The Prophet (p.b.u.h) used to teach us the way of doing Istikhara (Istikhara means to ask Allah to guide one to the right sort of action concerning any job or a deed), in all matters as he taught us the Suras of the Qur'an. He said, "If anyone of you thinks of doing any job he should offer a two rak`at prayer other than the compulsory ones and say (after the prayer): -- 'Allahumma inni astakhiruka bi'ilmika, Wa astaqdiruka bi-qudratika, Wa as'alaka min fadlika Al-`azlm Fa-innaka taqdiru Wala aqdiru, Wa ta'lamu Wala a'lamu, Wa anta 'allamu l-ghuyub. Allahumma, in kunta ta'lam anna hadha-lamra Khairun li fi dini wa ma'ashi wa'aqibati `Amri (or 'ajili `Amri wa'ajilihi) Faqdirhu wa yas-sirhu li thumma barik li Fihi, Wa in kunta ta'lamu anna hadha-lamra shar-run li fi dini wa ma'ashi wa'aqibati `Amri (or fi'ajili `Amri wa ajilihi) Fasrifhu anni was-rifni anhu. Waqdir li al-khaira haithu kana Thumma ardini bihi.' (O Allah! I ask guidance from Your knowledge, And Power from Your Might and I ask for Your great blessings. You are capable and I am not. You know and I do not and You know the unseen. O Allah! If You know that this job is good for my religion and my subsistence and in my Hereafter--(or said: If it is better for my present and later needs)--Then You ordain it for me and make it easy for me to get, And then bless me in it, and if You know that this job is harmful to me In my religion and subsistence and in the Hereafter--(or said: If it is worse for my present and later needs)--Then keep it away from me and let me be away from it. And ordain for me whatever is good for me, And make me satisfied with it). The Prophet added that then the person should name (mention) his need.

Shayban al-Qatbani reported that Maslamah ibn Mukhallad made Ruwayfi' ibn Thabit the governor of the lower parts (of Egypt). He added: We travelled with him from Kum Sharik to Alqamah or from Alqamah to Kum Sharik (the narrator doubts) for Alqam.

Ruwayfi' said: Any one of us would borrow a camel during the lifetime of the Prophet (saws) from the other, on condition that he would give him half the booty, and the other half he would retain himself.

Further, one of us received an arrowhead and a feather, and the other an arrow-shaft as a share from the booty.

He then reported: The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: You may live for a long time after I am gone, Ruwayfi', so, tell people that if anyone ties his beard or wears round his neck a string to ward off the evil eye, or cleanses himself with animal dung or bone, Muhammad has nothing to do with him.

Whoever tells that Muhammad concealed part of what was revealed to him, is a liar, for Allah says:-- "O Apostle (Muhammad)! Proclaim (the Message) which has been sent down to you from your Lord." (5.67)

Allah's Apostle wore a gold or silver .. ring and placed its stone towards the palm of his hand. The people also started wearing gold rings like it, but when the Prophet saw them wearing such rings, he threw away that golden ring and then wore a silver ring.

Allah's Apostle used to send the Hadi from Medina and I used to twist the garlands for his Hadi and he did not keep away from any of these things which a Muhrim keeps away from.

Some people went to Sahl bin Sa`d As-Sa`idi and told him that they had different opinions regarding the wood of the pulpit. They asked him about it and he said, "By Allah, I know of what wood the pulpit was made, and no doubt I saw it on the very first day when Allah's Apostle took his seat on it. Allah's Apostle sent for such and such an Ansari woman (and Sahl mentioned her name) and said to her, 'Order your slave-carpenter to prepare for me some pieces of wood (i.e. pulpit) on which I may sit at the time of addressing the people.' So she ordered her slave-carpenter and he made it from the tamarisk of the forest and brought it (to the woman). The woman sent that (pulpit) to Allah's Apostle who ordered it to be placed here. Then I saw Allah's Apostle praying on it and then bowed on it. Then he stepped back, got down and prostrated on the ground near the foot of the pulpit and again ascended the pulpit. After finishing the prayer he faced the people and said, 'I have done this so that you may follow me and learn the way I pray.' "

When `Abdullah bin 'Ubai died, his son `Abdullah bin `Abdullah came to Allah's Apostle and asked him to give him his shirt in order to shroud his father in it. He gave it to him and then `Abdullah asked the Prophet to offer the funeral prayer for him (his father). Allah's Apostle got up to offer the funeral prayer for him, but `Umar got up too and got hold of the garment of Allah's Apostle and said, "O Allah's Apostle Will you offer the funeral prayer for him though your Lord has forbidden you to offer the prayer for him" Allah's Apostle said, "But Allah has given me the choice by saying: '(Whether you) ask forgiveness for them, or do not ask forgiveness for them; even if you ask forgiveness for them seventy times..' (9.80) so I will ask more than seventy times." `Umar said, "But he (`Abdullah bin 'Ubai) is a hypocrite!" However, Allah's Apostle did offer the funeral prayer for him whereupon Allah revealed: 'And never (O Muhammad) pray for anyone of them that dies, nor stand at his grave.' (9.84)

