“Ishaq bin Mansur narrated to us, from Isra’il” with this (Another chain) Bilal narrated that the Messenger of Allah (saws) said: “Hold fast to Qiyam al-Lail, for it is the practice of the righteous before you, and indeed Qiyam al-Lail is a means of nearness to Allah, a means of prevention from sin, an expiation for bad deeds, and a barrier for the body against disease.”

I offered three rak'ahs of the sunset prayer and two rak'ahs of the night prayer along with Ibn Umar. Thereupon Malik ibn al-Harith said: What is this prayer? He said: I offered these prayers along with the Messenger of Allah (saws) in this place with a single iqamah.

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard from Busr ibn Said that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "None of you women should use perfume when you are present at the isha prayer."

‘Abdallah b. ‘Amr b. al-‘As reported God’s messenger as saying there are two characteristics which will not be retained by any Muslim without his entering paradise. While they are easy, those who act upon them are few. One should say ‘Glory be to God’ ten times after every prayer, ‘Praise be to God’ ten times and ‘God is most great’ ten times. (He said he had seen God’s messenger counting them on his hand, and saying, “That is a hundred and fifty on the tongue, but one thousand five hundred in the scale”).[The three phrases each said ten times after the five times of prayer makes a hundred and fifty, and as a good deed gets a ten-fold reward the total is treated as one thousand five hundred.] When he goes to his bed he should say ‘Glory be to God,’ ‘God is most Great’ and ‘Praise be to God’ a hundred times, for that is a hundred on the tongue, but a thousand in the scale. He asked them which of them could commit two thousand five hundred sins in a day and a night.* He was asked how they could not retain these characteristics, and told them that the devil comes to a man while he is engaged in prayer, calling such and such and such and such to his memory until he turns away and perhaps may not do it. He also comes to him on his bed and keeps on making him sleep till he falls asleep. *The thousand plus the preceding fifteen hundred make two thousand five hundred good deeds with which the man who observes the two characteristics mentioned is credited, and as one could hardly commit as many sins in a day and a night there is a balance in his favour. Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud and Nasa’i transmitted it. In Abu Dawud's version he said, “Two qualities or two characteristics will not be adhered to by a Muslim ...” And also in his version after saying “One thousand five hundred in the scale” he said, “When he goes to his bed he should say ‘God is most great’ thirty-four times, ‘Praise be to God’ thirty-three times and ‘Glory be to God’ thirty-three times.” In most texts of al-Masabih it is given on the authority of ‘Abdallah b. ‘Umar.

On the night of the Jinn the Messenger of Allah said to Ibn Mas'ud: "Do you have water?" He said: "No, only some Nabidh in a large water skin." The Messenger of Allah said: "Good dates and pure water." (i.e. there is no harm from the mixing of the two.) Pour it for me." He said: "So I performed ablution with it."

Abu Hurairah used to say: "The Messenger of Allah said: 'When anyone of you wakes up from sleep, he should not put his hand into the vessel until he has poured water on it two or three times, for none of you knows where his hand spent the night,'"

"Whoever believes in the Last Day, let him honor his guest, and grant him reward for a day and a night. And it is not permissible for him to stay so long that he causes annoyance to his host. Hospitality is for three days, and whatever he spends on him after three days is charity."

“Abu Usaid As-Sa'idi invited the Messenger of Allah to his wedding, and the bride herself served them. She said: 'Do you know what I gave the Messenger of Allah to drink? I had soaked some dates the night before, then in the morning I strained them and gave him that water to drink.' ”

Ibn Muhayyisah Al-Ansari told him that a she-camel belonging to Bara used to wander free. It entered a garden belonging to some people and caused some damage. The Messenger of Allah (SAW) was told of that, and he ruled that property was to be protected by its owners of livestock were responsible for any damage caused by their animals during the night.

I heard Anas bin Malik saying: I heard the Messenger of Allah (saw) say: “Standing guard one night in the cause of Allah is better than a man fasting and praying, among his family, for a thousand years. The year is three hundred and sixty days and a day is like a thousand years.”

“There are three whose prayer do not rise more than a hand span above their heads: A man who leads people (in prayer) when they do not like him; a woman who has spent the night with her husband angry with her; and two brothers who have severed contact with one another.”

“The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: ‘The night prayers are (to be offered) two by two. Say the Tashah-hud after each two Rak`ah, and raise your hands in all humility like one who is poor and needy and say: ‘Allāhummaghfir lī (O Allah, forgive me).’ And whoever does not do that, it is imperfect.’”

