A man from Najd with unkempt hair came to Allah's Apostle and we heard his loud voice but could not understand what he was saying, till he came near and then we came to know that he was asking about Islam. Allah's Apostle said, "You have to offer prayers perfectly five times in a day and night (24 hours)." The man asked, "Is there any more (praying)?" Allah's Apostle replied, "No, but if you want to offer the Nawafil prayers (you can)." Allah's Apostle further said to him: "You have to observe fasts during the month of Ramadan." The man asked, "Is there any more fasting?" Allah's Apostle replied, "No, but if you want to observe the Nawafil fasts (you can.)" Then Allah's Apostle further said to him, "You have to pay the Zakat (obligatory charity)." The man asked, "Is there any thing other than the Zakat for me to pay?" Allah's Apostle replied, "No, unless you want to give alms of your own." And then that man retreated saying, "By Allah! I will neither do less nor more than this." Allah's Apostle said, "If what he said is true, then he will be successful (i.e. he will be granted Paradise)."

The Prophet (saws) said: If any man is among a people in whose midst he does acts of disobedience, and, though they are able to make him change (his acts), they do not change, Allah will smite them with punishment before they die.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Zayd ibn Aslam from Abu Salih as-Samman from Abu Hurayra that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Horses are a reward for one man, a protection for another, a burden for another. The one who has them as a reward is the one who dedicates them for use in the way of Allah, and tethers them in a meadow or grassland. Whatever the horse enjoys of the grassland or meadow in the length of its tether are good deeds for him. If it breaks its tether and goes over a hillock or two, its tracks and droppings are good deeds for him. If it crosses a river and drinks from it while he did not mean to allow it to drink it, that counts as good deeds for him, and the horse is a reward for him.

Another man uses his horse to gain self reliance and up- standingness and does not forget Allah's right on their necks and backs (i.e. he does not ill treat or over-work them). Horses are a protection for him .

Another man uses them out of pride to show them off and in hostility to the people of Islam. They are a burden on that man."

The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was asked about donkeys, and he said, "Nothing has been revealed to me about them except this single all- inclusive ayat, 'Whoever does an atom of good will see it, and whoever does an atom of evil, will see it.' " (Sura 99 Ayats 7,8) .

When Abu Bakr; sent me to (collect the Zakat from) Bahrain, he wrote to me the following:-- (In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful). These are the orders for compulsory charity (Zakat) which Allah's Apostle had made obligatory for every Muslim, and which Allah had ordered His Apostle to observe: Whoever amongst the Muslims is asked to pay Zakat accordingly, he should pay it (to the Zakat collector) and whoever is asked more than that (what is specified in this script) he should not pay it; for twenty-four camels or less, sheep are to be paid as Zakat; for every five camels one sheep is to be paid, and if there are between twenty-five to thirty-five camels, one Bint Makhad is to be paid; and if they are between thirty-six to forty-five (camels), one Bint Labun is to be paid; and if they are between forty-six to sixty (camels), one Hiqqa is to be paid; and if the number is between sixty-one to seventy-five (camels), one Jadha is to be paid; and if the number is between seventy-six to ninety (camels), two Bint Labuns are to be paid; and if they are from ninety-one to one-hundredand twenty (camels), two Hiqqas are to be paid; and if they are over one-hundred and-twenty (camels), for every forty (over one-hundred-and-twenty) one Bint Labun is to be paid, and for every fifty camels (over one-hundred-and-twenty) one Hiqqa is to be paid; and who ever has got only four camels, has to pay nothing as Zakat, but if the owner of these four camels wants to give something, he can. If the number of camels increases to five, the owner has to pay one sheep as Zakat. As regards the Zakat for the (flock) of sheep; if they are between forty and one-hundred-and-twenty sheep, one sheep is to be paid; and if they are between one-hundred-and-twenty to two hundred (sheep), two sheep are to be paid; and if they are between two-hundred to three-hundred (sheep), three sheep are to be paid; and for over three-hundred sheep, for every extra hundred sheep, one sheep is to be paid as Zakat. And if somebody has got less than forty sheep, no Zakat is required, but if he wants to give, he can. For silver the Zakat is one-fortieth of the lot (i.e. 2.5%), and if its value is less than two-hundred Dirhams, Zakat is not required, but if the owner wants to pay he can.'

The Prophet (saws) said: If anyone has a female child, and does not bury her alive, or slight her, or prefer his children (i.e. the male ones) to her, Allah will bring him into Paradise. Uthman did not mention "male children".

