When the Prophet intended to write a letter to the ruler of the Byzantines, he was told that those people did not read any letter unless it was stamped with a seal. So, the Prophet got a silver ring-- as if I were just looking at its white glitter on his hand ---- and stamped on it the expression "Muhammad, Apostle of Allah".

The Messenger of Allah (saws) forbade blowing or breathing into a vessel.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Hisham ibn Urwa that his father said about this ayat, "You have good news in the life of this world and the next world," (Sura 10 ayat 64), that it was the good dream which the man who was salih saw or which was shown to him.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Abd ar-Rahman ibn al-Mujabbar that he used to see Salim ibn Abdullah pull the cloth away fiercely from the mouth of any man he saw covering his mouth while praying.

Once the Prophet asked for a tumbler containing water. He washed his hands and face in it and also threw a mouthful of water in it.

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that Muhammad Sirin used to say, "Do not sell grain on the ears until it is white."

Malik said, "If someone buys food for a known price to be delivered at a stated date, and when the date comes, the one who owes the food says, 'I do not have any food, sell me the food which I owe you with delayed terms.' The owner of the food says, 'This is not good, because the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, forbade selling food until the deal was completed.' The one who owes the food says to his creditor, 'Sell me any kind of food on delayed terms until I discharge the debt to you.' This is not good because he gives him food and then he returns it to him. The gold which he gave him becomes the price of that which is his right against him and the food which he gave him becomes what clears what is between them. If they do that, it becomes the sale of food before the deal is complete."

Malik spoke about a man who was owed food which he had purchased from a man and this man was owed the like of that food by another man. The one who owed the food said to his creditor, "I will refer you to my debtor who owes me the same amount of food as I owe you, so that you may obtain the food which I owe you ."

Malik said, "If the man who had to deliver the food, had gone out, and bought the food to pay off his creditor, that is not good. That is selling food before taking possession of it. If the food is an advance which falls due at that particular time, there is no harm in paying off his creditor with it because that is nota sale. It is not halal to sell food before receiving it in full since the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, forbade that. However, the people of knowledge agree that there is no harm in partnership, transfer of responsibility and revocation in sales of food and other goods."

Malik said, "That is because the people of knowledge consider it as a favour rendered. They do not consider it as a sale. It is like a man lending light dirhams. He is then paid back in dirhams of full weight, and so gets back more than he lent. That is halal for him and permitted. Had a man bought defective dirhams from him as being the full weight, that would not be halal. Had it been stipulated to him that he lend full weight in dirhams, and then he gave faulty ones, that would not be halal for him."

Yahya related to me from Malik from a reliable source from Amr ibn Shuayb from his father from his father's father that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, forbade transactions in which nonrefundable deposits were paid.

Malik said, "That is, in our opinion, but Allah knows best, that for instance, a man buys a slave or slave-girl or rents an animal and then says to the person from whom he bought the slave or leased the animal, 'I will give you a dinar or a dirham or whatever on the condition that if I actually take the goods or ride what I have rented from you, then what I have given you already goes towards payment of the goods or hire of the animal. If I do not purchase the goods or hire the animal, then what I have given you is yours without liability on your part.' "

Malik said, "According to the way of doing things with us there is nothing wrong in bartering an arabic speaking merchant slave for abyssinian slaves or any other type that are not his equal in eloquence, trading, shrewdness, and know-how. There is nothing wrong in bartering one slave like this for two or more other slaves with a stated delay in the terms if he is clearly different. If there is no appreciable difference between the slaves, two should not be bartered for one with a stated delay in the terms even if their racial type is different."

Malik said, "There is nothing wrong in selling what has been bought in such a transaction before taking possession of all of it as long as you receive the price for it from some one other than the original owner."

Malik said, "An addition to the price must not be made for a foetus in the womb of its mother when she is sold because that is gharar (an uncertain transaction). It is not known whether the child will be male or female, good-looking or ugly, normal or handicapped, alive or dead. All these things will affect the price."

Malik said that in a transaction where a slave or slave-girl was bought for one hundred dinars with a stated credit period that if the seller regretted the sale there was nothing wrong in him asking the buyer to revoke it for ten dinars which he would pay him immediately or after a period and he would forgo his right to the hundred dinars which he was owed.

Malik said, "However, if the buyer regrets and asks the seller to revoke the sale of a slave or slave-girl in consideration of which he will pay an extra ten dinars immediately or on ...

The Prophet said, "Whoever has eaten garlic or onion, should keep away from us, or should keep away from our mosque and should stay at home." Ibn Wahb said, "Once a plate full of cooked vegetables was brought to the Prophet at Badr. Detecting a bad smell from it, he asked about the dish and was informed of the kinds of vegetables in contained. He then said, "Bring it near," and so it was brought near to one of his companions who was with him. When the Prophet saw it, he disliked eating it and said (to his companion), "Eat, for I talk in secret to ones whom you do not talk to."