I heard Ahmad bin Husain saying: "We were with Ahmad bin Hanbal, so they mentioned the one upon whom the Friday prayer is obligatory. Ahmad did not mention anything about it from the Prophet." Ahmad bin Al-Hasan said: "I said to Ahmad bin Hanbal: 'There is something about it from Abu Hurairah, from the Prophet.' So Ahmad bin Hanbal said: 'From the Prophet?' I said: 'Yes.'" [Ahmed bin Hanbal said:] "Hajjaj bin Nusair narrated to us; Mubarik bin Abbad narrated to us from Abdullah bin Sa'eed Al-Maqburi, from his father, from Abu Hurairah that the Prophet said: "The Friday prayer is required from whomever can return to his family by the night." He said: "So Ahmad [bin Hanbal] became angry with me, and he said to me: 'Seek forgiveness from your Lord, seek forgiveness from your Lord.'"

The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: “Whoever wakes up in the night and says, ‘None has the right to be worshiped but Allah, alone, without partner, to Him belongs the Dominion, and to Him is the praise, and He has power over all things. And Glory is to Allah, and all the praise is to Allah, and ‘None has the right to be worshiped but Allah, and Allah is the greatest, and there is no might nor power except by Allah (Lā ilāha illallāh, waḥdahu lā sharīka lahu, lahul-mulku wa lahul-ḥamdu, wa huwa `alā kulli shai'in qadīr. Wa subḥān Allah, walḥamdulillāh, wa lā ilāha illallāh, wa Allāhu akbar, wa lā ḥawla wa lā quwwata illā billāh.)’ – then he said: ‘O my Lord, forgive me (Rabbighfirlī)’ – or he said – ‘then he supplicates, he shall be responded to. So he makes a firm determination, then performs Wudu', then he performs Salat, his Salat shall be accepted.”

that the Prophet (SAW) said: "When I was taken on the Night of Isra I met Musa." He described him saying: "He was a man who was" and I think he said: "A thin man, whose hair was as if he was a man from Shanu'ah." He said: "I met 'Eisa" he described him saying: "Of average build, with a red face, as if he had just come out of the Dimas" meaning the bath-house. "And I saw Ibrahim" he said: "I am the one among his offspring that most resembles him" and he said: "I was brought two vessels, one of them containing milk and the other containing wine. I was told: 'Take whichever one of them you wish.' So I took the milk to drink from it. It was said to me: 'You were guided to the Fitrah' or: 'You chose the Fitrah, if you had take the wine your Ummah would have strayed.'"

One night I missed the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) from his bed. I searched for him. When I found him he was in bowing or prostrating posture and was reciting: Subhanaka wa bi hamdika. La ilaha illa Anta (You are free from imperfection and I begin praising You. There is no true god except You)."

Another narration is: My hand fell over his feet while he was in prostration with his feet erect. He was supplicating: "Allahumma inni a'udhu biridaka min sakhatika, wa bi-mu'afatika min 'uqubatika, wa a'udhu bika minka, la uhsi thana'an 'alaika, Anta kama athnaita 'ala Nafsika (O Allah! I seek protection against Your Wrath in Your Pleasure. I seek protection in Your Pardon against Your chastisement, I am not capable of enumerating praise of You. You are as You have lauded Yourself)."

The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, "The first group (of people) to enter Jannah will be shining like the moon on a full-moon night. Then will come those who follow them who will be like the most shining planet in the sky. They will not stand in need of urinating or relieving of nature or of spitting or blowing their noses. Their combs will be of gold and their sweat will smell like musk; in their censers the aloes-wood will be used. Their wives will be large eyed maidens. All men will be alike in the form of their father 'Adam, sixty cubits tall."

Another narration is: The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, "Their utensils will be of gold, their perspiration will smell like musk; everyone of them will have two wives; the marrow of the bones of the wives' legs will be seen through the flesh out of excessive beauty. They (i.e., the people of Jannah) will neither have difference, nor enmity (hatred) amongst themselves; their hearts will be as if one heart, and they will be glorifying Allah in the morning and in the afternoon."

[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].

