Yahya related to me from Malik from Hisham ibn Urwa from his father from Humran, the mawla of Uthman ibn Affan, that Uthman ibn Affan was once sitting on the Maqaid (the benches surrounding the Madina Mosque, or else a stone near Uthman ibn Affan's house where he sat to discuss with people), when the muadhdhin came and told him that it was time for the asr prayer. He called for water and did wudu. Then he said, "By Allah, I shall tell you something which I would not tell you if it were not in the Book of Allah. I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say, 'If a man does wudu, and makes sure he does it correctly, and then does the prayer, he will be forgiven everything that he does between then and the time when he prays the next prayer.' "

Yahya said that Malik said, "I believe he meant this ayat - 'Establish prayer at the two ends of the day and in some watches of the night. Good actions take away wrong actions. That is a reminder for those who remember.' " (Sura 11 ayat 114).

When the Muslims arrived at Medina, they used to assemble for the prayer, and used to guess the time for it. During those days, the practice of Adhan for the prayers had not been introduced yet. Once they discussed this problem regarding the call for prayer. Some people suggested the use of a bell like the Christians, others proposed a trumpet like the horn used by the Jews, but `Umar was the first to suggest that a man should call (the people) for the prayer; so Allah's Apostle ordered Bilal to get up and pronounce the Adhan for prayers.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Zayd ibn Aslam that Umar ibn al-Khattab said, "You should not pray while you are holding your bowels."

I came to Utbah ibn AbdusSulami and said: AbulWalid, I went out seeking sacrificial animals. I did not find anything which attracted me except an animal whose teeth have fallen. So I abominated it. What do you say (about it)? He said: Why did you not bring it to me? He said: Glory be to Allah: Is if lawful for you and not lawful for me? He said: Yes, you doubt and I do not doubt. The Messenger of Allah (saws) has forbidden an animal whose ear has been uprooted so much so that its hole appears (outwardly), and an animal whose horn has broken from the root, and an animal which has totally lost the sight of its eye, and an animal which is so thin and weak that it cannot go with the herd, and an animal with a broken leg.

Zaynab, the wife of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, told that Abdullah said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (saws) saying: spells, charms and love-potions are polytheism.

I asked: Why do you say this? I swear by Allah, when my eye was discharging I used to go to so-and-so, the Jew, who applied a spell to me. When he applied the spell to me, it calmed down. Abdullah said:

That was just the work of the Devil who was picking it with his hand, and when he uttered the spell on it, he desisted. All you need to do is to say as the Messenger of Allah (saws) used to say: Remove the harm, O Lord of men, and heal. Thou art the Healer. There is no remedy but Thine which leaves no disease behind.

[He said:] There are narrations on this topic from Abu Sa'eed and 'Atiyyah Al-Qurazi.

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

I saw the Messenger of Allah (saws) raising his thumbs in prayer up to the lobes of his ears.

The Prophet said, "The people will fall down unconscious at the time when they should fall down (i.e., on the Day of Resurrection), and then I will be the first man to get up, and behold, Moses will be there holding (Allah's) Throne. I will not know whether he has been amongst those who have fallen unconscious."

The Prophet stood up beside the pulpit (and pointed with his finger towards the East) and said, "Afflictions are there! Afflictions are there, from where the side of the head of Satan comes out," or said, "..the side of the sun.."

The Prophet (saws) used to make a sign during prayer.

Sahl bin Abi Hathma and some great men of his tribe said, `Abdullah bin 'Sahl and Muhaiyisa went out to Khaibar as they were struck with poverty and difficult living conditions. Then Muhaiyisa was informed that `Abdullah had been killed and thrown in a pit or a spring. Muhaiyisa went to the Jews and said, "By Allah, you have killed my companion." The Jews said, "By Allah, we have not killed him." Muhaiyisa then came back to his people and told them the story. He, his elder brother Huwaiyisa and `Abdur-Rahman bin Sahl came (to the Prophet) and he who had been at Khaibar, proceeded to speak, but the Prophet said to Muhaiyisa, "The eldest! The eldest!" meaning, "Let the eldest of you speak." So Huwaiyisa spoke first and then Muhaiyisa. Allah's Apostle said, "The Jews should either pay the blood money of your (deceased) companion or be ready for war." After that Allah's Apostle wrote a letter to the Jews in that respect, and they wrote that they had not killed him. Then Allah's Apostle said to Huwaiyisa, Muhaiyisa and `Abdur-Rahman, "Can you take an oath by which you will be entitled to take the blood money?" They said, "No." He said (to them), "Shall we ask the Jews to take an oath before you?" They replied, "But the Jews are not Muslims." So Allah's Apostle gave them one-hundred she-camels as blood money from himself. Sahl added: When those she-camels were made to enter the house, one of them kicked me with its leg.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi that Abdullah ibn Umar did not say qunut in any of the prayers.

