Someone said to Usama, "Will you not talk to this (Uthman)?" Usama said, "I talked to him (secretly) without being the first man to open an evil door. I will never tell a ruler who rules over two men or more that he is good after I heard Allah's Apostle saying, 'A man will be brought and put in Hell (Fire) and he will circumambulate (go around and round) in Hell (Fire) like a donkey of a (flour) grinding mill, and all the people of Hell (Fire) will gather around him and will say to him, O so-and-so! Didn't you use to order others for good and forbid them from evil?' That man will say, 'I used to order others to do good but I myself never used to do it, and I used to forbid others from evil while I myself used to do evil.' "

Yahya related to me from Malik that the best of what he had heard about horses, mules, and donkeys was that they were not eaten because Allah, the Blessed, the Exalted,said, "And horses, and mules and asses, for you to ride, and as an adornment. " (Sura 16 ayat 8) . He said, may He be Blessed and Exalted, "In cattle, some of them you ride, and some of them you eat." (Sura 6 ayat 79). He said, the Blessed, the Exalted, "Mention Allah's name over what He has provided you of cattle, and eat of them and feed the beggar (al-qani) and the suppliant (al-mutarr). (Sura 22 ayat 34).

Malik said "Allah mentioned horses, mules, and donkeys for riding and adornment, and He mentioned cattle for riding and eating."

Malik said, "Al-qani also means the poor."

We were with Allah's Apostle when the sun eclipsed. Allah's Apostle stood up dragging his cloak till he entered the Mosque. He led us in a two-rak`at prayer till the sun (eclipse) had cleared. Then the Prophet (p.b.u.h) said, "The sun and the moon do not eclipse because of someone's death. So whenever you see these eclipses pray and invoke (Allah) till the eclipse is over."

AbulQasim (saws) said: When one of you is in the sun (Shams)--Makhlad's version has "fay'"--and the shadow withdraws from him so that he is partly in sun and partly in shade, he should get up.

Yahya related to me from Malik thatYahya ibn Said used to say, "Even if someone manages to pray before the time of the prayer has passed, the time that has passed him by is more important, or better, than his family and wealth."

Yahya said that Malik said, "If the time for a prayer comes and a traveller delays a prayer through neglect or forgetfulness until he reaches his family, he should do that prayer in full if he arrives within the time. But if he arrives when the time has past, he should do the travelling prayer. That way he only repays what he owes."

Malik said, "This is what I have found the people and men of knowledge doing in our community." Malik explained that shafaq was the redness in the sky after the sun had set, and said, "When the redness has gone then the isha prayer is due and you have left the time of maghrib."

The people complained to the Messenger of Allah (saws) of the lack of rain, so he gave an order for a pulpit. It was then set up for him in the place of prayer. He fixed a day for the people on which they should come out.

Aisha said: The Messenger of Allah (saws), when the rim of the sun appeared, sat down on the pulpit, and having pronounced the greatness of Allah and expressed His praise, he said: You have complained of drought in your homes, and of the delay in receiving rain at the beginning of its season. Allah has ordered you to supplicate Him has and promised that He will answer your prayer.

Then he said: Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Universe, the Compassionate, the Merciful, the Master of the Day of Judgment. There is no god but Allah Who does what He wishes. O Allah, Thou art Allah, there is no deity but Thou, the Rich, while we are the poor. Send down the rain upon us and make what Thou sendest down a strength and satisfaction for a time.

He then raised his hands, and kept raising them till the whiteness under his armpits was visible. He then turned his back to the people and inverted or turned round his cloak while keeping his hands aloft. He then faced the people, descended and prayed two rak'ahs.

Allah then produced a cloud, and the storm of thunder and lightning came on. Then the rain fell by Allah's permission, and before he reached his mosque streams were flowing. When he saw the speed with which the people were seeking shelter, he (saws) laughed till his back teeth were visible.

Then he said: I testify that Allah is Omnipotent and that I am Allah's servant and apostle.

Abu Dawud said: This is a ghraib (rate) tradition, but its chain is sound. The people of Medina recite "maliki" (instead of maaliki) yawm al-din" (the master of the Day of Judgement). But this tradition (in which the word maalik occurs) is an evidence for them.

Yahya related to me from Malik, from AIqama ibn Abi AIqama, from his mother, that A'isha, umm al-muminin, used to camp on the plain of Arafa at a place called Namira, and then later she changed to another place called al-Arak.

She said, ''A'isha, and those who were with her, would say the talbiya while she was at the place where they were camping, and then, when she had mounted and set out towards the place of standing, she would stop doing so."

She continued, ''A'isha used to do umra when she was in Makka after the hajj was over, in the month of Dhu'l-Hijja.Then she stopped doing that, and instead would set out before the new moon of Muharram for al-J uhfa, where she would stay until she saw the new moon, and then, when she had seen the new moon, she would go into ihram to do umra."

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that once in the time of Uthman ibn Affan the new moon had been seen in the afternoon and Uthman did not break his fast until evening had come and the sun had set.

