God's messenger sat on the pulpit and said, "A man was given his choice by God as to whether He should give him as much worldly comfort as he wished, or whether he should have what was with Him, and he chose what was with Him." Abu Bakr then wept and said, "We would ransom you with our fathers and our mothers." We were surprised at him, and some people said, "Look at this old man who says when God's messenger is telling about a man who was given his choice by God as to whether He should give him worldly comfort or whether he should have what is with Him, `We would ransom you with our fathers and our mothers'." Now God's messenger was the one who was given his choice and Abu Bakr was the one among us who had most knowledge. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

`Uqba b. `Amir told that God's messenger prayed eight years after the battle of Uhud over those who were slain there like one who was bidding farewell to the living and the dead. He then mounted the pulpit and said, "I am one who goes before you and I shall be a witness to you. Your appointed place is the Pond at which I am looking while I am where I am just now. I have been given the keys of the treasures of the earth, and I do not fear for you that you should become polytheists after I am gone, but I fear lest you should long for worldly things (some adding, and fight), and perish like your predecessors." (Bukhari and Muslim.)

One of God's favours to me was that God's messenger died in my house on my day resting on my breast, and that God joined his saliva with mine[*] when he died. When I was supporting God's messenger `Abd ar-Rahman b. Abu Bakr came in to -visit me with a tooth-stick in his hand. I saw the Prophet looking at it, and I knew it was a characteristic of his to like a tooth-stick, so I asked if I would get it for him and he nodded his assent. He took it, but it was too hard for him, so I suggested softening it for him and he nodded his assent. I softened it and he moved it over his teeth. There was a jug of water in front of him and he began to put his hands into the water and wipe his face with them saying meanwhile, ``There is no god but God. Death has pangs." The he raised his hand and began to say, ["Put me] among the highest companions" until he died and his hand dropped. *The reference is to the detail mentioned later in the tradition telling that she softened the tooth-stick in her mouth before the Prophet used it. Bukhari transmitted it.

I heard God's messenger say, "No prophet becomes ill without being given his choice between this world and the next. "During his complaint of which he died he was afflicted by severe hoarseness, and I heard him say, "With those of the prophets, upright, martyrs and pious ones to whom Thou hast shown favour," so I knew that he had been given his choice. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Anas told that when the Prophet's illness became heavy, he began to be overwhelmed by anxiety, and Fatima said, "Alas for the anxiety, father!" He replied to her, "Your father will have no anxiety after to-day." Then when he died, she said, "0 my father! He has responded to a Lord who summoned him. 0 my father! In the garden of Firdaus is his destination. 0 my father[*] To Gabriel we shall announce his death!" Then when he was buried Fatima said, "Anas, have you people found it an easy task to scatter earth over God's messenger?" Bukhari transmitted it.

`A'isha told that God's messenger used to say when he was well ta t a prophet is not taken before being shown his resting-place in paradise and being given his choice. `A'isha said that when death I approached him when his head was on her thigh he fainted, and when he came round, he stared at the ceiling and said, "O God, [put me among] the highest companions." She said, ``That means he is not choosing us;" and she recognised that this was what he had been talking to them about when he was well and said that a prophet is not taken before being shown his resting-place in paradise and being given his choice. `A'isha said the Prophet's last words were "0 God, [put me among] the highest companions." (Bukhari and Muslim.)

She told that in the illness from which he died God's messenger I was saying, ```A'isha, I still feel the pain from the food I ate at Khaibar, and this is the time when I feel my aorta being cut because of that 'poison." Bukhari transmitted it.

When God's messenger's death was near and some men among whom was `Umar b. al-Khattab were in the house the Prophet said, "Come, let me write for you a document after which you will never go astray." `Umar said, "The pain has got the mastery over him, and you have the Quran. God's Book is enough for you." But the people in the house disagreed and disputed, some saying, "Bring the materials and let God's messenger write for you," and other saying what `Umar had said. Then when they clamored and disagreed to a great extent God's messenger said, "Get up and leave me." `Ubaidallah[1] told that Ibn `Abbas used to say it was a terrible calamity which intervened to prevent God's messenger from writing that document for them owing to their disagreement and clamour. In the version of Sulaiman b. Abu Muslim al-Ahwal Ibn `Abbassaid, "Thursday, what a Thursday!'' and then wept till his tears wet the pebbles. Ibn `Abbas was asked what about Thursday and replied, "God's messenger's pain became severe and he said, 'If you bring me a shoulderblade I shall write you a document after which you will never go astray.' They quarrelled, a thing most unfitting in a prophet's presence, asked what was the matter with him, whether he was delirious, and said they should ask him for an explanation. They then kept at him, so he said, `Leave me alone and let me be, for what I am engaged in is better than what you are summoning me to.' He then gave them three commands. He told them to expel the polytheists from Arabia and to reward deputations as he had been accustomed to do, but he either did not mention the third, or he did so and I have forgotten it." Sufyan said this is from what Sulaiman said. 1. 'Ubaidallah b. 'Abdallah b. 'Utba b. Mas'ud (d. 96 A.H.), one of the seven famous jurisconsults of Medina. (Bukhari and Mislim.)

