One day while the Prophet was sitting in the company of some people, (The angel) Gabriel came and asked, "What is faith?" Allah's Apostle replied, 'Faith is to believe in Allah, His angels, (the) meeting with Him, His Apostles, and to believe in Resurrection." Then he further asked, "What is Islam?" Allah's Apostle replied, "To worship Allah Alone and none else, to offer prayers perfectly to pay the compulsory charity (Zakat) and to observe fasts during the month of Ramadan." Then he further asked, "What is Ihsan (perfection)?" Allah's Apostle replied, "To worship Allah as if you see Him, and if you cannot achieve this state of devotion then you must consider that He is looking at you." Then he further asked, "When will the Hour be established?" Allah's Apostle replied, "The answerer has no better knowledge than the questioner. But I will inform you about its portents.

1. When a slave (lady) gives birth to her master.

2. When the shepherds of black camels start boasting and competing with others in the construction of higher buildings. And the Hour is one of five things which nobody knows except Allah.

The Prophet then recited: "Verily, with Allah (Alone) is the knowledge of the Hour--." (31. 34) Then that man (Gabriel) left and the Prophet asked his companions to call him back, but they could not see him. Then the Prophet said, "That was Gabriel who came to teach the people their religion." Abu 'Abdullah said: He (the Prophet) considered all that as a part of faith.

I was a young unmarried man during the lifetime of the Prophet. I used to sleep in the mosque. Anyone who had a dream, would narrate it to the Prophet. I said, "O Allah! If there is any good for me with You, then show me a dream so that Allah's Apostle may interpret it for me." So I slept and saw (in a dream) two angels came to me and took me along with them, and they met another angel who said to me, "Don't be afraid, you are a good man." They took me towards the Fire, and behold, it was built inside like a well, and therein I saw people some of whom I recognized, and then the angels took me to the right side. In the morning, I mentioned that dream to Hafsa. Hafsa told me that she had mentioned it to the Prophet and he said, "`Abdullah is a righteous man if he only prays more at night." (Az-Zuhri said, "After that, `Abdullah used to pray more at night.")

Yahya related to me from Malik that Abdullah ibn Abi Bakr said, "The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'May Allah curse the jews! They were forbidden to eat fat, so they sold it and ate its price.' "

I heard Allah's Apostle saying; "Angels (of Mercy) do not enter a house wherein there is a dog or a picture of a living creature (a human being or an animal).

I came to `Aisha while she was praying, and said to her, "What has happened to the people?" She pointed out towards the sky. (I looked towards the mosque), and saw the people offering the prayer. Aisha said, "Subhan Allah." I said to her, "Is there a sign?" She nodded with her head meaning, "Yes." I, too, then stood (for the prayer of eclipse) till I became (nearly) unconscious and later on I poured water on my head. After the prayer, the Prophet praised and glorified Allah and then said, "Just now at this place I have seen what I have never seen before, including Paradise and Hell. No doubt it has been inspired to me that you will be put to trials in your graves and these trials will be like the trials of Masih-ad-Dajjal or nearly like it (the sub narrator is not sure which expression Asma' used). You will be asked, 'What do you know about this man (the Prophet Muhammad)?' Then the faithful believer (or Asma' said a similar word) will reply, 'He is Muhammad Allah's Apostle who had come to us with clear evidences and guidance and so we accepted his teachings and followed him. And he is Muhammad.' And he will repeat it thrice. Then the angels will say to him, 'Sleep in peace as we have come to know that you were a faithful believer.' On the other hand, a hypocrite or a doubtful person will reply, 'I do not know, but I heard the people saying something and so I said it.' (the same). "

Yahya related to me from Abu'z-Zinad from al-Araj from Abu Hurayra that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "A group of angels in the night and a group of angels in the day alternate with each other among you, and gather together at the time of the asr and fajr prayers. Then those that have spent the night among you ascend, and He asks them, and He knows best, 'How did you leave my slaves?' and they say, 'When we left them they were praying, and when we came to them they were praying.' "

The Prophet said, "Before your time the angels received the soul of a man and asked him, 'Did you do any good deeds (in your life)?' He replied, 'I used to order my employees to grant time to the rich person to pay his debts at his convenience.' So Allah said to the angels; "Excuse him." Rabi said that (the dead man said), 'I used to be easy to the rich and grant time to the poor.' Or, in another narration, 'grant time to the well-off and forgive the needy,' or, 'accept from the well-off and forgive the needy.'

[Muslim]. The narration in At-Tirmidhi adds: And the one who records it, and the two persons who stand witness to it.

The Prophet cursed effeminate men (those men who are in the similitude (assume the manners of women) and those women who assume the manners of men, and he said, "Turn them out of your houses ." The Prophet turned out such-and-such man, and `Umar turned out such-and-such woman.

that he had bought a slave whose profession was cupping. The Prophet forbade taking the price of blood and the price of a dog and the earnings of a prostitute, and cursed the one who took or gave (Riba') usury, and the lady who tattooed others or got herself tattooed, and the picture-maker.

