "It is for you, for your brother (i.e. its owner), or for the wolf." He further asked, "What about a lost camel?" The Prophet said, "It is none of your concern. It has its water-container (reservoir) and its feet, and it will reach water and drink it and eat the trees till its owner finds it."

Once a bedouin came to the Prophet and asked him about the migration. The Prophet said, "Mercy of Allah be on you! The migration is a quite difficult matter. Have you got some camels?" He replied in the affirmative. Then the Prophet said, "Do you give their Zakat?" He replied in the affirmative. The Prophet said, "Do you let others benefit by their milk gratis?" He replied in the affirmative. Then the Prophet asked, "Do you milk them on their watering days and give their milk to the poor and needy?" He replied in the affirmative. The Prophet, said, "Go on doing like this from beyond the seas, and there is no doubt that Allah will not overlook any of your good deeds."

The Prophet said, "Allah said: 'The son of Adam tells a lie against Me,, though he hasn't the right to do so. He abuses me though he hasn't the right to do so. As for his telling a lie against Me, it is his saying that I will not recreate him as I created him for the first time. In fact, the first creation was not easier for Me than new creation. As for his abusing Me, it is his saying that Allah has begotten children, while I am the One, the Self-Sufficient Master Whom all creatures need, I beget not, nor was I begotten, and there is none like unto Me."

My father died and left seven or nine girls and I married a matron. Allah's Apostle said to me, "O Jabir! Have you married?" I said, "Yes." He said, "A virgin or a matron?" I replied, "A matron." he said, "Why not a virgin, so that you might play with her and she with you, and you might amuse her and she amuse you." I said, " `Abdullah (my father) died and left girls, and I dislike to marry a girl like them, so I married a lady (matron) so that she may look after them." On that he said, "May Allah bless you," or "That is good."

While we were with the Prophet. on a journey, one of the camels ran away. A man shot it with an arrow and stopped it. The Prophet said, "Of these camels some are as wild as wild beasts, so if one of them runs away and you cannot catch it, then do like this (shoot it with an arrow)." I said, "O Allah's Apostle! Sometimes when we are in battles or on a journey we want to slaughter (animals) but we have no knives." He said, "Listen! If you slaughter the animal with anything that causes its blood to flow out, and if Allah's Name is mentioned on slaughtering it, eat of it, provided that the slaughtering instrument is not a tooth or a nail, as the tooth is a bone and the nail is the knife of Ethiopians."

Two ladies (had a fight) and one of them hit the other with a stone on the `Abdomen and caused her to abort. The Prophet judged that the victim be given either a slave or a female slave (as blood-money). Narrated Ibn Shihab: Sa`id bin Al-Musayyab said, "Allah's Apostle judged that in case of child killed in the womb of its mother, the offender should give the mother a slave or a female slave in recompense The offender said, How can I be fined for killing one who neither ate nor drank, neither spoke nor cried: a case like that should be denied ' On that Allah's Apostle said 'He is one of the brothers of the foretellers

I heard Allah's Apostle saying "From among my followers, a group (o 70,000) will enter Paradise without being asked for their accounts, Their faces will be shining like the moon." 'Ukasha bin Muhsin Al-Asadi got up, lifting his covering sheet and said, "O Allah's Apostle Invoke Allah for me that He may include me with them." The Prophet said! "O Allah! Make him from them." Then another man from Al-Ansar got up and said, "O Allah's Apostle! Invoke Allah for me that He may include me with them." On that Allah's Apostle said, "'Ukasha has anticipated you."

I was with Allah's Apostle in one of the Markets of Medina. He left (the market) and so did I. Then he asked thrice, "Where is the small (child)?" Then he said, "Call Al-Hasan bin `Ali." So Al-Hasan bin `Ali got up and started walking with a necklace (of beads) around his neck. The Prophet stretched his hand out like this, and Al-Hasan did the same. The Prophet embraced him and said, "0 Allah! l love him, so please love him and love those who love him." Since Allah's Apostle said that. nothing has been dearer to me than Al-Hasan.

l entered a house in Medina with Abu Huraira, and he saw a man making pictures at the top of the house. Abu Huraira said, "I heard Allah's Apostle saying that Allah said, 'Who would be more unjust than the one who tries to create the like of My creatures? Let them create a grain: let them create a gnat.' "Abu Huraira then asked for a water container and washed his arms up to his armpits. I said, "0 Abu i Huraira! Is this something you have heard I from Allah's Apostle?" He said, "The limit for ablution is up to the place where the ornaments will reach on the Day of Resurrection.'