When the Verse:-- 'Those who believe and mix not their belief with wrong.' was revealed, the Muslims felt it very hard on them and said, "O Allah's Apostle! Who amongst us does not do wrong to himself?" He replied, "The Verse does not mean this. But that (wrong) means to associate others in worship to Allah: Don't you listen to what Luqman said to his son when he was advising him," O my son! Join not others in worship with Allah. Verily joining others in worship with Allah is a great wrong indeed." (31.13)

The Prophet (saws) said: If anyone performs ablution well and pays a visit to his (sick) Muslim brother seeking his reward from Allah, he will be removed a distance of seventy years (kharif) from Hell. I asked: What is kharif, Abu Hamzah? He replied: A year.

Abu Dawud said: Only the people of Basrah have narrated the tradition on visiting the sick after performing ablution.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi from Abdullah ibn Umar that Umar ibn al-Khattab said, "If a slave who has wealth is sold, that wealth belongs to the seller unless the buyer stipulates its inclusion."

Malik said, "The generally agreed upon way of doing things among us is that if the buyer stipulates the inclusion of the slave's property whether it be cash, debts, or goods of known or unknown value, then they belong to the buyer, even if the slave possesses more than that for which he was purchased, whether he was bought for cash, as payment for a debt, or in exchange for goods. This is possible because a master is not asked to pay zakat on his slave's property. If a slave has a slave-girl, it is halal for him to have intercourse with her by his right of possession. If a slave is freed or put under contract (kitaba) to purchase his freedom, then his property goes with him. If he becomes bankrupt, his creditors take his property and his master is not liable for any of his debts."

Yahya related that Malik heard al-Ala ibn Abd ar-Rahman say, "Sadaqa does not decrease property, and Allah only increases a slave in worth for his restraint, and no slave is humble but that Allah raises him."

Malik said, "I do not know whether this hadith goes back to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, or not."

The Prophet (p.b.u.h) said, "Whoever performs Hajj for Allah's pleasure and does not have sexual relations with his wife, and does not do evil or sins then he will return (after Hajj free from all sins) as if he were born anew."

The Prophet said, "The prayer offered in congregation is twenty five times more superior (in reward) to the prayer offered alone in one's house or in a business center, because if one performs ablution and does it perfectly, and then proceeds to the mosque with the sole intention of praying, then for each step which he takes towards the mosque, Allah upgrades him a degree in reward and (forgives) crosses out one sin till he enters the mosque. When he enters the mosque he is considered in prayer as long as he is waiting for the prayer and the angels keep on asking for Allah's forgiveness for him and they keep on saying: 'O Allah! Be Merciful to him, O Allah! Forgive him, as long as he keeps on sitting at his praying place and does not pass wind. (See Hadith No. 620).

The Prophet ordered the people to pay Zakat-ul-Fitr before going to the `Id prayer.

It is a sign of having knowledge that, when you do not know something, you say: 'Allah knows better.' Allah said to his Prophet: 'Say: No wage do I ask of you for this (Qur'an), nor am I one of the pretenders (a person who pretends things which do not exist)' (38.86) When the Quraish troubled and stood against the Prophet he said, "O Allah! Help me against them by afflicting them with seven years of famine like the seven years of Joseph." So they were stricken with a year of famine during which they ate bones and dead animals because of too much suffering, and one of them would see something like smoke between him and the sky because of hunger. Then they said: Our Lord! Remove the torment from us, really we are believers. (44.12) And then it was said to the Prophet (by Allah), "If we remove it from them. they will revert to their ways (of heathenism)." So the Prophet invoked his Lord, who removed the punishment from them, but later they reverted (to heathenism), whereupon Allah punished them on the day of the Battle of Badr, and that is what Allah's Statement indicates: 'Then watch for the day that the sky will bring forth a kind of smoke plainly visible...we will indeed (then) exact retribution.' (44.10).

That the Prophet (saws) said: "Whoever enters an orchard then let him eat, but not take any in his garment."

[He said:] There are narrations on this topic from 'Abdullah bin 'Amr, 'Abbad bin Shurahbil, Rafi' bin 'Amr, 'Umair the freed slave of Abi Al-Lahm, and Abu Hurairah.

[Abu 'Eisa said:] The Hadith of Ibn 'Umar is Gharib Hadith. We do not know of it from this route except from Yahya bin Sulaim. Some of the people of knowledge have permitted the wayfarer to eat from the fruits, and some of them disliked it without paying.

Abu dawud said: Anyone who narrated this tradition did not mention the words “ then he uttered the takbir”, nor the words “he returned”

as above, saying, "He should pay the price in advance for a specified measure and for a specified period."

Malik said, "Share-cropping is also permitted in any crop which emerges from the earth if it is a crop which is picked, and its owner cannot water, work on it and tend it.

