(the freed slave of 'Umar bin 'Ubaidullah) I was Umar's clerk. Once Abdullah bin Abi Aufa wrote a letter to 'Umar when he proceeded to Al-Haruriya. I read in it that Allah's Apostle in one of his military expeditions against the enemy, waited till the sun declined and then he got up amongst the people saying, "O people! Do not wish to meet the enemy, and ask Allah for safety, but when you face the enemy, be patient, and remember that Paradise is under the shades of swords." Then he said, "O Allah, the Revealer of the Holy Book, and the Mover of the clouds and the Defeater of the clans, defeat them, and grant us victory over them."

Allah's Apostle arrived at Medina with Abu Bakr, riding behind him on the same camel. Abu Bakr was an elderly man known to the people, while Allah's Apostle was a youth that was unknown. Thus, if a man met Abu Bakr, he would say, "O Abu Bakr! Who is this man in front of you?" Abu Bakr would say, "This man shows me the Way," One would think that Abu Bakr meant the road, while in fact, Abu Bakr meant the way of virtue and good. Then Abu Bakr looked behind and saw a horse-rider pursuing them. He said, "O Allah's Apostle! This is a horse-rider pursuing us." The Prophet looked behind and said, "O Allah! Cause him to fall down." So the horse threw him down and got up neighing. After that the rider, Suraqa said, "O Allah's Prophet! Order me whatever you want." The Prophet said, "Stay where you are and do not allow anybody to reach us." So, in the first part of the day Suraqa was an enemy of Allah's Prophet and in the last part of it, he was a protector. Then Allah's Apostle alighted by the side of the Al-Harra and sent a message to the Ansar, and they came to Allah's Prophet and Abu Bakr, and having greeted them, they said, "Ride (your she-camels) safe and obeyed." Allah's Apostle and Abu Bakr rode and the Ansar, carrying their arms, surrounded them. The news that Allah's Prophet had come circulated in Medina. The people came out and were eagerly looking and saying "Allah's Prophet has come! Allah's Prophet has come! So the Prophet went on till he alighted near the house of Abu Ayub. While the Prophet was speaking with the family members of Abu Ayub, `Abdullah bin Salam heard the news of his arrival while he himself was picking the dates for his family from his family garden. He hurried to the Prophet carrying the dates which he had collected for his family from the garden. He listened to Allah's Prophet and then went home. Then Allah's Prophet said, "Which is the nearest of the houses of our kith and kin?" Abu Ayub replied, "Mine, O Allah's Prophet! This is my house and this is my gate." The Prophet said, "Go and prepare a place for our midday rest." Abu Ayub said, "Get up (both of you) with Allah's Blessings." So when Allah's Prophet went into the house, `Abdullah bin Salam came and said "I testify that you (i.e. Muhammad) are Apostle of Allah and that you have come with the Truth. The Jews know well that I am their chief and the son of their chief and the most learned amongst them and the son of the most learned amongst them. So send for them (i.e. Jews) and ask them about me before they know that I have embraced Islam, for if they know that they will say about me things which are not correct." So Allah's Apostle sent for them, and they came and entered. Allah's Apostle said to them, "O (the group of) Jews! Woe to you: be afraid of Allah. By Allah except Whom none has the right to be worshipped, you people know for certain, that I am Apostle of Allah and that I have come to you with the Truth, so embrace Islam." The Jews replied, "We do not know this." So they said this to the Prophet and he repeated it thrice. Then he said, "What sort of a man is `Abdullah bin Salam amongst you?" They said, "He is our chief and the son of our chief and the most learned man, and the son of the most learned amongst us." He said, "What would you think if he should embrace Islam?" They said, "Allah forbid! He can not embrace Islam." He said, " What would you think if he should embrace Islam?" They said, "Allah forbid! He can not embrace Islam." He said, "What would you think if he should embrace Islam?" They said, "Allah forbid! He can not embrace Islam." He said, "O Ibn Salam! Come out to them." He came out and said, "O (the group of) Jews! Be afraid of Allah except Whom none has the right to be worshipped. You know for certain that he is Apostle of Allah and that he has brought a True Religion!' They said, "You tell a lie." On that Allah's Apostle turned them out.