Yahya related to me from Hisham ibn Urwa that his father used to pray on the day of Fitr before the prayer in the mosque.

Yahya related to me from Malik that he asked Ibn Shihab and Nafi, the mawla of Ibn Umar, whether a man who joined an imam who had already done a raka should say the tashahhud with the imam in the second and fourth rakas, even though these were odd for him? They said, "He should say tashahhud with him."

Malik said, "That is the position with us."

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."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi that Abdullah ibn Umar said, "Whoever swears by Allah and then says, 'Allah willing' and then does not do what he has sworn to, has not broken his oath."

Malik said, "The best I have heard on this reservation is that it belongs to the statement made if the speaker does not break the normal flow of speech before he is silent. If he is silent and breaks the flow of speech, he has no exception."

Yahya said, "Malik said that a man who said that he had disbelieved or associated something with Allah and then he broke his oath, had no kaffara, and he was not a disbeliever or one who associated something with Allah unless his heart concealed something of either of those. He should ask forgiveness of Allah and not return to it - for what he did was evil."

The Prophet said, "On the night of my Ascent to the Heaven, I saw Moses who was a tall brown curlyhaired man as if he was one of the men of Shan'awa tribe, and I saw Jesus, a man of medium height and moderate complexion inclined to the red and white colors and of lank hair. I also saw Malik, the gate-keeper of the (Hell) Fire and Ad-Dajjal amongst the signs which Allah showed me." (The Prophet then recited the Holy Verse): "So be not you in doubt of meeting him' when you met Moses during the night of Mi'raj over the heavens" (32.23) Narrated Anas and Abu Bakra: "The Prophet said, "The angels will guard Medina from Ad-Dajjal (who will not be able to enter the city of Medina).

A partner of mine sold some Dirhams on credit in the market. I said, "Glorified be Allah! Is this legal?" He replied, "Glorified be Allah! By Allah, when I sold them in the market, nobody objected to it." Then I asked Al-Bara' bin `Azib (about it) he said, "We used to make such a transaction when the Prophet came to Medina. So he said, 'There is no harm in it if it is done from hand to hand, but it is not allowed on credit.' Go to Zaid bin Al- Arqam and ask him about it for he was the greatest trader of all of us." So I asked Zaid bin Al-Arqam., and he said the same (as Al-Bara) did."

The Prophet (saws) said: Prayer is to be offered in two rak'ahs; and you should recite the tashahhud at the end of two rak'ahs, and express your distress and humility and raise your hands and say praying: O Allah, O Allah. He who does not do so does not offer a perfect prayer.

Abu Dawud was asked about offering prayer at night in two rak'ahs. He said: They may be two if you like and four if you like.

My companions, who came with me in the boat and I landed at a place called Baqi [??] Buthan [??] . The Prophet was in Medina at that time. One of us used to go to the Prophet by turns every night at the time of the `Isha prayer. Once I along with my companions went to the Prophet and he was busy in some of his affairs, so the `Isha' prayer was delayed to the middle of the night He then came out and led the people (in prayer). After finishing from the prayer, he addressed the people present there saying, "Be patient! Don't go away. Have the glad tiding. It is from the blessing of Allah upon you that none amongst mankind has prayed at this time save you." Or said, "None except you has prayed at this time." Abu Musa added, 'So we returned happily after what we heard from Allah's Apostle ."

Abu Dawud said: Besides Ibn Nafi' this is transmitted by al-Laith from 'Umairah b. Abi Najiyyah from Bakr b. Sawadah on the authority of 'Ata b. Yasar from the Prophet (saws).

Abu Dawud said: The mention of (the name of the Companion) Abu Sa'id in this tradition is not guarded. This is a mural tradition (i.e. the Successor 'Ata b. Yasar directly narrates it from the Prophet, leaving the name of the Companion in the chain.)

Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab from al-Araj that Abdullah ibn Buhayna said, "The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, prayed two rakas with us and then stood without sitting and the people stood with him. When he had finished the prayerand we had seen him say the taslim, he said 'Allah is greater' and did two sajdas from the sitting position and then said the taslim again."

While the Prophet was delivering the Khutba on a Friday, a man stood up and said, "O, Allah's Apostle! The livestock and the sheep are dying, so pray to Allah for rain." So he (the Prophet) raised both his hands and invoked Allah (for it).

The Prophet (p.b.u.h) offered the funeral prayer of a man one night after he was buried, he and his companions stood up (for the Prayer). He had asked them about him before standing, saying, "Who is this?" They said, "He is so and so and was buried last night." So all of them offered the funeral prayer.

The Prophet (saws) said: Kill the two black things during prayer, the snake and scorpion.

The Messenger of Allah (saws) sent me to the Yemen as judge, and I asked: Messenger of Allah, are you sending me when I am young and have no knowledge of the duties of a judge? He replied: Allah will guide your heart and keep your tongue true. When two litigants sit in front of you, do not decide till you hear what the other has to say as you heard what the first had to say; for it is best that you should have a clear idea of the best decision. He said: I had been a judge (for long); or he said (the narrator is doubtful): I have no doubts about a decision afterwards.

that he came to `Aisha and said to her, "O Mother of the Believers! There is a man who sends a Hadi to Ka`ba and stays in his city and requests that his Hadi camel be garlanded while he remains in a state of Ihram from that day till the people finish their Ihram (after completing all the ceremonies of Hajj)" (What do you say about it?) Masruq added, I heard the clapping of her hands behind the curtain. She said, "I used to twist the garlands for the Hadi of Allah's Apostle and he used to send his Hadi to Ka`ba but he never used to regard as unlawful what was lawful for men to do with their wives till the people returned (from the Hajj).

"I saw the Messenger of Allah (saws) taking from the sides around the dish - meaning the gourd. Since then I still like it."

[Abu 'Eisa said:] This Hadith is Hasan Sahih. This Hadith has been reported through more than one route from Anas bin Malik.

We were afflicted with hunger during the besiege of Khaibar, and when it was the day of (the battle of) Khaibar, we slaughtered the donkeys and when the pots got boiling (with their meat). Allah's Apostle made an announcement that all the pots should be upset and that nobody should eat anything of the meat of the donkeys. We thought that the Prophet prohibited that because the Khumus had not been taken out of the booty (i.e. donkeys); other people said, "He prohibited eating them for ever." The sub-narrator added, "I asked Sa`id bin Jubair who said, 'He has made the eating of donkeys' meat illegal for ever.")

One of the Companions of the Prophet (may peace be upon), came upon us in Egypt. When he was narrating traditions in the Mosque of Egypt, I heard him say: I was the seventh or the sixth person in the company of the Messenger of Allah ( peace be upon him) in the house of a person.

In the meantime Bilal came and called him for prayer. He came out and passed by a person who had his fire-pan on the fire. The Messenger of Allah (saws) said to him: Has the food in the fire-pan been cooked? He replied: Yes, my parents be sacrificed upon you. He then took a piece out of it and continued to chew it until he uttered the first takbir (AllahuAkbar) of the prayer. All this time I was looking at him.

Anas ibn Hakim ad-Dabbi said that he feared Ziyad or Ibn Ziyad; so he came to Medina and met AbuHurayrah. He attributed his lineage to me and I became a member of his lineage.

AbuHurayrah said (to me): O youth, should I not narrate a tradition to you? I said: Why not, may Allah have mercy on you?

(Yunus (a narrator) said: I think he narrated it (the tradition) from the Prophet (saws):) The first thing about which the people will be called to account out of their actions on the Day of Judgment is prayer. Our Lord, the Exalted, will say to the angels - though He knows better: Look into the prayer of My servant and see whether he has offered it perfectly or imperfectly. If it is perfect, that will be recorded perfect.

If it is defective, He will say: See there are some optional prayers offered by My servant. If there are optional prayer to his credit, He will say: Compensate the obligatory prayer by the optional prayer for My servant. Then all the actions will be considered similarly.