When we were sitting in the courtyard of the mosque where the biers were laid down and God’s Messenger was sitting in the midst of us, he raised his eyes to the sky and looked, then lowering his eyes and putting his hand on his forehead he said, “Glory be to God, Glory be to God! What severity has come down!” We said nothing all day and night and experienced nothing but good till the morning. Then I asked God’s Messenger what the severity was which had come down, and he replied, “It has to do with debts. By Him in whose hand Muhammad’s soul is, if a man were to be killed in God’s path then come to life, be killed again in God’s path then come to life, and be killed once more in God’s path then come to life owing a debt, he would not enter paradise till his debt was paid.” Ahmad transmitted it, and there is something to the same effect in Sharh as-sunna.

Ibn ‘A’idh told that God’s Messenger went out to a man’s funeral, and when he was laid down ‘Umar b. al-Khattab said, "Do not pray over him, Messenger of God, for he was a wicked man. Thereupon God’s Messenger turned to the people and asked whether any of them has seen him engaged in anything which indicated that he was a Muslim, and when a man replied, "Yes, Messenger of God, he acted as guard one night in God's path,” he prayed over him, scattered dust over him, and then said, "Your companions think you are one of those who go to hell, but I testify that you are one of those who go to paradise.” He then said, "You will not be questioned, ‘Umar, about what people have done, but you will be questioned about the true religion.”* * This is taken to mean that he will not be questioned about acts of disobedience, but about indication that one is a Muslim. Baihaqi transmitted it in Shu'ab al-lman.

We went out with God's messenger on the expedition to Tabuk, and in the wadi al-Qura we came to a garden belonging to a woman. God's messenger told us to estimate its amount and we did so, and God's messenger estimated it at ten camel loads. He told the woman to calculate the amount and have it ready for our return should God will, and then we set off. When we came to Tabuk God's messenger said, "You will have a violent wind to-night, so no one must get up while it is blowing and those who have camels must hobble them firmly." A violent wind blew, and a man got up and was carried by the wind and thrown on the two mountains of Tayy[*]. We then went on till we came to the wadi al-Qura., and when God's messenger asked the woman how much the fruit in her garden had amounted to, she replied that it was ten camel loads. *Aia' and Salma. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

The sun eclipsed on one extremely hot day during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him). The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) prayed along with his Companions. He prolonged his qiyam (standing posture in prayer) till they (his Companions) began to fall down. He then observed a long ruku'. He raised his head (and stood up for long) and then observed a long ruku'. He then raised (his head and stood up) for a long time and then made two prostrations. He then stood up and did like this and thus he observed four ruku's and four prostrations (in two rak'ahs) and then said: All these things were brought to me in which you will be made to enter. Paradise was brought to me till (I was so close to it) that if I (had intended) to pluck a bunch (of grapes) out of it. I would have got it, or he (the Holy Prophet) said: I intended to get a bunch (out of that) but my hand could not reach it. Hell was also brought to me and I saw in it a woman belonging to the tribe of Israel who was tormented for a cat whom she had tied, but did not give it food nor set it free to eat the creatures of the earth; and I saw Abu Thumama 'Amr b. Malik who was dragging his intestines in Hell. They (the Arabs) used to say that the sun and the moon do not eclipse but on the death of some great person; but (in reality) both these (the sun and the moon) are among the signs of Allah which are shown to you; so when there is an eclipse, observe prayer till it (the sun or the moon) brightens. This hadith has been narrated by Hisham with the same chain of transmitters except this" I saw a dark woman with a tail stature and loud voice," but he made no mention of" from among Bani Israel".

It was narrated that ‘Ali (رضي الله عنه) said. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said on the day of al-Ahzab. `They distracted us from the middle prayer, ‘Asr prayer. May Allah fill their graves and houses with fire.` Then he offered it between the two evening prayers, Maghrib and ‘Isha’.

