Malik related to me from Yazid ibn Khusayfa that as-Sa'ib ibn Yazid informed him that he heard Sufyan ibn Abi Zuhayr who was from the Azd Shanua tribe and among the companions of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, speaking with some people who were with him at the door of the mosque. He said, "I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say, 'If anyone acquires a dog which he does not use as a sheepdog or for hunting, a qirat will be deducted from the reward of his good deeds each day.' " He was asked, "Did you hear this from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace?" He said, "Yes, by the Lord of this mosque."

Sahlah daughter of Suhayl had a prolonged flow of blood. She came to the Prophet (saws). He commanded her to take a bath for every prayer. When it became hard for her, he commanded her to combine the noon and afternoon prayers with one bath and the sunset and night prayer with one bath, and to take a bath (separately) for the dawn prayer.

Abu Dawud said: Ibn 'Uyainah reported from 'Abd al-Rahman b. al-Qasim on the authority of his father, saying: A woman had a prolonged flow of blood. She asked the Prophet (saws). He commanded her to the same effect.

This hadith has been narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira (Allah be pleased with him) through another chain of transmitters.

Abu Sufyan bin Abu Zuhair, a man from Azd Shanu'a and one of the companions of the Prophet said, "I heard Allah's Apostle saying, 'If one keeps a dog which is meant for guarding neither a farm nor cattle, one Qirat of the reward of his good deeds is deducted daily." I said, "Did you hear this from Allah's Apostle?" He said, "Yes, by the Lord of this Mosque."

The Prophet said, "The example of a miser and the one who gives in charity, is like the example of two men wearing iron cloaks so tightly that their arms are raised forcibly towards their collar-bones. So, whenever a charitable person wants to give in charity, his cloak spreads over his body so much so that it wipes out his traces, but whenever the miser wants to give in charity, the rings (of the iron cloak) come closer to each other and press over his body, and his hands gets connected to his collarbones. Abu Huraira heard the Prophet saying. "The miser then tries to widen it but in vain."

Another chain reports a similar hadith.

When the Prophet realized that the Quraish had delayed in embracing Islam, he said, "O Allah! Protect me against their evil by afflicting them with seven (years of famine) like the seven years of (Prophet) Joseph." So they were struck with a year of famine that destroyed everything till they had to eat bones, and till a man would look towards the sky and see something like smoke between him and it. Allah said:-- "Then watch you (O Muhammad) for the day when the sky will produce a kind of smoke plainly visible." (44.10) And Allah further said:-- "Verily! We shall withdraw the punishment a little, Verily you will return (to disbelief)." (44.15) (Will Allah relieve them from torture on the Day of Resurrection?) (The punishment of) the smoke had passed and Al-Baltsha (the destruction of the pagans in the Badr battle) had passed too.

This hadith has been narrated through several other chains of transmitters, but some of the chains have a slight variation of words.

Allah's Apostle said, "(A believer) who accompanies the funeral procession of a Muslim out of sincere faith and hoping to attain Allah's reward and remains with it till the funeral prayer is offered and the burial ceremonies are over, he will return with a reward of two Qirats. Each Qirat is like the size of the (Mount) Uhud. He who offers the funeral prayer only and returns before the burial, will return with the reward of one Qirat only."

The Prophet "Whoever gets up at night and says: -- 'La ilaha il-lallah Wahdahu la Sharika lahu Lahu-lmulk, waLahu-l-hamd wahuwa 'ala kullishai'in Qadir. Al hamdu lil-lahi wa subhanal-lahi wa la-ilaha il-lal-lah wa-l-lahu akbar wa la hawla Wala Quwata il-la-bil-lah.' (None has the right to be worshipped but Allah. He is the Only One and has no partners . For Him is the Kingdom and all the praises are due for Him. He is Omnipotent. All the praises are for Allah. All the glories are for Allah. And none has the right to be worshipped but Allah, And Allah is Great And there is neither Might nor Power Except with Allah). And then says: -- Allahumma, Ighfir li (O Allah! Forgive me). Or invokes (Allah), he will be responded to and if he performs ablution (and prays), his prayer will be accepted."

This hadith has been narrated on the authority of 'Abd al-Rahman b. Abu Bakra through another chain of transmitters.

Allah's Apostle said, "Whoever keeps a dog, one Qirat of the reward of his good deeds is deducted daily, unless the dog is used for guarding a farm or cattle." Abu Huraira (in another narration) said from the Prophet, "unless it is used for guarding sheep or farms, or for hunting." Narrated Abu Hazim from Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, "A dog for guarding cattle or for hunting."

When Abu Huraira accompanied by his slave set out intending to embrace Islam they lost each other on the way. The slave then came while Abu Huraira was sitting with the Prophet. The Prophet said, "O Abu Huraira! Your slave has come back." Abu Huraira said, "Indeed, I would like you to witness that I have manumitted him." That happened at the time when Abu Huraira recited (the following poetic verse):-- 'What a long tedious tiresome night! Nevertheless, it has delivered us From the land of Kufr (disbelief).

