Once Allah's Apostle said, "Amongst the trees there is a tree, the leaves of which do not fall and is like a Muslim, tell me the name of that tree." Everybody started thinking about the trees of the desert areas and I thought of the date-palm tree but felt shy (to answer). The others asked, "O Allah's Apostle! inform us of it." He replied, "it is the date-palm tree." I told my father what had come to my mind and on that he said, "Had you said it I would have preferred it to such and such a thing that I might possess."

I asked `Ali, "Do you have the knowledge of any Divine Inspiration besides what is in Allah's Book?" `Ali replied, "No, by Him Who splits the grain of corn and creates the soul. I don't think we have such knowledge, but we have the ability of understanding which Allah may endow a person with, so that he may understand the Qur'an, and we have what is written in this paper as well." I asked, "What is written in this paper?" He replied, "(The regulations of) blood-money, the freeing of captives, and the judgment that no Muslim should be killed for killing an infidel."

When the Verse:-- 'Those who believe and mix not their belief with wrong." was revealed, the companions of the Prophet said, "Who amongst us has not mixed his belief with wrong?" Then Allah revealed: "Join none in worship with Allah, Verily joining others in worship with Allah is a great wrong indeed."

The Prophet said, "The example of him (a believer) who recites the Qur'an is like that of a citron which tastes good and smells good. And he (a believer) who does not recite the Qur'an is like a date which is good in taste but has no smell. And the example of a dissolute wicked person who recites the Qur'an is like the Raihana (sweet basil) which smells good but tastes bitter. And the example of a dissolute wicked person who does not recite the Qur'an is like the colocynth which tastes bitter and has no smell.

Allah's Apostle said thrice, "Shall I not inform you of the biggest of the great sins?" We said, "Yes, O Allah's Apostle" He said, "To join partners in worship with Allah: to be undutiful to one's parents." The Prophet sat up after he had been reclining and added, "And I warn you against giving forged statement and a false witness; I warn you against giving a forged statement and a false witness." The Prophet kept on saying that warning till we thought that he would not stop.

The Prophet ordered us to do seven (things) and forbade us from seven (other things): He ordered us to pay a visit to the sick, to follow funeral possessions, to say: May Allah be merciful to you to a sneezer, - if he says: Praise be to Allah, to accept invitation (invitation to a wedding banquet), to return greetings, to help the oppressed, and to help others to fulfill their oaths (provided it was not sinful). And he forbade us from seven (things): to wear golden rings or golden bangles, to wear silk (cloth), Dibaj, Sundus and Mayathir.

I said, "O Allah's Apostle! Shouldn't we participate in Holy battles and Jihad along with you?" He replied, "The best and the most superior Jihad (for women) is Hajj which is accepted by Allah." `Aisha added: Ever since I heard that from Allah's Apostle I have determined not to miss Hajj.

That the Prophet (saws) said: "The disbeliever eats with seven intestines and the believer eats with one intestine."

[Abu 'Eisa said:] This Hadith is Hasan Sahih.

He said: There are narrations on this topic from Abu Hurairah, Abu Sa'eed, Abu Basrah Al-Ghifari, Abu Musa, Jahjah Al-Ghifari, Maimunah, and 'Abdullah bin 'Amr.

Aisha, (mother of the faithful believers) wanted to buy a slave girl and manumit her, but her masters said that they would sell her only on the condition that her Wala' would be for them. `Aisha told Allah's Apostle of that. He said, "What they stipulate should not hinder you from buying her, as the Wala' is for the manumitted."

I heard Sa`id bin Zaid saying to the people, "If you but saw me and `Umar's sister tied and forced by `Umar to leave Islam while he was not yet a Muslim. And if the mountain of Uhud could move from its place for the evil which you people have done to `Uthman, it would have the right to do that."