"Share- cropping becomes reprehensible in anything in which share-cropping is normally permitted if the fruit is sound and the good condition is clear and it is halal to sell it. He must share-crop in it the next year. If a man waters fruit whose good condition is clear and it is halal to sell it, and he picks it for the owner, for a share of the crop, it is not sharecropping. It is similar to him being paid in dirhams and dinars. Share-cropping is what is between pruning the palms and when the fruit becomes sound and its sale is halal."

Malik said, "If some one makes a share-cropping contract for fruit trees before the condition becomes clear and its sale is halal, it is share-cropping and is permitted . "

Malik said, "Uncultivated land must not be involved in a share-cropping contract. That is because it is halal for the owner to rent it for dinars and dirhams or the equivalent for an accepted price."

Malik said, "As for a man who gives his uncultivated earth for a third or a fourth of what comes out of it, that is an uncertain transaction because crops may be scant one time and plentiful another time. It may perish completely and the owner of the land will have abandoned a set rent which would have been good for him to rent the land for. He takes an uncertain situation, and does not know whether or not it will be satisfactory. This is disapproved. It is like a man having someone travel for him for a set amount, and then saying, 'Shall I give you a tenth of the profit of the journey as your wage?' This is not halal and must not be done."

Malik summed up,"A man must not hire out himself or his land or his ship unless for a set amount."

Malik said, "A distinction is made between sharecropping in palms and in cultivated land because the owner of the palms cannot sell the fruit until its good condition is clear. The owner of the land can rent it when it is uncultivated with nothing on it."

Malik said, "What is done in our community about palms is that they can also be share-cropped for three and four years, and less or more than that."

Malik said, "That is what I have heard. Any fruit trees like that are in the position of palms. Contracts for several years are permissible for the sharecropper as they are permissible in the palms."

Malik said about the owner, "He does not take anything additional from the share-cropper in the way of gold or silver or crops which increases him. That is not good. The share-cropper also must not take from the owner of the garden anything additional which will increase him of gold, silver, crops or anything. Increase beyond what is stipulated in the contract is not good. It is also not good for the lender of a qirad to be in this position. If such an increase does enter share- cropping or quirad, it becomes by it hire. It is not good when hire enters it. Hire must never occur in a situation which has uncertainty in it."

Malik spoke about a man who gave land to another man in a share-cropping contract in which there were palms, vines, or the like of that of fruit trees and there was also uncultivated land in it. He said, "If the uncultivated land is secondary to the fruit trees, either in importance or in size of land, there is no harm in share-cropping. That is if the palms take up two-thirds of the land or more, and the uncultivated land is a third or less. This is because when the land that the fruit trees take up is secondary to the uncultivated land and the cultivated land in which the palms, vines or the like is a third or less, and the uncultivated land is two-thirds or more, it is permitted to rent the land and share-cropping in it is haram."

"One of the practices of people is to give out sharecropping contracts on property with fruit trees when there is uncultivated land in it, and to rent land while there are fruit trees on it, just as a Qur'an or sword which has some embellishment on it of silver is sold for silver, or a necklace or ring which have stones and gold in them are sold for dinars. These sales continue to be permitted. People buy and sell by them. Nothing described or instituted has come on that which if exceeded, makes it haram, and if fallen below makes it halal. What is done in our community about that is what people practise and permit among themselves. That is, if the gold or silver is secondary to what it is incorporated in, it is permitted to sell it. That is, if the value of the blade, the Qur'an, or the stones is two-thirds or more, and the value of the decoration is one-third or less."

The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: When Allah has a good purpose for a ruler, He appoints for him a sincere minister who reminds him if he forgets and helps him if he remembers; but when Allah has a different purpose from that for him. He appoints for him an evil minister who does not remind him if he forgets and does not help him if he remembers.

Allah's Apostle said, "Whoever does not recite Al-Fatiha in his prayer, his prayer is invalid."

A woman came to the Messenger of Allah (saws) and she was accompanied by her daughter who wore two heavy gold bangles in her hands. He said to her: Do you pay zakat on them? She said: No. He then said: Are you pleased that Allah may put two bangles of fire on your hands?

Thereupon she took them off and placed them before the Prophet (saws) saying: They are for Allah and His Apostle.

The Prophet (saws) said: If anyone applies collyrium, he should do it an odd number of times. If he does so, he has done well; but if not, there is no harm. If anyone cleanses himself with pebbles, he should use an odd number. If he does so, he has done well; but if not, there is no harm.

If anyone eats, he should throw away what he removes with a toothpick and swallow what sticks to his tongue. If he does so, he has done well; if not, there is no harm. If anyone goes to relieve himself, he should conceal himself, and if all he can do is to collect a heap of send, he should sit with his back to it, for the devil makes sport with the posteriors of the children of Adam. If he does so, he has done well; but if not, there is no harm.