Ibn `Abbas said, "The Prophet slept till he snored and then prayed (or probably lay till his breath sounds were heard and then got up and prayed)." Ibn `Abbas added: "I stayed overnight in the house of my aunt, Maimuna, the Prophet slept for a part of the night, (See Fath-al-Bari page 249, Vol. 1), and late in the night, he got up and performed ablution from a hanging water skin, a light (perfect) ablution and stood up for the prayer. I, too, performed a similar ablution, then I went and stood on his left. He drew me to his right and prayed as much as Allah wished, and again lay and slept till his breath sounds were heard. Later on the Mu'adh-dhin (call maker for the prayer) came to him and informed him that it was time for Prayer. The Prophet went with him for the prayer without performing a new ablution." (Sufyan said to `Amr that some people said, "The eyes of Allah's Apostle sleep but his heart does not sleep." `Amr replied, "I heard `Ubaid bin `Umar saying that the dreams of Prophets were Divine Inspiration, and then he recited the verse: 'I (Abraham) see in a dream, (O my son) that I offer you in sacrifice (to Allah)." (37.102) (See Hadith No. 183)

Al-Muhajirun (i.e. the Emigrants) and the Ansar were digging the trench around Medina and were carrying the earth on their backs while saying, "We are those who have given the pledge of allegiance to Muhammad for Islam as long as we live." The Prophet said in reply to their saying, "O Allah! There is no goodness except the goodness of the Hereafter; so please grant Your Blessing to the Ansar and the Emigrants." The people used to bring a handful of barley, and a meal used to be prepared thereof by cooking it with a cooking material (i.e. oil, fat and butter having a change in color and smell) and it used to be presented to the people (i.e. workers) who were hungry, and it used to stick to their throats and had a nasty smell.

The Prophet (saws) said: Prayer is to be offered in two rak'ahs; and you should recite the tashahhud at the end of two rak'ahs, and express your distress and humility and raise your hands and say praying: O Allah, O Allah. He who does not do so does not offer a perfect prayer.

Abu Dawud was asked about offering prayer at night in two rak'ahs. He said: They may be two if you like and four if you like.

The Prophet said to Abu Talha, "Choose one of your boy servants to serve me in my expedition to Khaibar." So, Abu Talha took me letting me ride behind him while I was a boy nearing the age of puberty. I used to serve Allah's Apostle when he stopped to rest. I heard him saying repeatedly, "O Allah! I seek refuge with You from distress and sorrow, from helplessness and laziness, from miserliness and cowardice, from being heavily in debt and from being overcome by men." Then we reached Khaibar; and when Allah enabled him to conquer the Fort (of Khaibar), the beauty of Safiya bint Huyai bin Akhtab was described to him. Her husband had been killed while she was a bride. So Allah's Apostle selected her for himself and took her along with him till we reached a place called Sa`d-AsSahba,' where her menses were over and he took her for his wife. Haris (a kind of dish) was served on a small leather sheet. Then Allah's Apostle told me to call those who were around me. So, that was the marriage banquet of Allah's Apostle and Safiya. Then we left for Medina. I saw Allah's Apostle folding a cloak round the hump of the camel so as to make a wide space for Safiya (to sit on behind him) He sat beside his camel letting his knees for Safiya to put her feet on so as to mount the camel. Then, we proceeded till we approached Medina; he looked at Uhud (mountain) and said, "This is a mountain which loves us and is loved by us." Then he looked at Medina and said, "O Allah! I make the area between its (i.e. Medina's) two mountains a sanctuary as Abraham made Mecca a sanctuary. O Allah! Bless them (i.e. the people of Medina) in their Mudd and Sa (i.e. measures).

The Prophet used to invoke Allah, saying, "Allahumma ighfirli khati'ati wa jahli wa israfi fi `Amri, wa ma anta a-'lamu bihi minni. Allahumma ighfirli hazali wa jiddi wa khata'i wa amdi, wa kullu dhalika 'indi."

Abu Dawud said: Ibn Numair transmitted it from al-A'mash in a similar way.

The Prophet (saws) said: Let him who hears of the Dajjal (Antichrist) go far from him for I swear by Allah that a man will come to him thinking he is a believer and follow him because of confused ideas roused in him by him.