We used to say in the prayer: 'AsSalam be on Allah, As-Salam be on so-and so.' So one day the Prophet said to us, "Allah Himself is As-Salam; when anyone of you sits during his prayer, he should say: 'at-tah, iyyatu-li l-lahi,' up to 'As-Salihin,' (All the compliments are for Allah ...righteous people) for when he recites this, then he says his Salam to all the righteous people present in the heavens and on the earth. Then he should say, 'I testify that none has the right to be worshipped except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and His Apostle,' and then he can select whatever he likes to celebrate (Allah's) Praises."

I witnessed the case of Lian (the case of a man who charged his wife for committing illegal sexual intercourse when I was fifteen years old. The Prophet ordered that they be divorced, and the husband said, "If I kept her, I would be a liar." I remember that Az-Zubair also said, "(It was said) that if that woman brought forth the child with such-and-such description, her husband would prove truthful, but if she brought it with such-and-such description looking like a Wahra (a red insect), he would prove untruthful." I heard Az-Zubair also saying, "Finally she gave birth to a child of description which her husband disliked .

I used to see a dream which would make me sick till I heard Abu Qatada saying, "I too, used to see a dream which would make me sick till I heard the Prophet saying, "A good dream is from Allah, so if anyone of you saw a dream which he liked, he should not tell it to anybody except to the one whom he loves, and if he saw a dream which he disliked, then he should seek refuge with Allah from its evil and from the evil of Satan, and spit three times (on his left) and should not tell it to anybody, for it will not harm him. "

Allah's Apostle sent the brother of the tribe of Bani Adi Al-Ansari as governor of Khaibar. Then the man returned, bringing Janib (a good kind of date). Allah's Apostle asked him, "Are all the dates of Khaibar like that?" He replied, "No, by Allah, O Allah's Apostle! We take one Sa' of these (good) dates for two Sas of mixed dates." Allah's Apostle then said, "Do not do so. You should either take one Sa of this (kind) for one Sa' of the other; or sell one kind and then buy with its price the other kind (of dates), and you should do the same in weighing."

Allah's Apostle said, "While I was sleeping, I saw myself (in a dream) standing by a well. I drew from it as much water as Allah wished me to draw, and then Ibn Quhafa (Abu Bakr) took the bucket from me and drew one or two buckets, and there was weakness in his drawing----may Allah forgive him! Then `Umar took the bucket which turned into something like a big drum. I had never seen a powerful man among the people working as perfectly and vigorously as he did. (He drew so much water that) the people drank to their satisfaction and watered their camels that knelt down there. (See Hadith No. 16, Vol. 5)

When the verse "That they should cast their outer garments over their persons" was revealed, the women of Ansar came out as if they had crows over their heads by wearing outer garments.

When I parted the hair of the Messenger of Allah (saws) I made a parting from the crow of his head and let his forelock hang between his eyes.

One day I went to Ibn Mas`ud who said, "When Quraish delayed in embracing Islam, the Prophet I invoked Allah to curse them, so they were afflicted with a (famine) year because of which many of them died and they ate the carcasses and Abu Sufyan came to the Prophet and said, 'O Muhammad! You came to order people to keep good relation with kith and kin and your nation is being destroyed, so invoke Allah I ? So the Prophet I recited the Holy verses of Sirat-Ad-Dukhan: 'Then watch you For the day that The sky will Bring forth a kind Of smoke Plainly visible.' (44.10) When the famine was taken off, the people renegade once again as nonbelievers. The statement of Allah, (in Sura "Ad- Dukhan"-44) refers to that: 'On the day when We shall seize You with a mighty grasp.' (44.16) And that was what happened on the day of the battle of Badr." Asbath added on the authority of Mansur, "Allah's Apostle prayed for them and it rained heavily for seven days. So the people complained of the excessive rain. The Prophet said, 'O Allah! (Let it rain) around us and not on us.' So the clouds dispersed over his head and it rained over the surroundings."

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."

`Abdul Malik wrote to Al-Hajjaj that he should not differ from Ibn `Umar during Hajj. On the Day of `Arafat, when the sun declined at midday, Ibn `Umar came along with me and shouted near Al- Hajjaj's cotton (cloth) tent. Al-Hajjaj came Out, wrapping himself with a waist-sheet dyed with safflower, and said, "O Abu `Abdur-Rahman! What is the matter?" He said, If you want to follow the Sunna (the tradition of the Prophet (p.b.u.h) ) then proceed (to `Arafat)." Al-Hajjaj asked, "At this very hour?" Ibn `Umar said, "Yes." He replied, "Please wait for me till I pour some water over my head (i.e. take a bath) and come out." Then Ibn `Umar dismounted and waited till Al-Hajjaj came out. So, he (Al-Hajjaj) walked in between me and my father (Ibn `Umar). I said to him, "If you want to follow the Sunna then deliver a brief sermon and hurry up for the stay at `Arafat." He started looking at `Abdullah (Ibn `Umar) (inquiringly), and when `Abdullah noticed that, he said that he had told the truth.