When it was the day of (the battle of) Hunain, I saw a Muslim man fighting with one of the pagans and another pagan was hiding himself behind the Muslim in order to kill him. So I hurried towards the pagan who was hiding behind the Muslim to kill him, and he raised his hand to hit me but I hit his hand and cut it off. That man got hold of me and pressed me so hard that I was afraid (that I would die), then he knelt down and his grip became loose and I pushed him and killed him. The Muslims (excepting the Prophet and some of his companions) started fleeing and I too, fled with them. Suddenly I met `Umar bin Al-Khattab amongst the people and I asked him, "What is wrong with the people?" He said, "It is the order of Allah" Then the people returned to Allah's Apostle (after defeating the enemy). Allah's Apostle said, "Whoever produces a proof that he has killed an infidel, will have the spoils of the killed man." So I got up to look for an evidence to prove that I had killed an infidel, but I could not find anyone to bear witness for me, so I sat down. Then it came to my mind (that I should speak of it) and I mentioned the case to Allah's Apostle. A man from the persons who were sitting with him (i.e. the Prophet), said, "The arms of the deceased one whom he ( i.e. Abu Qatada) has mentioned, are with me, so please compensate him for it (i.e. the spoils)," Abu Bakr said, "No, Allah's Apostle will not give it (i.e. the spoils) to a weak humble person from Quraish and leave one of Allah's Lions who fights on behalf of Allah and His Apostle." Allah's Apostle then got up and gave that (spoils) to me, and I bought with it, a garden which was the first property I got after embracing Islam.

The Prophet ordered us to free slaves at the time of solar eclipses.

We were ordered to free slaves at the time of lunar eclipses.

While we were with Allah's Apostle who was distributing (i.e. some property), there came Dhu-l- Khuwaisira, a man from the tribe of Bani Tamim and said, "O Allah's Apostle! Do Justice." The Prophet said, "Woe to you! Who could do justice if I did not? I would be a desperate loser if I did not do justice." `Umar said, "O Allah's Apostle! Allow me to chop his head off." The Prophet said, "Leave him, for he has companions who pray and fast in such a way that you will consider your fasting negligible in comparison to theirs. They recite Qur'an but it does not go beyond their throats (i.e. they do not act on it) and they will desert Islam as an arrow goes through a victim's body, so that the hunter, on looking at the arrow's blade, would see nothing on it; he would look at its Risaf and see nothing: he would look at its Na,di and see nothing, and he would look at its Qudhadh ( 1 ) and see nothing (neither meat nor blood), for the arrow has been too fast even for the blood and excretions to smear. The sign by which they will be recognized is that among them there will be a black man, one of whose arms will resemble a woman's breast or a lump of meat moving loosely. Those people will appear when there will be differences amongst the people." I testify that I heard this narration from Allah's Apostle and I testify that `Ali bin Abi Talib fought with such people, and I was in his company. He ordered that the man (described by the Prophet ) should be looked for. The man was brought and I looked at him and noticed that he looked exactly as the Prophet had described him.

I conceived `Abdullah bin AzZubair at Mecca and went out (of Mecca) while I was about to give birth. I came to Medina and encamped at Quba', and gave birth at Quba'. Then I brought the child to Allah's Apostle and placed it (on his lap). He asked for a date, chewed it, and put his saliva in the mouth of the child. So the first thing to enter its stomach was the saliva of Allah's Apostle. Then he did its Tahnik with a date, and invoked Allah to bless him. It was the first child born in the Islamic era, therefore they (Muslims) were very happy with its birth, for it had been said to them that the Jews had bewitched them, and so they would not produce any offspring.