Yahya said that he had heard Malik say that some one who sees the new moon of Ramadan when he is on his own should start the fast and not break it if he knows that that day is part of Ramadan. He added, "Some one who sees the new moon of Shawwal when he is on his own does not break the fast, because people suspect the reliability of someone among them who breaks the fast. Such people should say, when they sight the new moon, 'We have seen the new moon.' Whoever sees the new moon of Shawwal during the day should not break his fast but should continue fasting for the rest of that day. This is because it is really the new moon of the night that is coming ."

Yahya said that he heard Malik say, "If people are fasting on the day of Fitr thinking that it is still Ramadan and then definite evidence comes to them that the new moon of Ramadan had been seen one day before they began to fast and that they are now into the thirty- first day, then they should break the fast on that day at whatever time the news comes to them. However, they do not pray the id prayer if they hear the news after the sun has begun to decline."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab from Abdullah and Hasan, the sons of Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib from their ather, mayAllah be pleased with him, that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, forbade temporary marriage with women and the flesh of domestic donkeys on the Day of Khaybar.

We alighted with the Prophet (saws) at Khaybar, and he had his companions with him. The chief of Khaybar was a defiant and abominable man.

He came to the Prophet (saws) and said: Is it proper for you, Muhammad, that you slaughter our donkeys, eat our fruit, and beat our women?

The Prophet (saws) became angry and said: Ibn Awf, ride your horse, and call loudly: Beware, Paradise is lawful only for a believer, and that they (the people) should gather for prayer.

They gathered and the Prophet (saws) led them in prayer, stood up and said: Does any of you, while reclining on his couch, imagine that Allah has prohibited only that which is to be found in this Qur'an? By Allah, I have preached, commanded and prohibited various matters as numerous as that which is found in the Qur'an, or more numerous. Allah has not permitted you to enter the houses of the people of the Book without permission, or beat their women, or eat their fruits when they give you that which is imposed on them.

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).

Allah's Apostle said, "Your stay (in this world) in comparison to the stay of the nations preceding you, is like the period between `Asr prayer and the sun set (in comparison to a whole day). The people of the Torah were given the Torah and they acted on it till midday and then they were unable to carry on. And they were given (a reward equal to) one Qirat each. Then the people of the Gospel were given the Gospel and they acted on it till `Asr Prayer and then they were unable to carry on, so they were given la reward equal to) one Qirat each. Then you were given the Qur'an and you acted on it till sunset, therefore you were given (a reward equal to) two Qirats each. On that, the people of the Scriptures said, 'These people (Muslims) did less work than we but they took a bigger reward.' Allah said (to them). 'Have I done any oppression to you as regards your rights?' They said, "No." Then Allah said, 'That is My Blessing which I grant to whomsoever I will.' "

Yahya related to me from Malik from Abu Bakr ibn Nafi from his father that the daughter of one of Safiyya bint Abi Ubayd's brothers was bleeding after she had given birth to a child at Muzdalifa. She and Safiyya were delayed and did not arrive at Mina until after the sun had set on the day of sacrifice. Abdullah ibn Umar told them both to stone the jamra at the time they arrived and he did not think that they owed anything.

Yahya said that Malik was asked about some one who forgot to stone one of the jamras on one of the days of Mina until it was evening and he said, "He should throw the stones at whatever time of day or night he remembers, just as he would pray the prayer if he forgot it and then remembered it at any time of day or night. If he remembers (that he has not done the stoning) after he has returned to Makka, or after he has left, he must sacrifice an animal."

The Prophet set out on Thursday for the Ghazwa of Tabuk and he used to prefer to set out (i.e. travel) on Thursdays.

Malik said, "The generally agreed-on way of doing things in our community is that any setting-free which a man makes in a bequest that he wills in health or illness can be rescinded by him when he likes and changed when he likes as long as it is not a tadbir. There is no way to rescind a tadbir once he has made it.

"As for every child born to him by a slave-girl who he wills to be set free but he does not make mudabbara, her children are not freed with her when she is freed. That is because her master can change his will when he likes and rescind it when he likes, and being set free is not confirmed for her. She is in the position of a slave-girl whose master says, 'If so- and-so remains with me until I die, she is free.' " (i.e. he does not make a definite contract.)

Malik said, "If she fulfils that, that is hers. If he wishes, before that, he can sell her and her child because he has not entered her child into any condition he has made for her.

"The bequest in setting free is different from the tadbir. The precedent of the sunna makes a distinction between them. Had a bequest been in the position of a tadbir, no testator would be able to change his will and what he mentioned in it of setting free. His property would be tied up and he would not be able to use it."

Malik said about a man who made all his slaves mudabbar while he was well and they were his only property, "If he made some of them mudabbar before the others, one begins with the first until the third of his property is reached. (i.e. their value is matched against the third, and those whose value is covered are free.) If he makes the mall mudabbar in his illness, and says in one statement, 'So-and-so is free. So-and-so is free. So-and-so is free if my death occurs in this illness,' or he makes them all mudabbar in one statement, they are matched against the third and one does not begin with any of them before the others. It is a bequest and they have a third of his property divided between them in shares. Then the third of his property frees each of them according to the extent of his share.

"No single one of them is given preference when that all occurs in his illness."

