Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab, and he had heard from al-Qasim ibn Muhammad that they said, "When a free man marries a slave-girl and consummates the marriage, she makes him muhsan."

Malik said, "All (of the people of knowledge) I have seen said that a slave-girl makes a free man muhsan when he marries her and consummates the marriage."

Malik said, "A slave makes a free woman muhsana when he consummates a marriage with her and a free woman only makes a slave muhsan when he is freed and he is her husband and has had sexual relations with her after he has been set free. If he parts from her before he is free, he is not a muhsan unless he marries her after having been set free and he consummates the marriage."

Malik said, "When a slave-girl is married to a free man and then he separates from her before she is set free, his marriage to her does not make her muhsana. She is not muhsana until she has married after she has been set free and she has had intercourse with her husband. That gives her ihsan. If she is the wife of a freeman and then she is set free while she is his wife before he separates from her, the man makes her muhsana if he has intercourse with her after she has been set free."

Malik said, "The christian and jewish free women and the muslim slave-girl all make a muslim free man muhsan when he marries one of them and has intercourse with her."

"Allah's Apostle said to me, "Have you got married O Jabir?" I replied, "Yes." He asked "What, a virgin or a matron?" I replied, "Not a virgin but a matron." He said, "Why did you not marry a young girl who would have fondled with you?" I replied, "O Allah's Apostle! My father was martyred on the day of Uhud and left nine (orphan) daughters who are my nine sisters; so I disliked to have another young girl of their age, but (I sought) an (elderly) woman who could comb their hair and look after them." The Prophet said, "You have done the right thing."

I was accompanying the Prophet on a journey and was riding a slow camel that was lagging behind the others. The Prophet passed by me and asked, "Who is this?" I replied, "Jabir bin `Abdullah." He asked, "What is the matter, (why are you late)?" I replied, "I am riding a slow camel." He asked, "Do you have a stick?" I replied in the affirmative. He said, "Give it to me." When I gave it to him, he beat the camel and rebuked it. Then that camel surpassed the others thenceforth. The Prophet said, "Sell it to me." I replied, "It is (a gift) for you, O Allah's Apostle." He said, "Sell it to me. I have bought it for four Dinars (gold pieces) and you can keep on riding it till Medina." When we approached Medina, I started going (towards my house). The Prophet said, "Where are you going?" I Sa`d, "I have married a widow." He said, "Why have you not married a virgin to fondle with each other?" I said, "My father died and left daughters, so I decided to marry a widow (an experienced woman) (to look after them)." He said, "Well done." When we reached Medina, Allah's Apostle said, "O Bilal, pay him (the price of the camel) and give him extra money." Bilal gave me four Dinars and one Qirat extra. (A sub-narrator said): Jabir added, "The extra Qirat of Allah's Apostle never parted from me." The Qirat was always in Jabir bin `Abdullah's purse.

The Prophet said, "A prophet amongst the prophets carried out a holy military expedition, so he said to his followers, 'Anyone who has married a woman and wants to consummate the marriage, and has not done so yet, should not accompany me; nor should a man who has built a house but has not completed its roof; nor a man who has sheep or shecamels and is waiting for the birth of their young ones.' So, the prophet carried out the expedition and when he reached that town at the time or nearly at the time of the `Asr prayer, he said to the sun, 'O sun! You are under Allah's Order and I am under Allah's Order O Allah! Stop it (i.e. the sun) from setting.' It was stopped till Allah made him victorious. Then he collected the booty and the fire came to burn it, but it did not burn it. He said (to his men), 'Some of you have stolen something from the booty. So one man from every tribe should give me a pledge of allegiance by shaking hands with me.' (They did so and) the hand of a man got stuck over the hand of their prophet. Then that prophet said (to the man), 'The theft has been committed by your people. So all the persons of your tribe should give me the pledge of allegiance by shaking hands with me.' The hands of two or three men got stuck over the hand of their prophet and he said, "You have committed the theft.' Then they brought a head of gold like the head of a cow and put it there, and the fire came and consumed the booty. The Prophet added: Then Allah saw our weakness and disability, so he made booty legal for us."