When the Verse:--"It is those who believe and do not confuse their belief with wrong ( i.e. joining others in worship with Allah" (6.83) was revealed, we said, "O Allah's Apostle! Who is there amongst us who has not done wrong to himself?" He replied, "It is not as you say, for 'wrong' in the Verse and 'do not confuse their belief, with wrong means 'SHIRK' (i.e. joining others in worship with Allah). Haven't you heard Luqman's saying to his son, 'O my son! Join not others in worship with Allah, verily joining others in worship with Allah is a great wrong indeed." (31.13)

I heard Abu Juhaifa saying, "I asked `Ali 'Have you got any Divine literature apart from the Qur'an?' (Once he said...apart from what the people have?) `Ali replied, 'By Him Who made the grain split (germinate) and created the soul, we have nothing except what is in the Qur'an and the ability (gift) of understanding Allah's Book which He may endow a man with and we have what is written in this paper.' I asked, 'What is written in this paper?' He replied, 'Al-`Aql (the regulation of Diya), about the ransom of captives, and the Judgment that a Muslim should not be killed in Qisas (equality in punishment) for killing a disbeliever." (See Hadith No. 283,Vol. 4)

Allah's Apostle said, "If somebody takes a false oath in order to get the property of a Muslim (unjustly) by that oath, then Allah will be angry with him when he will meet Him." Al-Ash'ath informed me, "By Allah! This was said regarding me. There was a dispute about a piece of land between me and a man from the Jews who denied my right. I took him to the Prophet. Allah's Apostle asked me, 'Do you have an evidence?' I replied in the negative. He said to the Jew, 'Take an oath.' I said, 'O Allah's Apostle! He will surely take an oath and take my property unjustly." So, Allah revealed: "Verily! Those who purchase a little gain at the cost of Allah's covenant and their oaths . . . " (3.77)

I used to sit with Ibn 'Abbas and he made me sit on his sitting place. He requested me to stay with him in order that he might give me a share from his property. So I stayed with him for two months. Once he told (me) that when the delegation of the tribe of 'Abdul Qais came to the Prophet, the Prophet asked them, "Who are the people (i.e. you)? (Or) who are the delegate?" They replied, "We are from the tribe of Rabi'a." Then the Prophet said to them, "Welcome! O people (or O delegation of 'Abdul Qais)! Neither will you have disgrace nor will you regret." They said, "O Allah's Apostle! We cannot come to you except in the sacred month and there is the infidel tribe of Mudar intervening between you and us. So please order us to do something good (religious deeds) so that we may inform our people whom we have left behind (at home), and that we may enter Paradise (by acting on them)." Then they asked about drinks (what is legal and what is illegal). The Prophet ordered them to do four things and forbade them from four things. He ordered them to believe in Allah Alone and asked them, "Do you know what is meant by believing in Allah Alone?" They replied, "Allah and His Apostle know better." Thereupon the Prophet said, "It means:

1. To testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and Muhammad is Allah's Apostle.

2. To offer prayers perfectly

3. To pay the Zakat (obligatory charity)

4. To observe fast during the month of Ramadan.

5. And to pay Al-Khumus (one fifth of the booty to be given in Allah's Cause).

Then he forbade them four things, namely, Hantam, Dubba,' Naqir Ann Muzaffat or Muqaiyar; (These were the names of pots in which Alcoholic drinks were prepared) (The Prophet mentioned the container of wine and he meant the wine itself). The Prophet further said (to them): "Memorize them (these instructions) and convey them to the people whom you have left behind."

Allah's Apostle said, "There are three persons whom Allah will not look at on the Day of Resurrection, nor will he purify them and theirs shall be a severe punishment. They are: -1. A man possessed superfluous water, on a way and he withheld it from travelers. -2. A man who gave a pledge of allegiance to a ruler and he gave it only for worldly benefits. If the ruler gives him something he gets satisfied, and if the ruler withholds something from him, he gets dissatisfied. -3. And man displayed his goods for sale after the `Asr prayer and he said, 'By Allah, except Whom None has the right to be worshipped, I have been given so much for my goods,' and somebody believes him (and buys them). The Prophet then recited: "Verily! Those who purchase a little gain at the cost of Allah's Covenant and their oaths." (3.77)

Abu Dawud said: I read in a document possessed by Abdullah ibn Salim at Hims: Abdullah ibn Mu'awiyah al-Ghadiri reported the Prophet (saws) as saying: He who performs three things will have the taste of the faith. (They are:) One who worships Allah alone and one believes that there is no god but Allah; and one who pays the zakat on his property agreeably every year. One should not give an aged animal, nor one suffering from itch or ailing, and one most condemned, but one should give animals of medium quality, for Allah did not demand from you the best of your animals, nor did He command you to give the animals of worst quality.