There was a dispute amongst the people of the tribe of Bani `Amr bin `Auf. The Prophet went to them along with some of his companions in order to make peace between them. The time for the prayer became due but the Prophet did not turn up; Bilal pronounced the Adhan (i.e. call) for the prayer but the Prophet did not turn up, so Bilal went to Abu Bakr and said, "The time for the prayer is due and the Prophet i detained, would you lead the people in the prayer?" Abu Bakr replied, "Yes, you wish." So, Bilal pronounced the Iqama of the prayer and Abu Bakr went ahead (to lead the prayer), but the Prophet came walking among the rows till he joined the first row. The people started clapping and they clapped too much, and Abu Bakr used not to look hither and thither in the prayer, but he turned round and saw the Prophet standing behind him. The Prophet beckoned him with his hand to keep on praying where he was. Abu Bakr raised his hand and praised Allah and then retreated till he came in the (first) row, and the Prophet went ahead and lead the people in the prayer. When the Prophet finished the prayer, he turned towards the people and said, "O people! When something happens to you during the prayer, you start clapping. Really clapping is (permissible) for women only. If something happens to one of you in his prayer, he should say: 'Subhan Allah', (Glorified be Allah), for whoever hears him (saying so) will direct his attention towards him. O Abu Bakr! What prevented you from leading the people in the prayer when I beckoned to you (to continue)?" Abu Bakr replied, "It did not befit the son of Abu Quhafa to lead the prayer in front of the Prophet.

Once (on a journey) our provisions diminished and the people were reduced to poverty. They went to the Prophet and asked his permission to slaughter their camels, and he agreed. `Umar met them and they told him about it, and he said, "How would you survive after slaughtering your camels?" Then he went to the Prophet and said, "O Allah's Apostle! How would they survive after slaughtering their camels?" Allah's Apostle ordered `Umar, "Call upon the people to bring what has remained of their food." A leather sheet was spread and all the food was collected and heaped over it. Allah's Apostle stood up and invoked Allah to bless it, and then directed all the people to come with their utensils, and they started taking from it till all of them got what was sufficient for them. Allah's Apostle then said, "I testify that None has the right to be worshipped but Allah, and I am His Messenger."

A Jew and a Jewess were brought to Allah's Apostle on a charge of committing an illegal sexual intercourse. The Prophet asked them. "What is the legal punishment (for this sin) in your Book (Torah)?" They replied, "Our priests have innovated the punishment of blackening the faces with charcoal and Tajbiya." `Abdullah bin Salam said, "O Allah's Apostle, tell them to bring the Torah." The Torah was brought, and then one of the Jews put his hand over the Divine Verse of the Rajam (stoning to death) and started reading what preceded and what followed it. On that, Ibn Salam said to the Jew, "Lift up your hand." Behold! The Divine Verse of the Rajam was under his hand. So Allah's Apostle ordered that the two (sinners) be stoned to death, and so they were stoned. Ibn `Umar added: So both of them were stoned at the Balat and I saw the Jew sheltering the Jewess.

`Aisha said to `Abdullah bin Az-Zubair, "Bury me with my female companions (i.e. the wives of the Prophet) and do not bury me with the Prophet in the house, for I do not like to be regarded as sanctified (just for being buried there).'' Narrated Hisham's father: `Umar sent a message to `Aisha, saying, "Will you allow me to be buried with my two companions (the Prophet and Abu Bakr) ?" She said, "Yes, by Allah." though it was her habit that if a man from among the companions (of the Prophet ) sent her a message asking her to allow him to be buried there, she would say, "No, by Allah, I will never give permission to anyone to be buried with them."