Anas told that Abu Bakr said to `Umar after the death of God's messenger, "Come and let us visit Umm Aiman as God's messenger used to do." When Anas and they came to her she wept and they[*] said, "What makes you weep? Do you not know that what is with God is better for God's messenger?" She replied, "I am not weeping because I do not know that what is with God most high is better for God's messenger, but I am weeping because the revelation from heaven has come to an end." She thus stirred them to weep and they began to weep along with her. *The verb is dual, referring to Abu Bakr and `Umar Muslim transmitted it.

During the illness of which he died God's messenger came out to us when we were in the mosque with a rag tied round his head and made for the pulpit. When he had sat on it he made us come near[*] and then said, "By Him in whose hands my soul is, I am looking at the Pond from this place where I am." He then said, "A man was offered the world and its adornment but chose the next." Abu Bakr was the only one who appreciated his meaning, so tears dropped from his eyes, he wept and said, "No; we shall ransom you with our fathers, our mothers, our persons and our property, messenger of God." He then came down from the pulpit and never mounted it again. *Literally, made us follow him. Darimi transmitted it.

On receiving the revelation, "When God's help and the victory come ..." 1 God's messenger called Fatima and said, "News of my death has been given me." She wept and he said, "Do not weep, for you will be the first of my family to join me." She then laughed, and some of the Prophet's wives who had seen her said, "We saw you weep and then laugh, Fatima." She replied, "He told me he had been given news of his death and I wept, then he told me not to weep for I would be the first member of his family to join him, so I laughed." And God's messenger said, "`When God's help and the victory come,' and the people of the Yemen come,[2] who are those with the tenderest hearts. Faith pertains to the Yemen and wisdom pertains to the Yemen." Quran; 110 This is taken as an interpretation of the meaning of the second verse of 110: "And you see the people entering God's religion in crowds." Darimi transmitted it.

`A'isha told that she said, "O my head!'' and that God's messenger said, "If you were to die[*] while I am alive I would ask forgiveness for you and make supplication on your behalf." `A'isha then said, "Alas! I swear by God that I think you want me to die; and if that happened you would spend that night with one of your wives." The Prophet replied, "Stop worrying about your head and think of me. I purposed (or, wished) to send to Abu Bakr and his son and make him my successor lest people should talk, or people who hoped for the succession should have their hopes raised; then I thought that God wants nothing else and that the believers will prevent anything else," or, "that God will prevent anything else and that the believers want nothing else." *Literally, if that happened. Bukhari transmitted it.

One day God's messenger came back from al-Baqi from a funeral when I was suffering from a headache and saying, "0 my head!" He said, "Stop worrying about your head, `A'isha, and think of me. It would not harm you if you were to die before me and I were to wash, shroud, pray over you and bury you." I replied, "I swear by God it seems to me that if you were to do that you would come back to my house and spend the night in it with one of your wives." God's messenger smiled, and after that the pain of which he died began. Darimi transmitted it.

When God's messenger became ill Gabriel came to him and said, "God has sent me to you, Muhammad, to show honour and regard specially for yourself and ask you about something He knows better than you, viz. how you are." He replied, "I find myself, Gabriel, worried, and I find myself, Gabriel, full of care." Then he came to him next day and said that to him and the Prophet gave him the same reply as he had given the previous day. He came again on the third day and said the same as he had said on the first day, and he gave him the same reply. Along with him came an angel called Isma'il who was in command of a hundred thousand angels each of whom was in command of a hundred1, Ja'far as-Sadiq quotes his father Muhammad al-Baqir, who tells about his father 'Ali Zain al-'Abidin. thousand angels. He asked permission to enter, and when the Prophet asked about him Gabriel replied, "This is the angel of death who is asking permission to come in to you, a thing he has never done to any human being before you and will never do to any human being after you." He told him to let him come in, and when that was done, he gave him a salutation and said, "God has sent me to you, Muhammad, and if you order me to take your spirit I shall do so, but if you order me to leave it alone I shall do so." He asked, "Will you do that, angel of death?" and he replied, "Yes, that is what I have been commanded, and I have been commanded to obey you." God's messenger then looked at Gabriel and Gabriel said, "God has longed to meet you, Muhammad," so the Prophet said to the angel-of death, "Go on with what you have been commanded," and he took his spirit. When God's messenger died and condolence came, they heard a voice from the corner of the house saying, "Peace, God's mercy and blessings be upon you, members of the family. In God there is comfort for every calamity, a successor for everyone who perishes, and a recompense for everything which passes away, so by God's help guard yourselves and in Him place your hopes for the one who is smitten is he who is deprived of reward." `Ali then asked if they knew who this was and said it was al-Khidr. *Jafar as Sadiq quotes his father Muhammad al Baqir, who tells about his father, Ali Zain al ...