I heard Abu-l-Qasim (the Prophet) saying, "If somebody slanders his slave and the slave is free from what he says, he will be flogged on the Day of Resurrection unless the slave is really as he has described him."

When `Abdullah bin Ubai died, his son `Abdullah bin `Abdullah came to Allah's Apostle who gave his shirt to him and ordered him to shroud his father in it. Then he stood up to offer the funeral prayer for the deceased, but `Umar bin Al-Khattab took hold of his garment and said, "Do you offer the funeral prayer for him though he was a hypocrite and Allah has forbidden you to ask forgiveness for hypocrites?" The Prophet said, "Allah has given me the choice (or Allah has informed me) saying: "Whether you, O Muhammad, ask forgiveness for them, or do not ask forgiveness for them, even if you ask forgiveness for them seventy times, Allah will not forgive them," (9.80) The he added, "I will (appeal to Allah for his sake) more than seventy times." So Allah's Apostle offered the funeral prayer for him and we too, offered the prayer along with him. Then Allah revealed: "And never, O Muhammad, pray (funeral prayer) for anyone of them that dies, nor stand at his grave. Certainly they disbelieved in Allah and His Apostle and died in a state of rebellion." (9.84)

Yahya related to me from Malik from Zayd ibn Aslam that Umar ibn al-Khattab used to say, "O Allah! I ask you for martyrdom in Your way and death in the city of Your Messenger!"

When the delegates of the tribe of Hawazin came to the Prophet they requested him to return their property and their captives. He said to them, "This concerns also other people along with me as you see, and the best statement to me is the true one, so you may choose one of two alternatives; either the captives or the property and (I have not distributed the booty for) I have been waiting for you." When the Prophet had returned from Ta'if, he waited for them for more than ten nights. When they came to know that the Prophet would not return except one of the two, they chose their captives. The Prophet then stood up amongst the Muslims, Glorified and Praised Allah as He deserved, and then said, "Then after: These brothers of yours have come to you with repentance and I see it proper to return their captives, so whoever amongst you likes to do that as a favor, then he can do it, and whoever of you wants to stick to his share till we pay him from the very first Fai (i.e. war booty) which Allah will give us, then he can do so." The people said, "We return (the captives) to them willingly as a favor, O Allah's Apostle!" The Prophet said, "I do not know who of you has given his consent and who has not; so go back and your leaders may present your decision to me." The people went away, and their leaders discussed the matter with them, and then came to the Prophet to tell him that all of them had given their consent (to return the captives) willingly. (Az-Zuhn, the sub-narrator said, "This is what we know about the captives, of Hawazin.")

I went along with the Prophet to Khaibar so as to serve him. (Later on) when the Prophet returned he, on seeing the Uhud mountain, said, "This is a mountain that loves us and is loved by us." Then he pointed to Medina with his hand saying, "O Allah! I make the area which is in between Medina's two mountains a sanctuary, as Abraham made Mecca a sanctuary. O Allah! Bless us in our Sa` and Mudd (i.e. units of measuring)."

Some people claim that the order in the above Verse is cancelled, by Allah, it is not cancelled, but the people have stopped acting on it. There are two kinds of guardians (who are in charge of the inheritance): One is that who inherits; such a person should give (of what he inherits to the relatives, the orphans and the needy, etc.), the other is that who does not inherit (e.g. the guardian of the orphans): such a person should speak kindly and say (to those who are present at the time of distribution), "I can not give it to you (as the wealth belongs to the orphans).

I was sitting in a gathering in which there was Sa`d bin Malik and Ibn `Umar. `Abdullah bin Salam passed in front of them and they said, "This man is from the people of Paradise." I said to `Abdullah bin Salam, "They said so-and-so." He replied, "Subhan Allah! They ought not to have said things of which they have no knowledge, but I saw (in a dream) that a post was fixed in a green garden. At the top of the post there was a handhold and below it there was a servant. I was asked to climb (the post). So I climbed it till I got hold of the handhold." Then I narrated this dream to Allah's Apostle. Allah's Apostle said, "`Abdullah will die while still holding the firm reliable handhold (i.e., Islam).