from Ibn Mas'ud who said: "The Messenger of Allah (SAW) performed 'Isha, then he turned and took the hand of 'Abdullah bin Mas'ud until he went with him to the wide valley of Makkah. He sat him down, then he drew a line around him. Then he said: 'Do not go beyond your line, for indeed there shall come some men to you, but do not speak to them for they shall not speak to you.'" He said: "Then the Messenger of Allah (SAW) went to where he wanted to go, and while I was sitting within the line, some men came to me that appeared as if they were from Az-Zut (A dark people, either from North Africa or India. See Tuhfat Al-Ahwadhi and An-Nihayah), both their hair and their bodies. I did not see nakedness nor covering. They ended up before me but they did not pass the line. Then they returned toward the Messenger of Allah (SAW) and when it was near the end of the night, the Messenger of Allah (SAW) came to me while I was sitting, and he said: "I have been awake watching all night' then he entered into the line with me and lay down on my thigh to sleep. And the Messenger of Allah (SAW) would snore when he slept. So while I was sitting there, and the Messenger of Allah (SAW) was sleeping (with his head resting) on my thigh, there appeared some men wearing white garments, and Allah knows best just how handsome they were. They came towards me, and a group of them sat at the head of the Messenger of Allah (SAW), and a group at his feet. Then they said to each other: 'We have not ever seen a slave (of Allah) who was given the likes of what this Prophet has been given. Indeed his eyes sleep but his heart remains awake. His parable is that of a chief who built a castle, then he placed a table-spread in it, and invited the people to eat from his food and drink. So whoever answers his invitation, he eats from his food and drinks from his drink. Whoever does not answer, he is punished - or he said - he is chastised.' Then they alighted and the Messenger of Allah (SAW) awoke at that time, and said: 'I heard what they were saying. Do you know who they were?' I said: 'Allah and His Messenger know better.' He said: 'They were the angels. Do you know the meaning of the parable they stated?' I said: 'Allah and His Messenger know better.' He said: 'The meaning is that Ar-Rahman [Most Blessed and Most High] built Paradise, and He invited His Slaves to it. Whoever replies he shall enter Paradise, and whoever does not reply, he shall be punished or chastised.'"

When the Prophet prayed he turned his face to us and asked, “Who among you had a vision last night?” If one of us had had one he told it and he would interpret it as God willed. One day he asked us, “Has any of you had a vision?” and when we replied that we had not he said: “But last night I saw two men who came to me, took me by the hand and brought me out to a holy land. I saw a man sitting and a man standing with a hooked piece of iron in his hand which he was inserting into the other man's jaw and cleaving it till it reached the back of his neck, and doing the same with the other jaw. This jaw was recovering, and then he would do the same again. I asked what this was and they told me to come away. So we went on till we came to a man who was lying on his back over whom a man was standing with a stone the size of his hand, or a rock, with which he was pounding his head. When he struck him the stone rolled away and he went after it to get it, and did not return to this man till his head was healed and restored to its former condition. He then went back to him and struck him. I asked what this was and they told me to come away. So we went on till we came to a hole like an oven, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, under which there was a fire. It contained naked men and women who when the fire rose mounted till they almost came out, but who returned into it when it subsided. I asked what this was and they told me to come away. So we went on till we came to a river of blood in the middle of which a man was standing and on the bank of which there was a man with some stones in front of him. The man who was in the river came forward and when he wanted to come out the other threw a stone into his mouth and sent him back where he came from; and as often as he tried to come out he threw a stone into his mouth and he returned to where he came from. I asked what this was and they" told me to come away. So we went on till we reached a green garden containing a huge tree at the foot of which were an old man and some boys and near which there was a man in front of whom there was a fire which he was kindling. My two companions took me up the tree and brought me into a house in the middle of the tree more beautiful than any I had seen in which were old men, youths, women and boys. They then took me out of it and brought me up the tree and took me into a more beautiful and more excellent house in which were old men and youths. Telling them that they had taken me round this night, I asked them to inform me about what I had seen, to which they agreed. They said that the man I had seen having his jaw cloven was a liar who told lies which were reported from him and carried to the ends of the earth, so what I had seen would be done to him till the day of resurrection. The man whose head I had seen being pounded was a man whom God had taught the Qur’an but who had slept at night and neglected it and had not acted according to its teachings in the daytime, so what I had seen would be done to him till the day of resurrection. Those I had seen in the hole were fornicators and the one I had seen in the river was the one who devoured usury. The old man I had seen at the foot of the tree was Abraham, the boys around him were the children of men, and the one who was kindling the fire was Malik the guardian of hell. The first house I entered was the abode of the generality of believers, but this house was the abode of the martyrs. One of them informing me that he was Gabriel and that the other was Michael told me to raise my head, and when I did so I saw something like a white cloud (a version giving cumulus cloud) and they told me that would be my abode. I asked them to let me enter my dwelling, but they told me I had still some time to live which I had not completed and that if I had completed it I would have entered my dwelling.” Bukhari transmitted it.