Abu Huraira reported God's messenger as saying, "My heirs will not share a dinar. What I leave after providing maintenance for my wives and provision for the one who succeed me is sadaqa." (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Bakr reported God's messenger as saying, "We[*] do not leave an inheritance; what we leave is sadaqa." i.e., the prophet. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Musa reported the Prophet as saying, "When God purposes mercy to a people among His servants He takes their prophet and makes him a forerunner who goes before them; but when He purposes to destroy a people, He punishes them while their prophet is alive, destroys them while he is there to see, and comforts him by their destruction when they disbelieved him and disobeyed his command." Muslim transmitted it.

Abu Huraira reported God's messenger as saying, "By Him in whose hand my soul is, a day will come to one of you when he will not see me; and then a sight of me will be dearer to him than his family and his property along with them." Muslim transmitted it.

Abu Huraira reported the Prophet as saying, `Mankind are followers of Quraish in this matter, their Muslims being followers of their Muslims and their infidels of their infidels." (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Jabir reported the Prophet as saying, "Mankind are followers of Quraish in good and evil." Muslim transmitted it.

Ibn `Umar reported the Prophet as saying, "This matter will continue in Quraish as long as two of them remain[*]. *Mirqat, 5:508, explains this as meaning that the Caliphate will remain the prerogative of Quraish as long as two human beings survive. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Mu'awiya told that he heard God's messenger say, "This matter belongs to Quraish, and so long as they observe the religion no one will be hostile to them without God overturning him on his face." Bukhari transmitted it.

Jabir b. Samura told that he heard God's messenger say, "Islam will continue to be strong during the time of twelve Caliphs all of whom belong to Quraish." A version has "Men's interests will continue to proceed well as long as they are governed by twelve men all of whom belong to Quraish." Another version has, "The religion will continue to be established till the last hour comes, and there are twelve Caliphs over them, all of whom belong to Quraish." (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Ibn `Umar reported God's messenger as saying, "May God grant forgiveness (ghafara) to Ghifar and grant peace (salama) to Aslam; but `Usayya has disobeyed (asa) God and His messenger[*]." *As can be seen from the Arabic words given in brackets, these phrases all make use of roots connected with the names of the tribes in question. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Huraira reported God's messenger as saying, "Quraish, the Ansar, Juhaina, Muzaina, Aslam, Ghifar and Ashja' are my clients who have no patron apart from God and His messenger." (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Bakra reported God's messenger as saying, "Aslam, Ghifar, Muzaina and Juhaina are better than the B. Tamim, the B. `Amir, and the allies the B. Asad and Ghatafan." (Bukhari and Muslim.)

I have continued to love the B. Tamim since hearing three things from God's messenger which I heard him say about them. I heard him say, "They will be the most valiant fighters among my people against the dajjal." When they brought their Sadaqat God's messenger said, "These are the sadaqat of our people." `A'isha had a woman captive who belonged to them, and he said, set her free, for she is a child of Ishmael." (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Sa'd[*] reported the Prophet as saying, "He who wishes Quraish to be humiliated will be humiliated by God." *Sa'd b. Abu Waqqas. Tirmidhi transmitted it.

Ibn `Abbas reported God's messenger as saying, "0 God, Thou hast caused the first members of Quraish to experience punishment; now cause the last of them to experience generosity." Tirmidhi transmitted it.

Abu `Amir al-Ash`ari reported God's messenger as saying, "Asad and the members of Ash'ar[*] are good. They do not fly when fighting and are not treacherous. They pertain to me and I to them." *Mirqat, 5:511, suggests the reading Asd and says that both Ash'aruna and Ash'ariyuna are used. It says the former here refers to Azd Shanu'a. But there was a branch of Quraish called Asad. Tirmidhi transmitted it, saying this is a gharib tradition.