Ya`la used to say, "I wish I could see Allah's Apostle at the time when he is being inspired divinely." Ya`la added "While the Prophet was at Al-Ja'rana, shaded with a cloth sheet (in the form of a tent) and there were staying with him, some of his companions under it, suddenly there came to him a bedouin wearing a cloak and perfumed extravagantly. He said, "O Allah's Apostle ! What is your opinion regarding a man who assumes the state of Ihram for `Umra wearing a cloak after applying perfume to his body?" `Umar signalled with his hand to Ya`la to come (near). Ya`la came and put his head (underneath that cloth sheet) and saw the Prophet red-faced and when that state (of the Prophet ) was over, he said, "Where is he who as already asked me about the `Umra?" The man was looked for and brought to the Prophet The Prophet said (to him), "As for the perfume you have applied to your body, wash it off your body) thrice, and take off your cloak, and then do in your `Umra the rites you do in your Hajj."

That once he stayed overnight in the house of his aunt, the wife of the Prophet. He added: I lay on the cushion transversely while Allah's Apostle lay along with his wife in the lengthwise direction of cushion. Allah's Apostle slept till the middle of the night, either a bit before or a bit after it, and then woke up rubbing the traces of sleep off his face with his hands, and then recited the last ten Verses of Suratal-`Imran. Then he got up and went to a hanging water skin, performed ablution from it ---- and performed it perfectly. Then he stood up to perform the prayer. I also did the same as he had done and then went to stand beside him. Allah's Apostle put his right hand on my head and held and twisted my right ear. He then offered two rak`at, then two rak`at then two rak`at, then two then two rak`at, then two rak`at, and finally, one rak`a witr. Then lay down again till the Muadhdhin (i.e. the call-maker) came to him, whereupon he got up and offered a light two rak`at prayer and went out (to the Mosque) and offered the (compulsory congregational) Fajr prayer.

While we were in a funeral procession in Baqi Al-Gharqad, Allah's Apostle came and sat down, and we sat around him. He had a small stick in his hand and he bent his head and started scraping the ground with it. He then said, "There is none among you, and no created soul but has his place written for him either in Paradise or in the Hell-Fire, and also has his happy or miserable fate (in the Hereafter) written for him." A man said, "O Allah's Apostle! Shall we depend upon what is written for us and give up doing (good) deeds? For whoever among us is destined to be fortunate (in the Hereafter), will join the fortunate peoples and whoever among us is destined to be miserable will do such deeds as are characteristic of the people who are destined to misery." The Prophet said, "Those who are destined to be happy (in the Hereafter) will find it easy and pleasant to do the deeds characteristic of those destined to happiness, while those who are to be among the miserable (in the Hereafter), will find it easy to do the deeds characteristic of those destined to misery." Then he recited: 'As for him who gives (in charity) and keeps his duty to Allah and believes in the Best reward from Allah,' (92.5-6)

An Arab lady was mentioned to the Prophet so he asked Abu Usaid As-Sa`idi to send for her, and he sent for her and she came and stayed in the castle of Bani Sa`ida. The Prophet came out and went to her and entered upon her. Behold, it was a lady sitting with a drooping head. When the Prophet spoke to her, she said, "I seek refuge with Allah from you." He said, "I grant you refuge from me." They said to her, "Do you know who this is?" She said, "No." They said, "This is Allah's Apostle who has come to command your hand in marriage." She said, "I am very unlucky to lose this chance." Then the Prophet and his companions went towards the shed of Bani Sa`ida and sat there. Then he said, "Give us water, O Sahl!" So I took out this drinking bowl and gave them water in it. The sub-narrator added: Sahl took out for us that very drinking bowl and we all drank from it. Later on `Umar bin `Abdul `Aziz requested Sahl to give it to him as a present, and he gave it to him as a present.

The Messenger of Allah (saws) cursed the man who dressed like a woman and the woman who dressed like a man.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi that Abdullah ibn Umar once met a relative of his called al-Mujabbar who had done the tawaf al-ifada but, out of ignorance, had not shaved his head or cut his hair. Abdullah told him to go back and shave his head or cut his hair, and then go back and do the tawaf al-ifada.