his father said: "The Messenger of Allah (saas) said: Allahumma Anta Rabbi la ilaha illa Anta, khalaqtani wa ana 'abduka wa ana 'ala 'ahdika wa wa'dika mastata'tu. A'udhu bika min sharri ma sana'tu, abu'u bi ni'matika wa abu'u bi dhanbi faghfirli, fa innahu la yaghfirudh-dhunuba illa Anta (O Allah, You are my Lord, there is none worthy of worship except You. You have created me and I am Your slave, and I am adhering to Your covenant and Your promise as much as I can. I seek refuge with You from the evil of what I do. I acknowledge Your blessing and I acknowledge my sin, so forgive me, for there is none who can forgive sin except You)."He said: "The Messenger of Allah (saas) said: 'Whoever says this by day and by night, if he dies that day or that night, he will enter Paradise if Allah wills."

The Messenger of Allah (saws) came out to us and said: Allah the Exalted has given you an extra prayer which is better for you then the red camels (i.e. high breed camels). This is the witr which Allah has appointed for you between the night prayer and the daybreak.

“We came to the Messenger of Allah (saw) in the delegation of Thaqif. The allies of Quraish stayed at the house of Mughirah bin Shu’bah, and the Messenger of Allah (saw) camped Bani Malik in a tent belonging to him. He used to come to us every night after the ‘Isha’ and speak to us standing on his two feet, until he started to shift his weight from one foot to the other. Most of what he told us was what he had suffered from his people, the Quraish. He said: ‘(The two sides) were not equal. We were weak and oppressed and humiliated, and when we went out to Al-Madinah, the outcome of the battles between us varied; sometimes we would defeat them and sometimes they would defeat us.’ One night he was later than he usually was, and I said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, you have come to us late tonight.’ He said: ‘It occurred to me that I had not read my daily portion of Qur’an and I did not want to come out until I had completed it.’” Aws said: “I asked the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (saw): ‘How did you used to divide up the Qur’an?’ They said: ‘A third, a fifth, a seventh, a ninth, an eleventh, a thirteenth, and Hizbul-Mufassal.’”

AbulJawza' said: A man who attended the company of the Prophet (saws) narrated to me (it is thought that he was Abdullah ibn Amr): The Prophet (saws) said to me: Come to me tomorrow; I shall give you something, I shall give you something, I shall reward you something, I shall donate something to you. I thought that he would give me some present.

He said (to me when I came to him): When the day declines, stand up and pray four rak'ahs. He then narrated something similar.

This version adds: Do not stand until you glorify Allah ten times, and praise Him ten times, and exalt Him ten times, and say, "There is no god but Allah" ten times. Then you should do that in four rak'ahs. If you are the greatest sinner on earth, you will be forgiven (by Allah) on account of this (prayer).

I asked: If I cannot pray this the appointed hour, (what should I do)? He replied: Pray that by night or by day (at any time).

Abu Dawud said: Habban b. Hilal is the maternal uncle of Hilal al-Ra'i.

Abu Dawud said: This tradition has been narrated by al-Mustamir b. al-Riyyan from Ibn al-Jawza' from 'Abd Allah b. 'Amr without referring to the Prophet (saws), - narrated as a statement of 'Abd Allah b. 'Amr himself (mauquf). This has also been narrated by Rawh b. al-Musayyab, and Ja'far b. Sulaiman from 'Amr b. Malik al-Nakri from Abu al-Jauza' from Ibn 'Abbas as his own statement (and not the statement of the Prophet). But the version of Rawh has the words: "The tradition of the Prophet (saws)."

“The one who fights in the cause of Allah has a guarantee from Allah. Either He will raise him to His forgiveness and mercy, or He will send him back with reward and spoils of war. The likeness of the one who fights in the cause of Allah is that of one who fasts and prays at night without ceasing, until he returns.”

“I heard the Prophet (saw) say: ‘Whoever takes a bath on Friday, and bathes completely, and goes early, arriving early,* and walks and does not ride (to the mosque), and sits close to the Imam and listens to him, and does not engage in idle talk; for every step he takes he will have the reward of one year, the reward of a year’s fasting and praying (at night).”

"Whoever is regular with twelve Rak'ah of Sunnah (prayer), Allah will build a house for him in Paradise: Four Rak'ah before Zuhr, two Rak'ah after it, two Rak'ah after Maghrib, two Rak'ah after Isha, and two Rak'ah before Fajr."

