Yahya related to me from Malik from Abu'z Zubayr al-Makki from Said ibn Jubayr that Abdullah ibn Abbas said, "The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, prayed dhuhr and asr together and maghrib and isha together, and not out of fear nor because of travelling."

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard from Amir ibn Sad ibn Abi Waqqas that his father said, "There were two brothers, one of whom died forty nights before the other. The merit of the first was being mentioned in the presence of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and he said, 'Wasn't the other one a muslim?' They said, 'Of course, Messenger of Allah, and there was no harm in him.' The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'What will make you realise what his prayer has brought him. The prayer is like a deep river of sweet water running by your door into which you plunge five times a day. How much of your dirtiness do you think that will leave? You do not realise what his prayer has brought him.' "

Yahya related to me from Malik from Abd ar-Rahman ibn Harmala al- Aslami from Said ibn al-Musayyab that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "What separates us from the hypocrites is being present at isha and subh. They cannot do it," or words to that effect.

Hamnah said my menstruation was great in quantity and severe. So I came to the Messenger of Allah (saws) for a decision and told him. I found him in the house of my sister, Zaynab, daughter of Jahsh.

I said: Messenger of Allah, I am a woman who menstruates in great quantity and it is severe, so what do you think about it? It has prevented me from praying and fasting.

He said: I suggest that you should use cotton, for it absorbs the blood. She replied: It is too copious for that. He said: Then take a cloth. She replied: It is too copious for that, for my blood keeps flowing. The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: I shall give you two commands; whichever of them you follow, that will be sufficient for you without the other, but you know best whether you are strong enough to follow both of them.

He added: This is a stroke of the Devil, so observe your menses for six or seven days, Allah alone knows which it should be; then wash. And when you see that you are purified and quite clean, pray during twenty-three or twenty-four days and nights and fast, for that will be enough for you, and do so every month, just as women menstruate and are purified at the time of their menstruation and their purification.

But if you are strong enough to delay the noon (Zuhr) prayer and advance the afternoon ('Asr) prayer, to wash, and then combine the noon and the afternoon prayer; to delay the sunset prayer and advance the night prayer, to wash, and then combine the two prayers, do so: and to wash at dawn, do so: and fast if you are able to do so if possible.

The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: Of the two commands this is more to my liking.¹

Abu Dawud said: 'Amr b. Thabit narrated from Ibn 'Aqil: Hamnah said: Of the two commands this is the one which is more to my liking.² In this version these words were not quoted as the statement of the Prophet (saws); it gives it as a statement of Hamnah.

Abu Dawud said: 'Amr b. Thabit was a Rafidi. This has been said by Yahya b. Ma'in.

Abu Dawud said: I heard Ahmad (b. Hanbal) say: I am doubtful about the tradition transmitted by Ibn 'Aqil.

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).

Malik said, "There is no harm in someone who is in itikaf entering into a marriage contract as long as there is no physical relationship. A woman in itikaf may also be betrothed as long as there is no physical relationship. What is haram for someone in itikaf in relation to his womenfolk during the day is haram for him during the night."

Yahya said that Ziyad said that Malik said, "It is not halal for a man to have intercourse with his wife while he is in itikaf, nor for him to take pleasure in her by kissing her, or whatever. However, I have not heard anyone disapproving of a man, or woman, in itikaf getting married as long as there is no physical relationship. Marriage is not disapproved of for someone fasting."

"There is, however, a distinction between the marriage of someone in itikaf and that of someone who is muhrim, in that some one who is muhrim can eat, drink, visit the sick and attend funerals, but cannot put on perfume, whilst a man or woman in itikaf can put on oil and perfume and groom their hair, but cannot attend funerals or pray over the dead or visit the sick. Thus their situations with regard to marriage are different."

"This is the sunna as it has come down to us regarding marriage for those who are muhrim, doing itikaf, or fasting.

Yahya related to me from Malik that

Yahya ibn Said heard Ata ibn Abi Rabah mentioning that the camel-herders were allowed to throw the stones at night, and saying that this was in the early period (of Islam).

Malik said, "The explanation of the hadith where the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, allowed the camel-herders to delay the stoning of the jamras is, in our view, and Allah knows best, that they threw stones on the day of sacrifice, and then threw again two days later, which was the first possible day for leaving, and this throwing was for the day which had passed. They then threw again for the day itself, because it is only possible for someone to make up for something which is obligatory for him, and when something obligatory passes someone by (without him doing it) he must necessarily make it up afterwards (and not beforehand). So (in the case of the camel-herders), if it seemed appropriate for them to leave that day, they would have done all that they were supposed to do, and if they were to stay until the following day, they would throw stones with everybody else on the second and last day for leaving, and then leave."

The Messenger of Allah (saws) offered the night prayer and then prayed eight rak'ahs standing, and two rak'ahs between the two adhans (i.e. the adhan for the dawn prayer and the iqamah). He never left them.

Jaf'ar b. Musafir said in his version: (He prayed) the two rak'ahs sitting between the two adhans. He added the word "sitting".