Anas reported God's messenger as saying, "Azd is God's Azd in the earth. People wish to lower them, but God refuses to do anything but exalt them. A time is certainly coming to mankind when a man will express the wish that his father had belonged to Azd and that his mother had belonged to Azd." Tirmidhi transmitted it, saying this is a gharib tradition.

`Imran b. Husain told that the Prophet at the time of his death disliked three tribes, Thaqif, the B. Hanifa and the B. Umayya. Tirmidhi transmitted it, saying this is a gharib tradition.

Ibn `Umar reported God's messenger as saying, "Thaqif will have among them a great liar and one who causes destruction." `Abdallah b. Asma told that it was said the great liar was al-Mukhtar b. Abu `Ubaid[1] and the one who causes destruction al-Hajjaj b. Yusuf.[2] Hisham b. Hassan said they calculated the number of those in custody killed by al-Hajjaj and it reached a hundred and twenty thousand. 1. He caused a rising in Kufa claiming to be in support of Muhammad Ibn al-Hanafiya, declaring that the Mahdi would soon appear, and demanding vengeance for Husain's death. He was killed in 67 A.H. 2. The Umayyad governor notorious for his vindictiveness. Tirmidhi transmitted it.

Muslim told in his sahih that when al-Hajjaj killed `Abdallah b. az-Zubair Asma' said God's messenger had told them that Thaqif would have among them a great liar and one who would cause destruction, adding that they had seen the great liar, and that she thought the one who would cause destruction was no other than [al-Hajjaj], The complete form of the tradition will be given in Section III. Muslim.

Jabir told that when the people said, "Messenger of God, Thaqif's arrows have scorched us, so supplicate God to punish them," he said, "O God, give guidance to Thaqif." Tirmidhi transmitted it.

`Abd ar-Razzaq quoted his father[1] as saying on the authority of Mina'[2] that Abu Huraira told that when they were with the Prophet a man who he thought belonged to Qais came to him and said, "Messenger of God, curse Himyar." He turned away from him, so he came round the other side, but he turned away from him. He then came round the other side, and the Prophet turned away from him again and then said, "May God show mercy to Him yar! Their mouths speak peace, their hands provide food, and they are people of security and faith." Hammam b. al-Harith an-Nakha'i. A client of the Ansar. Tirmidhi transmitted it, saying this is a gharib tradition which he knew only among the traditions of `Abd ar-Razzaq, and rejected traditions are transmitted on the authority of this Mina'.

He told that God's messenger asked him to what tribe he[*] belonged, and that when he replied that he belonged to Daus he said, "I did not think that Daus had a single man with any good in him." *i.e., Abu Huraira. Tirmidhi transmitted it.

Salman reported God's messenger as saying, "Do not hate me and so abandon your religion." He asked how he could hate him when he was the means by which God had guided them, and he replied, "By hating the Arabs and so hating me." Tirmidhi transmitted it, saying this is a hasan gharib tradition.

'Uthman b. `Affan reported God's messenger as saying, "He who is treacherous to the Arabs will not be included in my intercession and will not receive my love." Tirmidhi transmitted it, saying this is a gharib tradition which he knew only among the traditions of Husain b. `Umar who is not considered by traditionsits to be strong.

Umm al-Harir, client, of Talha. b. Malik, said she heard her patron telling that God's messenger said, "One of the signs of the approach of the last hour will be the destruction of the Arabs." Tirmidhi transmitted it.

Abu Huraira reported God's messenger as saying, "The kingdom will belong to Quraish, the legal authority to the Ansar, the office of making the call to prayer to the Abyssinians, and faithfulness to Azd[*]," i.e., the Yemen. *This is Azd Shanua a Yemen tribe. In a version in mauquf form Tirmidhi transmitted it, saying this is sounder.

Abdallah b. Muti said his father[*] told of hearing God's messenger say on the day of the conquest of Mecca, "No member of Quraish will be killed in custody after this day and on to the day of resurrection." *Mutii b. al-Aswad. Istiab, p. 282, tells that hie name was al-'As, but the Prophet changed it to Muti (obedient), saying he was not disobedient (`as). Muslim transmitted it.