"Allah's Messenger came out to us and he said: 'Indeed Allah has assisted you with a Salat that is better for you than red camels: Al-Witr which Allah made for you between the Isha prayer till Al-Fajr has begun."

Buraida told of a man asking God’s Messenger about the time of prayer, to which he replied, “Pray with us these two,” meaning two days. When the sun passed the meridian he gave command to Bilal who uttered the call to prayer, then he commanded him and he made the announcement declaring that the time to begin the noon prayer had come. He gave him command and he made the announcement declaring that the time to being the afternoon prayer had come when the sun was high, white and clear. Then he gave him command and he made the announcement declaring that the time to begin the sunset prayer had come when the sun had set. Then he gave him command and he made the announcement declaring that the time to begin the night prayer had come when the twilight had ended. Then he gave him command and he made the announcement declaring that the time to begin the dawn prayer had come when the dawn appeared. Next day he commanded him to delay the noon prayer till the extreme heat had passed and he did so, and he allowed it to be delayed till the extreme heat had passed. He observed the afternoon prayer when the sun was high, delaying it beyond the time he had previously observed it. He observed the sunset prayer before the twilight had ended; he observed the night prayer when a third of the night had passed; and he observed the dawn prayer when there was clear daylight. Then asking where the man was who had enquired about the time of prayer and receiving from him a reply that he was present, he said, “The time for your prayer is within the limits of what you have seen.” Muslim transmitted it.

The Messenger of Allah (saws) would pray two rak'ahs before and two after the noon prayer, two after the sunset prayer in his house, and two after the night prayer. He would not pray after the Friday prayer till he departed. He would then pray two rak'ahs.

“The Prophet (saw) was given a gift of some grapes from Ta’if. He called me and said: ‘Take this bunch of grapes and give it to your mother.’ But I ate it before I gave it to her. A few night later he said to me: ‘What happened to the bunch of grapes? Did you give it to your mother?’ I said: ‘No, So he called me treacherous.’”

“There was a black woman who used to sweep the mosque, and she passed away at night. The following morning the Messenger of Allah (SAW) was told of her death. He said: ‘Why did you not call me?’ Then he went out with his Companions and stood at her grave, and said Takbir over her, with the people behind him, and he supplicated for her, then he went away.’”

“A man came to the Prophet (saw) when he was delivering a sermon and said: ‘O Messenger of Allah! Last night in my dream I saw my neck being struck and my head fell off, and I chased it, picked it up and put it back.’ The Messenger of Allah (saw) said: ‘If Satan plays with any one of you in his dreams, he should not tell people about it.’”

We travelled all night and the following day till the midday sun offered little shade, the road being empty with no one passing on it. Seeing a tall, shady rock protected from the sun's rays we alighted beside it, and when I had smoothed a place with my hands for him to sleep and spread a skin garment over him, I said, "Sleep, messenger of God, and I shall keep watch around you." He went to sleep, and when I went out to keep watch around him, I saw a shepherd approaching. I asked if his sheep had any milk and he replied that they had, so I asked if he would draw some milk and he agreed, and drew a cupful into a wooden cup. I had a small skin vessel I carried for the Prophet from which he took water both for drinking and for performing ablution, so I went to the Prophet, but as I did not like to waken him, I waited for him till he awoke. I then poured some water on the milk till the bottom of it was cooled, and said, "Drink, messenger of God." When he had drunk an amount which made me feel pleased, he said, "Is it not time to be moving?" and I agreed that it was; so, we moved on after the sun had passed the meridian. Suraqa b. Malik had followed us up and I said, "We have been overtaken, messenger of God." He replied, "Do not grieve; God is with us." The Prophet then prayed that he might be hindered and his horse sank with him up to its belly in hard ground. He said, "I see that you two have prayed that I might be hindered; now pray for me, for God is on your side, that I may turn away the search from you." The Prophet prayed for him, and when he got free, he began to say whenever he met anyone, "You have been saved trouble, for there is no one here; and he met no one without turning him back. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