When Khaibar was conquered, a roasted poisoned sheep was presented to the Prophet as a gift (by the Jews). The Prophet ordered, "Let all the Jews who have been here, be assembled before me." The Jews were collected and the Prophet said (to them), "I am going to ask you a question. Will you tell the truth?" They said, "Yes." The Prophet asked, "Who is your father?" They replied, "So-and-so." He said, "You have told a lie; your father is so-and-so." They said, "You are right." He said, "Will you now tell me the truth, if I ask you about something?" They replied, "Yes, O Abu Al-Qasim; and if we should tell a lie, you can realize our lie as you have done regarding our father." On that he asked, "Who are the people of the (Hell) Fire?" They said, "We shall remain in the (Hell) Fire for a short period, and after that you will replace us." The Prophet said, "You may be cursed and humiliated in it! By Allah, we shall never replace you in it." Then he asked, "Will you now tell me the truth if I ask you a question?" They said, "Yes, O Abu Al-Qasim." He asked, "Have you poisoned this sheep?" They said, "Yes." He asked, "What made you do so?" They said, "We wanted to know if you were a liar in which case we would get rid of you, and if you are a prophet then the poison would not harm you."

Barirah came (to `Aisha) and said, "I have made a contract of emancipation with my masters for nine Uqiyas (of gold) to be paid in yearly installments. Therefore, I seek your help." `Aisha said, "If your masters agree, I will pay them the sum at once and free you on condition that your Wala' will be for me." Barirah went to her masters but they refused that offer. She (came back) and said, "I presented to them the offer but they refused, unless the Wala' was for them." Allah's Apostle heard of that and asked me about it, and I told him about it. On that he said, "Buy and manumit her and stipulate that the Wala' should be for you, as Wala' is for the liberator." `Aisha added, "Allah's Apostle then got up amongst the people, Glorified and Praised Allah, and said, 'Then after: What about some people who impose conditions which are not present in Allah's Laws? So, any condition which is not present in Allah's Laws is invalid even if they were one-hundred conditions. Allah's ordinance is the truth, and Allah's condition is stronger and more solid. Why do some men from you say, O so-and-so! manumit the slave but the Wala will be for me? Verily, the Wala is for the liberator."

The Prophet forbade laughing at a person who passes wind, and said, "How does anyone of you beat his wife as he beats the stallion camel and then he may embrace (sleep with) her?" And Hisham said, "As he beats his slave"

'A'isha (Allah be pleased with her) reported that Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) sent the sacrificial animals from Medina. I wove garlands for his sacrificial animals (and then he hung them round their necks), and he would not avoid doing anything which the Muhrim avoids.

Allah's Apostle said, "O Allah! Be merciful to those who have their head shaved." The people said, "O Allah's Apostle! And (invoke Allah for) those who get their hair cut short." The Prophet said, "O Allah! Be merciful to those who have their head shaved." The people said, "O Allah's Apostle! And those who get their hair cut short." The Prophet said (the third time), "And to those who get their hair cut short." Nafi` said that the Prophet had said once or twice, "O Allah! Be merciful to those who get their head shaved," and on the fourth time he added, "And to those who have their hair cut short."

When the Prophet was healthy, he used to say, "No soul of a prophet is captured till he is shown his place in Paradise and then he is given the option." When death approached him while his head was on my thigh, he became unconscious and then recovered his consciousness. He then looked at the ceiling of the house and said, "O Allah! (with) the highest companions." I said (to myself), "Hence, he is not going to choose us." Then I realized that what he had said was the application of the narration which he used to mention to us when he was healthy. The last word he spoke was, "O Allah! (with) the highest companion."

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that Marwan ibn al-Hakam wrote to Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan to mention to him that a drunkard was brought to him who had killed a man. Muawiya wrote to him to kill him in retaliation for the dead man.

Yahya said that Malik said, "The best of what I have heard on the interpretation of this ayat, the word of Allah, the Blessed, the Exalted, 'The free man for the free man and the slave for the slave - these are men and the woman for the woman,' (Sura 2 ayat 178) is that retaliation is between women as it is between men. The free woman is killed for the free woman as the free man is killed for the free man. The slave-girl is slain for the slave-girl as the slave is slain for the slave. Retaliation is between women as it is between men. That is because Allah, the Blessed, the Exalted, said in His Book, 'We have written for them in it that it is a life for a life and an eye for an eye, a nose for a nose, and an ear for an ear, and a tooth for a tooth, and for wounds there is retaliation.' (Sura 5 ayat 48) Allah, the Blessed, the Exalted, mentioned that it is a life for a life. It is the life of a free woman for the life of a free man, and her injury for his injury."

Malik said about a man who held a man fast for another man to hit, and he died on the spot, "If he held him and he thought that he meant to kill him, the two of them are both killed for him. If he held him and he thought that he meant to beat him as people sometimes do, and he did not think that he meant to kill him, the murderer is slain and the one who held him is punished with a very severe punishment and jailed for a year. There is no killing against him."