Jarir bin `Abdullah said to me, "Allah's Apostle said to me, 'Won't you relieve me from Dhul- Khalasa?' Dhul-Khalasa was a house where the tribe of Khatham used to stay, and it used to be called Ka`bat-ul Yamaniya. So I proceeded with one hundred-and-fifty (men) from the tribe of Ahmas who were good cavalry. I informed the Prophet that I could not sit firm on horses, so he stroke me on the chest with his hand and I noticed his finger marks on my chest. He invoked, 'O Allah! Make him firm and a guiding and rightly-guided man." Jarir set out towards that place, dismantled and burnt it, and then sent the good news to Allah's Apostle . The messenger of Jarir said to Allah's Apostle. "O Allah's Apostle! By Him Who has sent you with the Truth, I did not come to you till it (i.e. the house) had been turned (black) like a scabby camel (covered with tar)." So the Prophet invokes Allah to Bless the horses of the men of Ahmas five times.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Hisham ibn Urwa that his father would never do two sets of seven tawafs together without praying between them. After every seven tawafs he would pray two rakas, sometimes at the maqam of Ibrahim, and sometimes elsewhere.

Malik was asked whether a man doing voluntary tawaf could, to make it easier on himself, join two or more sets of seven circuits and then pray whatever he owed for those sets of seven, and he said, "He should not do that. The sunna is that he does two rakasafter every seven circuits."

Malik said, about someone who began doing tawaf and then forgot how many he had done and did eightor nine circuits, "He should stop when he knows that he has done more than the right number and then pray two rakas,and he should not count the ones that he has done in excess. Neither should he build on the nine that he has done and then pray the rakas for the two sets of seven circuits together, because the sunna is that you pray two rakas after every seven circuits."

Malik said that someone who was in doubt about his tawaf after he had prayed the two rakas of tawaf should go back and complete his tawaf until he was certain of how much he had done. He should then repeat the two rakas, because prayer when doing tawaf was only valid after completing seven circuits.

"If some one breaks his wudu either while he is doing tawaf, or when he has finished tawaf but before he has prayed the two rakas of tawaf, he should do wudu and begin the tawaf and the two rakas afresh. Breaking wudu does not interrupt say between Safa and Marwa, but a person should not begin say unless he is pure by being in wudu."

Yahya related to me that Malik said that he had heard that Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz used to say, "The man on horse-back has two shares, and the man on foot has one."

Malik added, "I continue to hear the same."

Malik, when asked whether a man who was present with several horses took a share for all of them, said, "I have never heard that. I think that there is only a share for the horse on which he fought."

Malik said, "I think that foreign horses and half-breeds are considered as horses because Allah, the Blessed, the Exalted, said in His Book, 'All horses, and mules, and asses, for you to ride, and as an adornment.' (Sura16 ayat 8). He said, the Mighty, the Majestic, 'Make ready for them whatever force and strings of horses you can, to terrify thereby the enemy of Allah and your enemy.' (Sura 8 ayat 60). I think that foreign breeds and half-breeds are considered as horses if the governor accepts them."

Said ibn al-Musayyab was asked about working horses, and whether there was zakat on them. He said, "Is there any zakat on horses.?"

Allah's Apostle (p.b.u.h) said, "A man said that he would give something in charity. He went out with his object of charity and unknowingly gave it to a thief. Next morning the people said that he had given his object of charity to a thief. (On hearing that) he said, "O Allah! All the praises are for you. I will give alms again." And so he again went out with his alms and (unknowingly) gave it to an adulteress. Next morning the people said that he had given his alms to an adulteress last night. The man said, "O Allah! All the praises are for you. (I gave my alms) to an adulteress. I will give alms again." So he went out with his alms again and (unknowingly) gave it to a rich person. (The people) next morning said that he had given his alms to a wealthy person. He said, "O Allah! All the praises are for you. (I had given alms) to a thief, to an adulteress and to a wealthy man." Then someone came and said to him, "The alms which you gave to the thief, might make him abstain from stealing, and that given to the adulteress might make her abstain from illegal sexual intercourse (adultery), and that given to the wealthy man might make him take a lesson from it and spend his wealth which Allah has given him, in Allah's cause."

(A man broke his fast intentionally) during Ramadan. The Messenger of Allah (saws) commanded him to emancipate a slave, or fast for two months, or feed sixty poor men. He said: I cannot provide. The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: Sit down. Thereafter a huge basket of dates ('araq) was brought to the Messenger of Allah (saws). He said: Take this and give it as sadaqah (alms). He said: Messenger of Allah, there is no poorer than I. The Messenger of Allah (saws) thereupon laughed so that his canine teeth became visible and said: Eat it yourself.

Abu Dawud said: Ibn Juraij narrated it from al-Zuhri in the wordings of the narrator Malik that a man broke his fast. This version says: You should either free a slave, or fast for two months, or provide food for sixty poor men.