God's messenger addressed us saying, "You will travel all evening and all night and come to water to-morrow, if God wills.' The people then set off not turning round to one another. Abu Qatada said: While God's messenger was travelling, when the middle of the night came, he turned aside from the road, laid down his head and said, "Keep watch for us for our time of prayer." Now the first to awake was God's messenger when he felt the sun on his back, and he said "Mount." We did so and travelled till the sun had risen in the sky, when he dismounted, called for an ablution vessel. I had containing some water and performed ablution from it to a less extent than usual. Some water remained in it, and he said, `Keep your ablution vessel for us, for it will be something to talk about. Bilal then gave the call to prayer, and God's messenger prayed two rak`as, after which he prayed the morning prayer. He then mounted and we mounted along with him and reached the people when the day had advanced and everything was hot. They were saying, "Messenger of God, we are perishing from thirst," to which he replied, "You will not perish." He called for the ablution vessel, began to pour out water, and Abu Qatada[*] was supplying them with water. No sooner did the people see that there was water in the ablution vessel then they crowded around it, so God's messenger said, "Behave in an orderly manner, for every one of you will get a supply of water." They did so, and God's messenger began to pour and I to supply them with water till only he and I were left. He then poured and told me to drink, but I replied, "I shall not drink till you do so, messenger of God." He said, "The one who supplies water for people comes last," so I drank and then he drank. Then the people came to the watering-place in comfort, having had a supply of water. *I have retained the Arabic construction here. Abu Qatada is telling the story and elsewhere uses the first-person pronoun when making reference to himself, Muslim transmitted it thus in his Sahih, and it is told similarly in al-Humaidi's book and in Jami' al-usul. In al-Masabih the words "in drinking" are added after "comes last."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Yahya ibn Said from Adi ibn Thabit al-Ansari that al-Barra ibn Azib said, "I prayed isha with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and he recited at-Tin (Sura 95) in it."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn Habban and from Abu'z-Zinad from al-Araj from Abu Hurayra that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, forbade mulamasa and munabadha.

Malik said, "Mulamasa is when a man can feel a garment but is not allowed to unfold it or examine what is in it, or he buys by night and does not know what is in it. Munabadha is that a man throws his garment to another, and the other throws his garment without either of them making any inspection. Each of them says, 'this is for this. 'This is what is forbidden of mulamasa and munabadha."

Malik said that selling bundles with a list of their contents was different from the sale of the cloak concealed in a bag or the cloth folded up and such things. What made it different was that it was a common practice and it was what people were familiar with, and what people had done in the past, and it was still among the permitted transactions and trading of people in which they saw no harm because in the sale of bundles with a list of contents without undoing them, an uncertain transaction was not intended and it did not resemble mulamasa.

"There are three whom Allah loves and three whom Allah hates. As for those whom Allah loves: Then a man who came to a people and asked them by Allah, and he did not ask them due to any relation between him and them, but they did not give him. So a man stayed behind them and gave him secretly, none knew about what he gave except Allah and the one he gave. And, a group of people who traveled the night until when sleep became more beloved to them than all the things that equal it and they lay their heads down, but a man stoop up humbling himself to Me and reciting My Ayat. And a man who was in a small expedition and met the enemy and they were vanquished, yet he faced them until he was killed or victory was granted to him. And the three whom Allah hates are, the old man who commits adultery, the arrogant poor man, and the oppressive rich man."

Another chain reports a similar narration.

Kathir b. Qais told how, when he was sitting with Abu Darda' in the mosque of Damascus, a man came to him and said, “Abu Darda', I have come to you from the town of the Messenger for a tradition I have heard that you relate from God's messenger. I have come for no other purpose.” He replied that he had heard God’s messenger say, “ If anyone travels on a road in search of knowledge God will cause him to travel on one of the roads of paradise, the angels will lower their wings from good pleasure with one who seeks knowledge, and the inhabitants of the heavens and the earth and the fish in the depth of the water will ask forgiveness for him. The superiority of the learned man over the devout man is like that of the moon on the night when it is full over the rest of the stars. The learned are the heirs of the prophets who leave neither dinar nor dirham, leaving only knowledge, and he who accepts it accepts an abundant portion.” Ahmad, Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah and Darimi transmitted it, Tirmidhi calling Him Qais b. Kathir.

A man of the people of Najd with dishevelled hair came to God’s messenger. We could hear the sound of his voice, but could not understand what he was saying till he came near God’s messenger and we realised that he was asking about Islam. God’s messenger said, “Five times of prayer each day and night.” He asked, “Must I observe any more than them?” He replied, “No, unless you do it voluntarily.” God's messenger said, “And fasting during the month of Ramadan.” He asked, “Must I observe anything else?” He replied, “No, unless you do it voluntarily.” Talha said that God's messenger mentioned the zakat to him, and he asked, “Must I pay anything else?” He replied, “No, unless you do it voluntarily.” He said that the man turned away saying, “I swear by God that I shall not add anything to this or fall short of it.” So God’s messenger said, “The man will prosper if he is speaking the truth.” (Bukhari and Muslim.)