Malik said about a man who murdered a man intentionally or gouged out his eye intentionally, and then was slain or had his eye gouged out himself before retaliation was inflicted on him, "There is no blood-money nor retaliation against him. The right of the one who was killed or had his eye gouged out goes when the thing which he is claiming as retaliation goes. It is the same with a man who murders another man intentionally and then the murderer dies. When the murderer dies, the one seeking blood-revenge has nothing of blood- money or anything else. That is by the word of Allah, the Blessed the Exalted, 'Retaliation is written for you in killing. The free man for the free man and the slave for the slave.' "

Malik said, "He only has retaliation against the one ...

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that al-Qasim ibn Muhammad was asked about a man who bought goods for 10 dinars cash or fifteen dinars on credit. He disapproved of that and forbade it.

Malik said that if a man bought goods from a man for either 10 dinars or 15 dinars on credit, that one of the two prices was obliged on the buyer. It was not to be done because if he postponed paying the ten, it would be 15 on credit, and if he paid the ten, he would buy with it what was worth fifteen dinars on credit.

Malik said that it was disapproved of for a man to buy goods from someone for either a dinar cash or for a described sheep on credit and that one of the two prices was obliged on him. It was not to be done because the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, forbade two sales in one sale. This was part of two sales in the one sale.

Malik spoke about a man saying to another, "'I will either buy these fifteen sa of ajwa dates from you, or these ten sa of sayhani dates or I will buy these fifteen sa of inferior wheat or these ten sa of Syrian wheat for a dinar, and one of them is obliged to me.' Malik said that it was disapproved of and was not halal. That was because he obliged him ten sa of sayhani, and left them and took fifteen sa of ajwa, or he was obliged fifteen sa of inferior wheat and left them and took ten sa of Syrian wheat. This was also disapproved of, and was not halal. It resembled what was prohibited in the way of two sales in one sale. It was also included under the prohibition against buying two for one of the same sort of food."

The Prophet employed Ibn Al-Utbiyya to collect Zakat from Bani Sulaim, and when he returned (with the money) to Allah's Apostle the Prophet called him to account, and he said, "This (amount) is for you, and this was given to me as a present." Allah's Apostle said, "Why don't you stay at your father's house or your mother's house to see whether you will be given gifts or not, if you are telling the truth?" Then Allah's Apostle stood up and addressed the people, and after glorifying and praising Allah, he said: Amma Ba'du (then after) I employ some men from among you for some job which Allah has placed in my charge, and then one of you comes to me and says, 'This (amount) is for you and this is a gift given to me.' Why doesn't he stay at the house of his father or the house of his mother and see whether he will be given gifts or not if he was telling the truth by Allah, none of you takes anything of it (i.e., Zakat) for himself (Hisham added: unlawfully) but he will meet Allah on the Day of Resurrection carrying it on his neck! I do not want to see any of you carrying a grunting camel or a mooing cow or a bleating sheep on meeting Allah." Then the Prophet raised both his hands till I saw the whiteness of his armpits, and said, "(No doubt)! Haven't I conveyed Allah's Message!"

The Messenger of Allah (saws) led us in prayer over bier of a Muslim and I heard him say: O Allah, so and so, son of so and so, is in Thy protection, so guard him from the trial in the grave. (AbdurRahman in his version said: "In Thy protection and in Thy nearer presence, so guard him from the trial in the grave) and the punishment in Hell. Thou art faithful and worthy of praise. O Allah, forgive him and show him mercy. Thou art the forgiving and the merciful one." AbdurRahman said: "On the authority of Marwan ibn Janah."

Ibn `Abbas said, "Thursday! What (great thing) took place on Thursday!" Then he started weeping till his tears wetted the gravels of the ground . Then he said, "On Thursday the illness of Allah's Apostle was aggravated and he said, "Fetch me writing materials so that I may have something written to you after which you will never go astray." The people (present there) differed in this matter and people should not differ before a prophet. They said, "Allah's Apostle is seriously sick.' The Prophet said, "Let me alone, as the state in which I am now, is better than what you are calling me for." The Prophet on his death-bed, gave three orders saying, "Expel the pagans from the Arabian Peninsula, respect and give gifts to the foreign delegates as you have seen me dealing with them." I forgot the third (order)" (Ya'qub bin Muhammad said, "I asked Al-Mughira bin `Abdur-Rahman about the Arabian Peninsula and he said, 'It comprises Mecca, Medina, Al-Yama-ma and Yemen." Ya'qub added, "And Al-Arj, the beginning of Tihama.")

The Prophet said to Gabriel, "What prevents you from visiting us more often than you visit us now?" So there was revealed:-- 'And we (angels) descend not but by the command of your Lord. To Him belongs what is before us and what is behind us...'(19.64)