A man passed by Allah's Apostle and Allah s Apostle asked (his companions) "What do you say about this (man)?" They replied "If he asks for a lady's hand, he ought to be given her in marriage; and if he intercedes (for someone) his intercessor should be accepted; and if he speaks, he should be listened to." Allah's Apostle kept silent, and then a man from among the poor Muslims passed by, an Allah's Apostle asked (them) "What do you say about this man?" They replied, "If he asks for a lady's hand in marriage he does not deserve to be married, and he intercedes (for someone), his intercession should not be accepted; And if he speaks, he should not be listened to.' Allah's Apostle said, "This poor man is better than so many of the first as filling the earth.'

Yahya related to me from Malik from Zayd ibn Aslam that a man received a wound in the time of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. The blood clotted in the wound and the man called two men from the Banu Ammar tribe. They looked at it and claimed that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to them, "Which of you is the better doctor?" They said, "Is there any good in medicine, Messenger of Allah?" Zayd claimed that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "The one who sent down the disease sent down the remedy."

Allah's Apostle said to me, "You were shown to me twice (in my dream) before I married you. I saw an angel carrying you in a silken piece of cloth, and I said to him, 'Uncover (her),' and behold, it was you. I said (to myself), 'If this is from Allah, then it must happen.' Then you were shown to me, the angel carrying you in a silken piece of cloth, and I said (to him), 'Uncover (her), and behold, it was you. I said (to myself), 'If this is from Allah, then it must happen.' "

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that al-Qasim ibn Muhammad and Nafi, the mawla of Abdullah ibn Umar said, "You cannot do itikaf unless you are fasting, because of what Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, says in His Book, 'And eat and drink until the white thread becomes clear to you from the black thread of dawn, then complete the fast until night-time, and do not have intercourse with them while you are doing itikaf in mosques,' (Sura 2 ayat 187). Allah only mentions itikaf together with fasting."

Malik said, "That is what we go by here."

He (Abu Dawud) said : The version of this tradition reported by Bishr has the chain: Humaid reported from Bakr.

I went with the Messenger of Allah (saws) to fight at the battle of Khaybar, and the Jews came and complained that the people had hastened to take their protected property (as a booty), so the Messenger of Allah (saws) said: The property of those who have been given a mules, every fanged beast of prey, and every bird with a talon are forbidden for you.

Allah's Apostle said. "While I was sleeping, I saw myself (in a dream) performing Tawaf around the Ka`ba. Behold, I saw a reddish-white man with lank hair, and water was dropping from his head. I asked, "Who is this?' They replied, 'The son of Mary.' Then I turned my face to see another man with a huge body, red complexion and curly hair and blind in one eye. His eye looked like a protruding out grape. They said (to me), He is Ad-Dajjal." The Prophet added, "The man he resembled most is Ibn Qatan, a man from the tribe of Khuza`a. "

Allah's Apostle said, "Surely! Everyone of you is a guardian and is responsible for his charges: The Imam (ruler) of the people is a guardian and is responsible for his subjects; a man is the guardian of his family (household) and is responsible for his subjects; a woman is the guardian of her husband's home and of his children and is responsible for them; and the slave of a man is a guardian of his master's property and is responsible for it. Surely, everyone of you is a guardian and responsible for his charges."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Yazid ibn Abdullah ibn Qusayt al-Laythi that Said ibn al- Musayyab said, "The slaughter of what is in the womb is included in the slaughter of the mother if it is perfectly formed and its hair has begun to grow."

The Messenger of Allah (saws) would say the takbir (Allah is most great) seven times in the first rak'ah and five times in the second rak'ah on the day of the breaking of the fast and on the day of sacrifice (on the occasion of both the 'Id prayers, the two festivals).

The Messenger of Allah (saws) went out by one road on the day of the 'Id (festival) and returned by another.

Abu Zubair al-Makki reported that he had heard 'Abdullah b. Zubair uttering (the words) like that of the hadith (narrated above) at the end of the prayer after pronouncing salutation. He at the conclusion also said that he was making a mention of that from the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him).

Malik related to me from Amr ibn Yahya al-Mazini that his father said, "There was a stream in my grand-father's garden belonging to Abd ar-Rahman ibn Awf Abd ar-Rahman ibn Awf wanted to transfer it to a corner of the garden nearer to his land, and the owner of the garden prevented him. Abd ar-Rahman ibn Awf spoke to Umar ibn al-Khattab about it, and he gave a judgement to Abd ar-Rahman ibn Awf that he should transfer it."

Allah's Apostle said, "When a Muslim is questioned in his grave, he will testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that Muhammad is Allah's Apostle, and that is what is meant by Allah's Statement:-- "Allah will keep firm those who believe with a Word that stands firm in this world and in the Hereafter." (14.27)

Allah's Apostle said, "If anyone of you performs ablution he should put water in his nose and then blow it out and whoever cleans his private parts with stones should do so with odd numbers. And whoever wakes up from his sleep should wash his hands before putting them in the water for ablution, because nobody knows where his hands were during sleep."