`Umar came cursing the disbelievers (of Quraish) on the day of Al-Khandaq (the battle of Trench) and said, "I could not offer the `Asr prayer till the sun had set. Then we went to Buthan and he offered the (`Asr) prayer after sunset and then he offered the Maghrib prayer.

Allah's Apostle said, "Ad-Dajjal will come to Medina and find the angels guarding it. If Allah will, neither Ad-Dajjal nor plague will be able to come near it."

Allah's Apostle said, "If any one of you says, "Amin" and the angels in the heavens say "Amin" and the former coincides with the latter, all his past sins will be forgiven."

Allah's Apostle, the true and truly inspired said, "(as regards your creation), every one of you is collected in the womb of his mother for the first forty days, and then he becomes a clot for another forty days, and then a piece of flesh for another forty days. Then Allah sends an angel to write four items: He writes his deeds, time of his death, means of his livelihood, and whether he will be wretched or blessed (in religion). Then the soul is breathed into his body. So a man may do deeds characteristic of the people of the (Hell) Fire, so much so that there is only the distance of a cubit between him and it, and then what has been written (by the angel) surpasses, and so he starts doing deeds characteristic of the people of Paradise and enters Paradise. Similarly, a person may do deeds characteristic of the people of Paradise, so much so that there is only the distance of a cubit between him and it, and then what has been written (by the angel) surpasses, and he starts doing deeds of the people of the (Hell) Fire and enters the (Hell) Fire."

The Prophet said, "Amongst the men of Bani Israel there was a man who had murdered ninety-nine persons. Then he set out asking (whether his repentance could be accepted or not). He came upon a monk and asked him if his repentance could be accepted. The monk replied in the negative and so the man killed him. He kept on asking till a man advised to go to such and such village. (So he left for it) but death overtook him on the way. While dying, he turned his chest towards that village (where he had hoped his repentance would be accepted), and so the angels of mercy and the angels of punishment quarrelled amongst themselves regarding him. Allah ordered the village (towards which he was going) to come closer to him, and ordered the village (whence he had come), to go far away, and then He ordered the angels to measure the distances between his body and the two villages. So he was found to be one span closer to the village (he was going to). So he was forgiven."

[Muslim].

The Prophet said, "The terror caused by Al-Masih Ad-Dajjal will not enter Medina and at that time Medina will have seven gates and there will be two angels at each gate (guarding them).

The Prophet said, "Ad-Dajjal will come to Medina and find the angels guarding it. So Allah willing, neither Ad-Dajjal, nor plague will be able to come near it."

The Prophet said, "The terror caused by Al-Masih Ad-Dajjal will not enter Medina and at that time Medina will have seven gates and there will be two angels at each gate guarding them."

The Prophet said, "Whoever swears by a religion other than Islam, is, as he says; and whoever commits suicide with something, will be punished with the same thing in the (Hell) Fire; and cursing a believer is like murdering him; and whoever accuses a believer of disbelief, then it is as if he had killed him."

He said: There are narrations on this topic from 'Umar, 'Ali, Jabir [and Abu Juhaifah].

The Hadith of 'Abdullah (bin Mas'ud) is a Hasan Sahih Hadith.

Aisha said, "The Prophet in his fatal illness said, 'Allah cursed the Jews and the Christians because they took the graves of their Prophets as places for praying."' Aisha added, "Had it not been for that, the grave of the Prophet (p.b.u.h) would have been made prominent but I am afraid it might be taken (as a) place for praying.

Abdullah b. Sarjis (Allah be pleased with him) reported that when Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) set forth on a journey, he sought refuge (with Allah) from the hardships of the travelling, and finding of evil changes on return, and disgrace after honour, and the curse of the oppressed and a gloomy sad scene in family and property.

Regarding the explanation of the Verse: 'Those whom they call upon (worship) (like Jesus the Son of Mary, angels etc.) desire (for themselves) means of access to their Lord (Allah) as to which of them should be the nearer and they hope for His Mercy and fear His torment.' (17.57) They themselves (e.g. Angels, saints, Apostles, Jesus, etc.,) worshipped Allah, Those Jinns who were worshipped by some Arabs became Muslims (embraced Islam), but those human beings stuck to their (old) religion. Al- A`mash said extra: 'Say, (O Muhammad): Call unto those besides Him whom you assume (to be gods).' (17.56)

Once Gabriel promised the Prophet (that he would visit him, but Gabriel did not come) and later on he said, "We, angels, do not enter a house which contains a picture or a dog."

The Prophet said, "Allah curses a man who steals an egg and gets his hand cut off, or steals a rope and gets his hands cut off." Al-A`mash said, "People used to interpret the Baida as an iron helmet, and they used to think that the rope may cost a few dirhams."

Once the Jews came to the Prophet and said, "Death be upon you." So I cursed them. The Prophet said, "What is the matter?" I said, "Have you not heard what they said?" The Prophet said, "Have you not heard what I replied (to them)? (I said), ('The same is upon you.')"

The Prophet (saws) said: Allah has protected you from three things: that your Prophet should not invoke a curse on you and should all perish, that those who follow what is false should not prevail over those who follow the truth, and that you should not all agree in an error.