Allah's Apostle was informed that I have said: "By Allah, I will fast all the days and pray all the nights as long as I live." On that, Allah's Apostle asked me. "Are you the one who says: 'I will fast all the days and pray all the nights as long as I live?' " I said, "Yes, I have said it." He said, "You cannot do that. So fast (sometimes) and do not fast (sometimes). Pray and sleep. Fast for three days a month, for the reward of a good deed is multiplied by ten time, and so the fasting of three days a month equals the fasting of a year." I said, "O Allah's Apostle! I can do (fast) more than this." He said, "Fast on every third day. I said: I can do (fast) more than that, He said: "Fast on alternate days and this was the fasting of David which is the most moderate sort of fasting." I said, "O Allah's Apostle! I can do (fast) more than that." He said, "There is nothing better than that."

Shariq al-Hawzani and I came to Aisha (Allah be pleased with her) and asked her: By which (prayer) the Messenger of Allah (saws) began when he woke up at night? She replied: You asked me about a thing which no one asked me before. When he woke up at night, he uttered: "Allah is Most Great" ten times, and uttered "Praise be to Allah" ten times, and said "Glory be to Allah and I begin with His praise" ten times, and said: "Glory be to the King, the Most Holy" ten times, and asked Allah's pardon ten times, and said: "There is no god but Allah" ten times, and then said: "O Allah! I seek refuge in Thee from the strait of the Day of resurrection," ten times. He then began the prayer.

The Prophet (saws) said: If anyone lies on his side where he does not remember Allah, deprivation will descend on him on the Day of Resurrection; and if anyone sits in a place where he does not remember Allah, deprivation will descend on him on the Day of Resurrection.

Abu ‘Ali said : I have been told that Abu ‘Ubaid said : It means that his heart is full of poetry so much so that it makes him neglectful of the Quran and remembrance of Allah. If the Quran and the knowledge (of religion) are dominant, the belly will not be full of poetry in our opinion. Some eloquent speech is magic. It means that a man expresses his eloquence by praising another man, and he speaks the truth about him so much so that he attracts the hearts to his speech. He then condemns him and speaks the truth about him so much so that he attracts the hearts to another of his speech, as if he spelled the audience by it.

'A'isha, the wife of Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him), said that whenever he had to choose between two things he adopted the easier one, provided it was nor sin, but if it was any sin he was the one wio was the farthest from it of the people; and Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) never took revenge from anyone because of his personal grievance, unless what Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, had made inviolable had been violated.

Ibn `Umar never used to take his meal unless a poor man was called to eat with him. One day I brought a poor man to eat with him, the man ate too much, whereupon Ibn `Umar said, "O Nafi`! Don't let this man enter my house, for I heard the Prophet saying, "A believer eats in one intestine (is satisfied with a little food), and a kafir (unbeliever) eats in seven intestines (eats much food).

I met Bilal, the Mu'adhdhin of the Messenger of Allah (saws) at Aleppo, and said: Bilal, tell me, what was the financial position of the Messenger of Allah (saws)?

He said: He had nothing. It was I who managed it on his behalf since the day Allah made him Prophet of Allah (saws) until he died. When a Muslim man came to him and he found him naked, he ordered me (to clothe him). I would go, borrow (some money), and purchase a cloak for him. I would then clothe him and feed him.

A man from the polytheists met me and said: I am well off, Bilal. Do not borrow money from anyone except me. So I did accordingly. One day when I performed ablution and stood up to make call to prayer, the same polytheist came along with a body of merchants.

When he saw me, he said: O Abyssinian. I said: I am at your service. He met me with unpleasant looks and said harsh words to me. He asked me: Do you know how many days remain in the completion of this month? I replied: The time is near. He said: Only four days remain in the completion of this month. I shall then take that which is due from you (i.e. loan), and then shall return you to tend the sheep as you did before. I began to think in my mind what people think in their minds (on such occasions). When I offered the night prayer, the Messenger of Allah (saws) returned to his family. I sought permission from him and he gave me permission.

I said: Messenger of Allah, may my parents be sacrificed for you, the polytheist from whom I used to borrow money said to me such-and-such. Neither you nor I have anything to pay him for me, and he will disgrace me. So give me permission to run away to some of those tribes who have recently embraced Islam until Allah gives His Apostle (saws) something with which he can pay (the debt) for me. So I came out and reached my house. I placed my sword, waterskin (or sheath), shoes and shield near my head. When dawn broke, I intended to be on my way.