Abu Naufal Mu'awiya b. Muslim told that he saw `Abdallah b. az-Zubair on the hill-road leading to Medina[1]. Quraish and others began to go past him, and when `Abdallah b. `Umar came past he stopped where he was and said, "Peace be upon you, Abu Khubaib; peace be upon you, Abu Khubaib; peace be upon you, Abu Khubaib! I swear by God that I was forbidding you to do what would lead to this. I swear by God that I was forbidding you to do what would lead to this. I swear by God that I was forbidding you to do what would lead to this. I swear by God that I have known you were given to fasting, praying by night and joining ties of relationship. I swear by God that a people among whom you are reckoned the worst is a wicked people[2]." A version has, ``a good people". `Abdallah b. `Umar then moved on. When al-Hajjaj heard of 'Abdallah stopping and of what he had said, he sent and had Ibn az-Zubair taken down from his palm-trunk and cast among the graves of the Jews. He then sent for his mother, Asma' daughter of Abu Bakr, but she refused to go to him. He then sent the messenger back to say she must come, or he would send someone for her who would drag her by the hair. She refused to go saying, "I swear by God that I shall not go to you till you send someone for me to drag me by my hair." He called for his smooth leather sandals, and taking them went off in a hurry[3]. Then when he went in to see her, he said, "What do you think of the way I have dealt with God's enemy?" She replied, "I consider that you have spoiled his worldly interests and that he has spoiled your interests in the next world. I heard that you were addressing him as the son of the woman with two girdles. I swear by God that I am the woman with two girdles, one of which was used by me to tie up the food of God's messenger and of Abu Bakr out of reach of animals, and the other is the girdle with which no woman can dispense. God's messenger told us that Thaqif would have among them a great liar and one who would cause destruction, and I consider that the one who was to cause destruction is no other than you." He then got up and left her, and said no more to her. 1. The reference is to Abdallah's dead body where he was crucified on the outskirts of Mecca. 2. Mirqat, 5:515, explains this as meaning that a people who think such a good man to be the worst of them are indeed wicked. The version which follows gives a twist to the meaning, suggesting that a people among whom he is the worst must be ...

Nafi` told that two men came to Ibn `Umar during the civil war. of Ibn az-Zubair and said, "The people have done what you see, and you are `Umar's son and the companion of God's messenger, so what prevents you from going forth[1]?" He replied, "What prevents me is the fact that God has made it unlawful for me to shed my brother Muslim's blood." They asked if God most high had not said, "And fight with them till there is no dissension[2]," to which Ibn `Umar replied, "We have fought till there was no dissension and the religion was God's, but you want to fight so that there may be dissension and the religion may pertain to someone other than God." i.e., in revolt. Quran; 2:193, 8:39 Bukhari transmitted it.

Abu Huraira told that at-Tufail b. Amr ad-Dausi came to God's messenger and said, "Daus have perished; they have disobeyed and refused, so supplicate God to punish them." The people thought he would do so, but he said, "0 God, give Daus guidance and bring them[*]." *Mirqat 5:517, explains this as meaning either to bring them as emigrants to Medina or to bring them into obedience to Islam. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Ibn `Abbas reported God's messenger as saying, "Love the Arabs for three reasons, because I am an Arab, the Qur'an is Arabic, and the inhabitants of paradise will speak Arabic." Baihaqi transmitted it in Shu'ab al-lman.

Abu Sa'id al-Khudri reported the Prophet as saying, "Do not revile my companions, for if one of you contributed as much gold as Uhud it would not amount to as much as the mudd of one of them, or half of it[*]." *Indicating the superiority, the Companions over other Muslims. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Burda told on his father's authority that he, meaning the Prophet, raised his head to the sky, which was a common practice of his, and said, "The stars are a means of safety for the sky, and when the stars depart what the sky has been threatened with will come to it. I am a means of safety for my companions, and when I depart what my companions have been threatened with will come to them. My companions are a means of safety for my people, and when my companions depart what my people have been threatened with will come to them." Muslim transmitted it.

Imran b. Husain reported God's messenger as saying, "The best of my people are my generation, then their immediate followers, then their immediate followers. After them there will be people who give testimony without being asked, who will be treacherous and not to be trusted, who will make vows which they do not fulfil, among whom fatness[*] will appear." A version has "They will swear oaths without being asked to do so." *Mirqat 5:520 f., gives various explanations of this, including unjustified pride, unjustified claims to nobility, acquisition of wealth, elaborate food and drink, neglect of religious duties. It is obviously some unsatisfactory characteristic which is intended. The various meanings suggested might be combine by treating it as meaning fine living which leads to neglect of religion. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

A version by Muslim on the authority of Abu Huraira says, "Then people who like plumpness will succeed them." Muslim.