Malik related to me from Yahya ibn Said from Said ibn al-Musayyab that a man from the Aslam tribe came to Abu Bakr as-Siddiq and said to him, "I have committed adultery." Abu Bakr said to him, "Have you mentioned this to anyone else?" He said, "No." Abu Bakr said to him, "Then cover it up with the veil of Allah. Allah accepts tawba from his slaves." His self was still unsettled, so he went to Umar ibn al- Khattab. He told him the same as he had said to Abu Bakr, and Umar told him the same as Abu Bakr had said to him. His self was still not settled so he went to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and said to him, "I have committed adultery," insistently. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, turned away from him three times. Each time the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, turned away from him until it became too much. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, questioned his family, "Does he have an illness which affects his mind, or is he mad?" They said, "Messenger of Allah, by Allah, he is well." The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Unmarried or married?" They said, "Married, Messenger of Allah." The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, gave the order and he was stoned.

Jabir reported that he heard Mu'awiya say in his address that Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) died at the age of sixty-three, so was the case with Abu Bakr and 'Umar, and I (am now) sixty-three.

Ibn 'Abbas in the explanation of the statement of Allah "Move not your tongue concerning (the Quran) to make haste therewith." (75.16) said "Allah's Apostle used to bear the revelation with great trouble and used to move his lips (quickly) with the Inspiration." Ibn 'Abbas moved his lips saying, "I am moving my lips in front of you as Allah's Apostle used to move his." Said moved his lips saying: "I am moving my lips, as I saw Ibn 'Abbas moving his." Ibn 'Abbas added, "So Allah revealed 'Move not your tongue concerning (the Qur'an) to make haste therewith. It is for Us to collect it and to give you (O Muhammad) the ability to recite it (the Quran)' (75.16-17) which means that Allah will make him (the Prophet) remember the portion of the Qur'an which was revealed at that time by heart and recite it. The statement of Allah: 'And when we have recited it to you (O Muhammad through Gabriel) then you follow its (Quran) recital' (75.18) means 'listen to it and be silent.' Then it is for Us (Allah) to make it clear to you' (75.19) means 'Then it is (for Allah) to make you recite it (and its meaning will be clear by itself through your tongue). Afterwards, Allah's Apostle used to listen to Gabriel whenever he came and after his departure he used to recite it as Gabriel had recited it."

The Prophet sent an army unit (for some campaign) and appointed a man from the Ansar as its commander and ordered them (the soldiers) to obey him. (During the campaign) he became angry with them and said, "Didn't the Prophet order you to obey me?" They said, "Yes." He said, "I order you to collect wood and make a fire and then throw yourselves into it." So they collected wood and made a fire, but when they were about to throw themselves into, it they started looking at each other, and some of them said, "We followed the Prophet to escape from the fire. How should we enter it now?" So while they were in that state, the fire extinguished and their commander's anger abated. The event was mentioned to the Prophet and he said, "If they had entered it (the fire) they would never have come out of it, for obedience is required only in what is good." (See Hadith No. 629. Vol. 5)

This hadith has been narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira through another chain of transmitters.