This hadith has been narrated by another chain of transmitters like Abu Bakr b. Abi Shaiba, 'Abda b. Sulaiman Ibn Abi 'Umar Sufyan, 'Ubaidullah b. Mu'adh, Shu'ba; all of them heard it from Salih b. Salih.

I of all the people know best this verse of Al-Hijab. When Allah's Apostle married Zainab bint Jahsh she was with him in the house and he prepared a meal and invited the people (to it). They sat down (after finishing their meal) and started chatting. So the Prophet went out and then returned several times while they were still sitting and talking. So Allah revealed the Verse: 'O you who believe! Enter not the Prophet's houses until leave is given to you for a meal, (and then) not (so early as) to wait for its preparation .....ask them from behind a screen.' (33.53) So the screen was set up and the people went away.

The Prophet came to me while there was an effeminate man sitting with me, and I heard him (i.e. the effeminate man) saying to `Abdullah bin Abi Umaiya, "O `Abdullah! See if Allah should make you conquer Ta'if tomorrow, then take the daughter of Ghailan (in marriage) as (she is so beautiful and fat that) she shows four folds of flesh when facing you, and eight when she turns her back." The Prophet then said, "These (effeminate men) should never enter upon you (O women!)." Ibn Juraij said, "That effeminate man was called Hit."

Narrated Hisham:

The above narration and added extra, that at that time, the Prophet, was besieging Taif.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Abu'z-Zubayr al-Makki that a case was brought to Umar about a marriage which had only been witnessed by one man and one woman . He said, "This is a secret marriage and I do not permit it. Had I been the first to come upon it, I would have ordered them to be stoned."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi that Abdullah ibn Umar said that statements like "I cut myself off from you",or"You are abandoned", were considered as three pronouncements of divorce.

Malik said that any strong statements such as these or others were considered as three pronouncements of divorce for a woman whose marriage had been consummated. In the case of a woman whose marriage had not been consummated, the man was asked to make an oath on his deen, as to whether he had intended one or three pronouncements of divorce. If he had intended one pronouncement, he was asked to make an oath by Allah to confirm it, and he became a suitor among other suitors, because a woman whose marriage had been consummated, required three pronouncements of divorce to make her inaccessible for the husband, whilst only one pronouncement was needed to make a woman whose marriage had not been consummated inaccessible.

Malik added, "That is the best of what I have heard about the matter."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Said ibn Amr ibn Sulaym az- Zuraqi that he asked al-Qasim ibn Muhammad about a man who made divorce conditional on his marrying a woman i.e. if he married her he would automatically divorce her. Al-Qasim ibn Muhammad said, "If a man marries a woman whom he has made as his mother's back, i.e. has made haram for him, Umar ibn al-Khattab ordered him not to go near her if he married her until he had done the kaffara for pronouncing dhihar."

The Prophet (saws) abominated the combination of paternal and maternal aunts and the combination of two maternal aunts and two paternal aunts in marriage.

My grandfather, my father and I gave the pledge of allegiance to Allah's Apostle. The Prophet got me engaged and then got me married. One day I went to the Prophet with a complaint. My father Yazid had taken some gold coins for charity and kept them with a man in the mosque (to give them to the poor) But I went and took them and brought them to him (my father). My father said, "By Allah! I did not intend to give them to you. " I took (the case) to Allah's Apostle . On that Allah's Apostle said, "O Yazid, you will be rewarded for what you intended. O Ma'n, whatever you have taken is yours."

When the Prophet married Zainab, the people came and were offered a meal, and then they sat down (after finishing their meals) and started chatting. The Prophet showed as if he wanted to get up, but they did not get up. When he noticed that, he got up, and some of the people also got up and went away, while some others kept on sitting. When the Prophet returned to enter, he found the people still sitting, but then they got up and left. So I told the Prophet of their departure and he came and went in. I intended to go in but the Prophet put a screen between me and him, for Allah revealed:-- 'O you who believe! Enter not the Prophet's houses..' (33.53)