We were like the companions of Jadhima (Jadhima was a legendary pre-Islamic king with his centre in al-Anbar. He had two boon- companions, 'Aqil and Malik, who are said to have been together for forty years. The verses are from a lament by Mutammim b. Nuwaira al-Yarbu'i over his brother Malik) for a long time, so that people said the two will never be separated. But when we separated it seemed, in spite of long association, as if Malik and I had not spent a single night together. She then said, “I swear by God that if I had been present with you, you would have been buried nowhere but where you died, and if I had been with you I would not have visited you.” Tirmidhi transmitted it.

When we were near Medina on our return from an expedition in which we had accompanied the Prophet I told him that I had recently married. He asked, “Have you married?" and when I told him that I had, he asked whether I had married a virgin or a woman who had previously been married. On my telling him that it was one who had previously been married he said, “Why did you not marry a virgin, so that you could play with her and she could play with you?" Then when we arrived and were about to enter he said, “Wait so that we may enter by night, i.e. in the evening, in order that the woman with disheveled hair may comb it and the woman whose husband has been away may get herself ready [for her husband’s enjoyment].’’* (Bukhari and Muslim.) * Tastahidd literally means to shave the hair on the private parts, and is explained as being used here in the sense or preparing herself for her husband’s enjoyment.

a man who, when one came and begged from some people in God’s name, not because of any relationship between him and them, and was refused by them, withdrew from them and gave him something secretly, no one knowing of the gift but God and the one who gave it; a man who travelled all night with people till sleep was more desirable to them than anything which could be compared with it, and when they laid down their heads got up and engaged in his devotions and recited verses of the Qur’an; and a man who was in a detachment which met the enemy and was routed, yet went straight forward till he was killed or given victory. The three whom God hates are an old man who commits fornication, a poor man who is proud, and a rich man who is oppressive.” Tirmidhi and Nasa’i transmitted it but Nasa'i did not mention the three whom God hates.

Ibn ‘Abbas told on Maimuna’s authority that one morning God’s messenger was silent with grief, and said, “Gabriel promised to meet me last night, but he did not do so. I swear by God that he has never broken his promise before.” He then thought of a puppy which he had seen under a (Fustat Mirqat, iv, 484 considers that here it means a couch) tent of his, and when he had given orders and had it put out he took some water in his hand and sprinkled the place where it had been. In the evening Gabriel met him and he said, “You promised to meet me yesterday,” to which he replied, “Yes, but we do not enter a house which contains a dog or a picture.” So next morning God’s messenger ordered that dogs should be killed, even to the extent of ordering that dogs which guarded small gardens should be killed, but leaving out of account those which guarded large gardens. Muslim transmitted it.

When the Prophet took us out on an expedition against a people he did not set out with us till the morning. He would look at them, and if he heard a call to prayer he refrained from them, but if he did not hear any he attacked them. We went out to Khaibar and reached them by night, but when the morning came and he heard no call to prayer he mounted. I mounted behind Abu Talha and my foot was touching God’s Prophet’s They came out to us with their large baskets and their spades, and when they saw the Prophet they said, “Muhammad, by God, Muhammad and the army," and went for refuge to the fortress. When God's Messenger saw them he said, “God is most great, God is most great. Khaibar has fallen.¹ When we alight in the courtyard of a people it is an evil morning for those who have been warned."² 1. Or, 'May Khaibar fall. 2. Cf. Al-Qur'an; 37:177. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

`Abdallah b. `Umar reported God's messenger as saying, "Last night I found myself in a vision at the Ka`ba and saw a ruddy man like the most good-looking of that type that you can see with the most beautiful lock of hair you can see. He had combed it out, and it was dripping with water. He was leaning on the shoulders of two men and going round the House. When I asked who he was I was told that he was the Messiah, son of Mary. Then I saw a man with short, woolly hair who was blind in the right eye, his eye looking like a floating grape. I have never seen anyone more closely resembling Ibn Qatan. He was placing his hands on the shoulders of two men and going round the House. I asked who this man was and was told that he was the antichrist." In a version he said about the dajjal that he was a red, fleshy man with woolly hair, blind in the right eye, Ibn Qatan being the one who resembled him most closely. (Bukhari and Muslim.)