Malik related to me from Hisham ibn Urwa from his father that A'isha, the wife of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Barira came to me and said, 'I have written myself as mukatab for my people for nine uqiyas, one uqiya per year, so help me.' A'isha said, 'If your people agree that I pay it all to them for you, and that if I pay it, your wala' is mine, then I will do it.' Barira went to her masters and told them that and they didn't agree. She came back from her masters while the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was sitting. She said to A'isha, 'I offered that to them and they refused me unless they had the wala'.' The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, heard that and asked her about it A'isha told him and the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'Take her and stipulate that the wala' is yours, for the wala' is for the one who sets free.' So A'isha did that and then the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, stood up in front of the people, and praised Allah and gave thanks to Him. Then he said, 'What is wrong with the people who make conditions which are not in the Book of Allah? Any condition which is not in the Book of Allah is invalid even if it is a hundred conditions. The decree of Allah is truer and the conditions of Allah are firmer, and the wala' only belongs to the one who sets free.' "

When this verse was revealed: "If they do come to thee, either judge between them, or decline to interfere....If thou judge, judge in equity between them." Banu an-Nadir used to pay half blood-money if they killed any-one from Banu Qurayzah. When Banu Qurayzah killed anyone from Banu an-Nadir, they would pay full blood-money. So the Messenger of Allah (saws) made it equal between them.

A Bedouin asked Allah's Apostle about the emigration. The Prophet (p.b.u.h) said, "May Allah have mercy on you! The matter of emigration is very hard. Have you got camels? Do you pay their Zakat?" The Bedouin said, "Yes, I have camels and I pay their Zakat." The Prophet said, Work beyond the seas and Allah will not decrease (waste) any of your good deeds." (See Hadith No. 260 Vol. 5).

Yahya related to me from Malik that Muhammad ibn Uqba, the mawla of az Zubayr, asked al-Qasim ibn Muhammad whether he had to pay any zakat on a large sum given to him by his slave to buy his freedom. Al- Qasim said, "Abu Bakr as-Siddiq did not take zakat from anyone's property until it had been in his possession for a year."

Al- Qasim ibn Muhammad continued, "When Abu Bakr gave men their allowances he would ask them, 'Do you have any property on which zakat is due?' If they said, 'Yes,' he would take the zakat on that property out of their allowances. If they said, 'No,' he would hand over their allowances to them without deducting anything from them."

The Prophet then took up Usamah behind him (on the camel), and drove the camel at a quick pace. The people were beating their camels right and left, but he did not pay attention to them; he was saying: O people, preserve a quiet demeanour. He proceeded (from Arafat) when the sun had set.

Abu Sufyan told me that Heraclius said to him, "When I inquired you what he (i.e. Muhammad) ordered you, you replied that he ordered you to establish the prayer, to speak the truth, to be chaste, to keep promises and to pay back trusts." Then Heraclius added, "These are really the qualities of a prophet."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Abdullah ibn Abi Bakr ibn Amr ibn Hazm that he had heard Abbad ibn Tamim say that he had heard Abdullah ibn Zayd al-Mazini say, "The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, came out to the place of prayer and asked for rain, and when he faced the qibla he turned his cloak inside out."

Malik was asked how many rakas there were in the prayer of asking for rain and he said, "Two rakas, and the imam does the prayer before he gives the khutba. He prays two rakas, and then he gives a khutba and makes dua, facing the qibla and turning his cloak inside out. He recites out loud in both rakas, and when he turns his cloak inside out he puts what is on his right on his left, and what is on his left on his right, and all the people turn their cloaks inside out when the imam does so, and face the qibla, sitting."

When Allah's Apostle died and Abu Bakr became the caliph some Arabs renegade (reverted to disbelief) (Abu Bakr decided to declare war against them), `Umar, said to Abu Bakr, "How can you fight with these people although Allah's Apostle said, 'I have been ordered (by Allah) to fight the people till they say: "None has the right to be worshipped but Allah, and whoever said it then he will save his life and property from me except on trespassing the law (rights and conditions for which he will be punished justly), and his accounts will be with Allah.' " Abu Bakr said, "By Allah! I will fight those who differentiate between the prayer and the Zakat as Zakat is the compulsory right to be taken from the property (according to Allah's orders) By Allah! If they refuse to pay me even a she-kid which they used to pay at the time of Allah's Apostle . I would fight with them for withholding it" Then `Umar said, "By Allah, it was nothing, but Allah opened Abu Bakr's chest towards the decision (to fight) and I came to know that his decision was right."