I was sitting with Jabir bin Zaid and `Amr bin Aus, and Bjalla was narrating to them in 70 A.H. the year when Mus`ab bin Az-Zubair was the leader of the pilgrims of Basra. We were sitting at the steps of Zamzam well and Bajala said, "I was the clerk of Juz bin Muawiya, Al-Ahnaf's paternal uncle. A letter came from `Umar bin Al-Khattab one year before his death; and it was read:-- "Cancel every marriage contracted among the Magians between relatives of close kinship (marriages that are regarded illegal in Islam: a relative of this sort being called Dhu-Mahram.)" `Umar did not take the Jizya from the Magian infidels till `Abdur-Rahman bin `Auf testified that Allah's Apostle had taken the Jizya from the Magians of Hajar.

Abu Dawud said: This woman was the wife of Abu Dharr.

The Messenger of Allah (saws) sent a detachment to Najd. I went out along with them, and got abundant riches. Our commander gave each of us a camel as a reward. We then came upon the Messenger of Allah (saws) and he divided the spoils of war among us. Each of us received twelve camels after taking a fifth of it. The Messenger of Allah (saws) did not take account of our companion (i.e. the commander of the army), nor did he blame him for what he had done. Thus each man of us had received thirteen camels with the reward he gave.

Aisha said: Messenger of Allah! All my fellow-wives have kunyahs? He said: Give yourself the kunyah by Abdullah, your son - that is to say, her nephew (her sister's son).

Musaddad said: Abdullah ibn az-Zubayr. She was called by the kunyah Umm Abdullah.

Abu Dawud said: Qurran b. Tammam and Ma'mar all have transmitted it from Hisham in a similar manner. It has also been transmitted by Abu Usamah from Hisham, from 'Abbad b. Hamzah. Similarly, Hammad b. Salamah and Maslamah b. Qa'nab have narrated it from Hisham, like the tradition transmitted by Abu Usamah.

Malik related to me from Abd ar-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Abd al-Qari that his father said, "A man came to Umar ibn al- Khattab from Abu Musa al-Ashari. Umar asked after various people, and he informed him. Then Umar inquired, 'Do you have any recent news?' He said, 'Yes. A man has become a kafir after his Islam.' Umar asked, 'What have you done with him?' He said, 'We let him approach and struck off his head.' Umar said, 'Didn't you imprison him for three days and feed him a loaf of bread every day and call on him to tawba that he might turn in tawba and return to the command of Allah?' Then Umar said, 'O Allah! I was not present and I did not order it and I am not pleased since it has come to me!' "

I have not seen a thing resembling 'lamam' (minor sins) than what Abu Huraira 'narrated from the Prophet who said "Allah has written for Adam's son his share of adultery which he commits inevitably. The adultery of the eyes is the sight (to gaze at a forbidden thing), the adultery of the tongue is the talk, and the inner self wishes and desires and the private parts testify all this or deny it."

Ibn `Abbas said, "When the ailment of the Prophet became worse, he said, 'Bring for me (writing) paper and I will write for you a statement after which you will not go astray.' But `Umar said, 'The Prophet is seriously ill, and we have got Allah's Book with us and that is sufficient for us.' But the companions of the Prophet differed about this and there was a hue and cry. On that the Prophet said to them, 'Go away (and leave me alone). It is not right that you should quarrel in front of me." Ibn `Abbas came out saying, "It was most unfortunate (a great disaster) that Allah's Apostle was prevented from writing that statement for them because of their disagreement and noise. (Note: It is apparent from this Hadith that Ibn `Abbas had witnessed the event and came out saying this statement. The truth is not so, for Ibn `Abbas used to say this statement on narrating the Hadith and he had not witnessed the event personally. See Fath Al-Bari Vol. 1, p.220 footnote.) (See Hadith No. 228, Vol. 4).

Ibn `Umar used to do Rami of the Jamrat-ud-Dunya (the Jamra near to the Khaif mosque) with seven small stones and used to recite Takbir on throwing every pebble. He then would go ahead till he reached the level ground where he would stand facing the Qibla for a long time to invoke (Allah) while raising his hands (while invoking). Then he would do Rami of the Jamrat-ul-Wusta (middle Jamra) and then he would go to the left towards the middle ground, where he would stand facing the Qibla. He would remain standing there for a long period to invoke (Allah) while raising his hands, and would stand there for a long period. Then he would do Rami of the Jamrat-ul-Aqaba from the middle of the valley, but he would not stay by it, and then he would leave and say, "I saw the Prophet doing like this."

The Prophet said to me, "I have been informed that you pray all the nights and observe fast all the days; is this true?" I replied, "Yes." He said, "If you do so, your eyes will become weak and you will get bored. So fast three days a month, for this will be the fasting of a whole year, or equal to the fasting of a whole year." I said, "I find myself able to fast more." He said, "Then fast like the fasting of (the Prophet) David who used to fast on alternate days and would not flee on facing the enemy."