Malik spoke about a master who made his slave a mudabbar and then he died and the only property he had was the mudabbar slave and the slave had property. He said, "A third of the mudabbar is freed and his property remains in his possession."

Malik said about a mudabbar whose master gave him a kitaba and then the master died and did not leave any property other than him, "A third of him is freed and a third of his kitaba is reduced, and he owes two-thirds."

Malik spoke about a man who freed half of his slave while he was ill and made irrevocable his freeing half of him or all of him, and he had made another slave of his mudabbar before that. He said, "One begins with the slave he made mudabbar before the one he freed while he was ill. That is because the man cannot revoke what he has made mudabbar and cannot follow it with a matter which will rescind it. When this mudabbar is freed, then what remains of the third goes to the one who had half of him freed so as to complete his setting-free entirely in the third of the property of the deceased. If what is left of the third does not cover that, whatever is covered by what is left of the third is freed after the first mudabbar is freed . "

In the lifetime of the Allah's Apostle (p.b.u.h) the sun eclipsed and he went out dragging his clothes till he reached the Mosque. The people gathered around him and he led them and offered two rak`at. When the sun (eclipse) cleared, he said, "The sun and the moon are two signs amongst the signs of Allah; they do not eclipse because of the death of someone, and so when an eclipse occurs, pray and invoke Allah till the eclipse is over." It happened that a son of the Prophet called Ibrahim died on that day and the people were talking about that (saying that the eclipse was caused by his death).

Abu Dawud said: Sulaiman b. Musa has narrated this tradition about the time of the Maghrib prayer from Musa from 'Ata on the authority of Jabir from the Prophet (saws). This version adds: He then offered the Isha prayer when a third of the night had passed, as narrated (he said the Isha prayer) when half the night had passed.

This tradition has been transmitted by Ibn Buraidah on the authority of his father from the Prophet (saws) in a similar way.

Allah's Apostle used to offer the `Asr prayer at a time when the sun was still hot and high and if a person went to Al-`Awali (a place) of Medina, he would reach there when the sun was still high. Some of Al-`Awali of Medina were about four miles or so from the town.

I saw `Umar, offering the Fajr (morning) prayer at Jam'; then he got up and said, "The pagans did not use to depart (from Jam') till the sun had risen, and they used to say, 'Let the sun shine on Thabir (a mountain).' But the Prophet contradicted them and departed from Jam' before sunrise."

`Aisha said, "We set out with the sole intention of performing Hajj and when we reached Sarif, (a place six miles from Mecca) I got my menses. Allah's Apostle came to me while I was weeping. He said 'What is the matter with you? Have you got your menses?' I replied, 'Yes.' He said, 'This is a thing which Allah has ordained for the daughters of Adam. So do what all the pilgrims do with the exception of the Tawaf (Circumambulation) round the Ka`ba." `Aisha added, "Allah's Apostle sacrificed cows on behalf of his wives."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Hisham ibn Urwa that his father said that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to say, "Delay the prayer when the edge of the sun appears until it is completely in view, and delay the prayer when the edge of the sun is disappearing until it has completely disappeared."

Malik said, "It is not halal to eat any game that has been hunted in the Haram, or has had a dog set after it in the Haram and then been killed outside the Haram. Anyone that does that has to pay a forfeit for what has been hunted. However, some one that sets his dog after game outside the Haram and then follows it until it is hunted down in the Haram does not have to pay any forfeit, unless he set the dog after the game near to the Haram. The game should not be eaten, however. If he set the dog loose near the Haram then he has to pay a forfeit for the game."

I asked the Prophet about the Statement of Allah:-- 'And the sun runs on fixed course for a term (decreed), ' (36.38) He said, "Its course is underneath "Allah's Throne." (Prostration of Sun trees, stars. mentioned in Qur'an and Hadith does not mean like our prostration but it means that these objects are obedient to their Creator (Allah) and they obey for what they have been created for).

Allah's Apostle said, "The Hour will not be established till the sun rises from the west, and when it rises (from the west) and the people see it, then all of them will believe (in Allah). But that will be the time when 'No good it will do to a soul to believe then. If it believed not before.."' (6.158) The Hour will be established (so suddenly) that two persons spreading a garment between them will not be able to finish their bargain, nor will they be able to fold it up. The Hour will be established while a man is carrying the milk of his she-camel, but cannot drink it; and the Hour will be established when someone is not able to prepare the tank to water his livestock from it; and the Hour will be established when some of you has raised his food to his mouth but cannot eat it."

On the day of Khaibar the Prophet saw fires being lighted. He asked, "Why are these fires being lighted?" The people replied that they were cooking the meat of donkeys. He said, "Break the pots and throw away their contents." The people said, "Shall we throw away their contents and wash the pots (rather than break them)?" He said, "Wash them."

On the day of Ibrahim's death, the sun eclipsed and the people said that the eclipse was due to the death of Ibrahim (the son of the Prophet). Allah's Apostle said, "The sun and the moon are two signs amongst the signs of Allah. They do not eclipse because of someone's death or life. So when you see them, invoke Allah and pray till the eclipse is clear."