Once we were traveling with the Prophet and we carried on traveling till the last part of the night and then we (halted at a place) and slept (deeply). There is nothing sweeter than sleep for a traveler in the last part of the night. So it was only the heat of the sun that made us to wake up and the first to wake up was so and so, then so and so and then so and so (the narrator `Auf said that Abu Raja' had told him their names but he had forgotten them) and the fourth person to wake up was `Umar bin Al- Khattab. And whenever the Prophet used to sleep, nobody would wake up him till he himself used to get up as we did not know what was happening (being revealed) to him in his sleep. So, `Umar got up and saw the condition of the people, and he was a strict man, so he said, "Allahu Akbar" and raised his voice with Takbir, and kept on saying loudly till the Prophet got up because of it. When he got up, the people informed him about what had happened to them. He said, "There is no harm (or it will not be harmful). Depart!" So they departed from that place, and after covering some distance the Prophet stopped and asked for some water to perform the ablution. So he performed the ablution and the call for the prayer was pronounced and he led the people in prayer. After he finished from the prayer, he saw a man sitting aloof who had not prayed with the people. He asked, "O so and so! What has prevented you from praying with us?" He replied, "I am Junub and there is no water. " The Prophet said, "Perform Tayammum with (clean) earth and that is sufficient for you." Then the Prophet proceeded on and the people complained to him of thirst. Thereupon he got down and called a person (the narrator `Auf added that Abu Raja' had named him but he had forgotten) and `Ali, and ordered them to go and bring water. So they went in search of water and met a woman who was sitting on her camel between two bags of water. They asked, "Where can we find water?" She replied, "I was there (at the place of water) this hour yesterday and my people are behind me." They requested her to accompany them. She asked, "Where?" They said, "To Allah's Apostle ." She said, "Do you mean the man who is called the Sabi, (with a new religion)?" They replied, "Yes, the same person. So come along." They brought her to the Prophet and narrated the whole story. He said, "Help her to dismount." The Prophet asked for a pot, then he opened the mouths of the bags and poured some water into the pot. Then he closed the big openings of the bags and opened the small ones and the people were called upon to drink and water their animals. So they all watered their animals and they (too) all quenched their thirst and also gave water to others and last of all the Prophet gave a pot full of water to the person who was Junub and told him to pour it over his body. The woman was standing and watching all that which they were doing with her water. By Allah, when her water bags were returned the looked like as if they were more full (of water) than they had been before (Miracle of Allah's Apostle) Then the Prophet ordered us to collect something for her; so dates, flour and Sawiq were collected which amounted to a good meal that was put in a piece of cloth. She was helped to ride on her camel and that cloth full of foodstuff was also placed in front of her and then the Prophet said to her, "We have not taken your water but Allah has given water to us." She returned home late. Her relatives asked her: "O so and so what has delayed you?" She said, "A strange thing! Two men met me and took me to the man who is called the Sabi' and he did such and such a thing. By Allah, he is either the greatest magician between this and this (gesturing with her index and middle fingers raising them towards the sky indicating the heaven and the earth) or he is Allah's true Apostle." Afterwards the Muslims used to attack the pagans around her abode but never touched her village. One day she said to her people, "I think that these people leave you purposely. Have you got any inclination to Islam?" They obeyed her and all of them embraced Islam. Abu `Abdullah said: The word Saba'a means "The one who has deserted his old religion and embraced a new religion." Abul 'Ailya [??] said, "The S`Abis are a sect of people of the Scripture who recite the Book of Psalms."

Allah's Prophet said to Ubai bin Ka`b, "Allah has ordered me to recite Qur'an to you." Ubai said, "Did Allah mention me by name to you?" The Prophet said, "Yes." Ubai said, "Have I been mentioned by the Lord of the Worlds?" The Prophet said, "Yes." Then Ubai burst into tears.

I used to learn the reading of the Qur'an from Umm Sa'd, daughter of al-Rabi'. She was an orphan in the guardianship of Abu Bakr. I read the Qur'anic verse "To those also to whom your right hand was pledged." She said: Do not read the verse; "To those also to whom your right hand was pledged." This was revealed about Abu Bakr and his son 'Abd al-Rahman when he refused to accept Islam. Abu Bakr took an oath that he would not give him a share from inheritance. When he embraced Islam Allah Most High commanded His Prophet (saws) to give him the share.

The narrator 'Abd al-Aziz added: He did not accept Islam until he was urged on Islam by sword.

Abu Dawud said: He who narrated the word 'aqadat means a pact ; and he who narrated the word 'aaqadat means the party who made a pact. The correct is the tradition of Talhah ('aaqadat).

about the Prophet's dream in which he has seen Abu Bakr and `Umar: The Prophet said, "I saw (in a dream) that the people had gathered. Then Abu Bakr stood up and pulled out one or two buckets full of water (from a well) and there was weakness in his pulling -- may Allah forgive him. Then Ibn Al- Khattab stood up, and the bucket turned into a very large one and I have never seen any strong man among the people doing such a hard job. He pulled out so much water that the people (drank to their satisfaction) and watered their camels to their fill, (and then after quenching their thirst) they sat beside the water."