All of a sudden I saw a man running towards me and calling: Bilal, return to the Messenger of Allah (saws). So I went till I reached him. I found four mounts kneeling on the ground with loads on them. I sought permission.

The Messenger of Allah (saws) said to me: Be glad, Allah has made arrangements for the payment (of your debt). He then asked: Have you not seen the four mounts kneeling on the ground?

I replied: ...

About the Qur'anic verse: "It is not lawful for you forcibly to inherit the woman (of your deceased kinsmen), nor (that) ye should put constraint upon them. When a man died, his relatives had more right to his wife then her own guardian. If any one of them wanted to marry her, he did so; or they married her (to some other person), and if they did not want to marry her, they did so. So this verse was revealed about the matter.

Once while I was in a state of fatigue (because of severe hunger), I met 'Umar bin Al-Khattab, so I asked him to recite a verse from Allah's Book to me. He entered his house and interpreted it to me. (Then I went out and) after walking for a short distance, I fell on my face because of fatigue and severe hunger. Suddenly I saw Allah's Apostle standing by my head. He said, "O Abu Huraira!" I replied, "Labbaik, O Allah's Apostle, and Sadaik!" Then he held me by the hand, and made me get up. Then he came to know what I was suffering from. He took me to his house, and ordered a big bowl of milk for me. I drank thereof and he said, "Drink more, O Abu Hirr!" So I drank again, whereupon he again said, "Drink more." So I drank more till my belly became full and looked like a bowl. Afterwards I met 'Umar and mentioned to him what had happened to me, and said to him, "Somebody, who had more right than you, O 'Umar, took over the case. By Allah, I asked you to recite a Verse to me while I knew it better than you." On that Umar said to me, "By Allah, if I admitted and entertained you, it would have been dearer to me than having nice red camels.

The Messenger of Allah (saws) would be overtaken by the dawn when he was in a state of sexual defilement. The narrator 'Abd Allah al-Adhrami said in his version: During Ramadan, due to sexual intercourse and no owing to a dream (i.e. nocturnal emission), and would fast.

Abu Dawud said: How brief is this sentence uttered by the narrator, this is, "he was overtaken by daw when he was in the state of sexual defilement"? The tradition says: The Prophet (saws) was overtaken by dawn in the state of sexual defilement when he was fasting.

Allah's Apostle said," Whoever says: "La ilaha illal-lah wahdahu la sharika lahu, lahu-l-mulk wa lahul- hamd wa huwa 'ala kulli shai'in qadir," one hundred times will get the same reward as given for manumitting ten slaves; and one hundred good deeds will be written in his accounts, and one hundred sins will be deducted from his accounts, and it (his saying) will be a shield for him from Satan on that day till night, and nobody will be able to do a better deed except the one who does more than he."

Yahya related to me from Malik from AIqama ibn Abi AIqama that his mother, the mawla of A'isha, umm al-muminin, said, "Women used to send little boxes to A'isha, umm al-muminin, with a piece of cotton cloth in each one on which was yellowness from menstrual blood, asking her about the prayer. She said to them, 'Do not be hasty until you see a white discharge." By that she meant purity from menses.

Malik related to me from Hisham ibn Urwa from his father that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "No one leaves Madina preferring to live elsewhere, but that Allah will give it better than him in place of him ."

Allah's Apostle sent troops appointed Usama bin Zaid as their commander. The people criticized his leadership. Allah's Apostle got up and said, "If you (people) are criticizing his (i.e. Usama's) leadership you used to criticize the leadership of his father before. By Allah, he (i.e. Zaid) deserved the leadership indeed, and he used to be one of the most beloved persons to me, and now this (i.e. his son, Usama) is one of the most beloved persons to me after him."

I supplied water to my companions on the day of Badr.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Yahya ibn Said that Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn Habban said, "Two men from the Ashja tribe told me that Muhammad ibn Maslama al-Ansari used tocome to them to collect their zakat, and he would say to anyone who owned livestock, 'Select (the animal for) the zakat on your livestock and bring it to me,' and he would accept any sheep that was brought to him provided it met the requirements of what the man owed."

Malik said, "The sunna with us, and what I have seen the people of knowledge doing in our city, is that things are not made difficult for the muslims in their paying zakat, and whatever they offer of their livestock is accepted from them."