The Prophet said, "Nobody has ever eaten a better meal than that which one has earned by working with one's own hands. The Prophet of Allah, David used to eat from the earnings of his manual labor."

Allah's Apostle sent us (to fight) against Al-Huraqa (one of the sub-tribes) of Juhaina. We reached those people in the morning and defeated them. A man from the Ansar and I chased one of their men and when we attacked him, he said, "None has the right to be worshipped but Allah." The Ansari refrained from killing him but I stabbed him with my spear till I killed him. When we reached (Medina), this news reached the Prophet. He said to me, "O Usama! You killed him after he had said, 'None has the right to be worshipped but Allah?"' I said, "O Allah's Apostle! He said so in order to save himself." The Prophet said, "You killed him after he had said, 'None has the right to be worshipped but Allah." The Prophet kept on repeating that statement till I wished I had not been a Muslim before that day.

Whoever tells you that the Prophet concealed something of the Divine Inspiration, do not believe him, for Allah said: 'O Apostle Muhammad! Proclaim (the Message) which has been sent down to you from your Lord, and if you do it not, then you have not conveyed His Message.' (5.67)

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."

I was a Christian Bedouin; then I embraced Islam. I came to a man of my tribe, who was called Hudhaym ibn Thurmulah. I said to him. O brother, I am eager to wage war in the cause of Allah (i.e. jihad), and I find that both hajj and umrah are due from me. How can I combine them?

He said: Combine them and sacrifice the animal made easily available for you. I, therefore, raised my voice in talbiyah for both of them (i.e. umrah and hajj). When I reached al-Udhayb, Salman ibn Rabi'ah and Zayd ibn Suhan met me while I was raising my voice in talbiyah for both of them.

One of them said to the other: This (man) does not have any more understanding than his camel. Thereupon it was as if a mountain fell on me.

I came to Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) and said to him: Commander of the Faithful, I was a Christian Bedouin, and I have embraced Islam. I am eager to wage war in the cause of Allah (jihad), and I found that both hajj and umrah were due from me. I came to a man of my tribe who said to me: Combine both of them and sacrifice the animal easily available for you. I have raised my voice in talbiyah for both of them.

Umar thereupon said to me: You have been guided to the practice (sunnah) of your Prophet) (saws).

The Messenger of Allah (saws) used to say when he lay down: O Allah, I seek refuge in Thy noble Person and in Thy perfect Words from the evil of what Thou seizest by its forelock; O Allah! Thou removest debt and sin; O Allah! thy troop's not routed, Thy promise is not broken and the riches of the rich do not avail against Thee. Glory and praise be unto Thee!.

When the Messenger of Allah (saws) awake at night, he said: There is no god but thou, glory be to Thee, O Allah, I ask Thy pardon for my sin and I ask Thee for Thy mercy. O Allah! advance me in knowledge: do not cause my heart to deviate (from guidance) after Thou hast guided me, and grant me mercy from thyself; verily thou art the grantor.

While a man was delivering a speech in the tribe of Kinda, he said, "Smoke will prevail on the Day of Resurrection and will deprive the hypocrites their faculties of hearing and seeing. The believers will be afflicted with something like cold only thereof." That news scared us, so I went to (Abdullah) Ibn Mas`ud while he was reclining (and told him the story) whereupon he became angry, sat up and said, "He who knows a thing can say, it, but if he does not know, he should say, 'Allah knows best,' for it is an aspect of knowledge to say, 'I do not know,' if you do not know a certain thing. Allah said to His prophet. 'Say (O Muhammad): No wage do I ask of you for this (Qur'an), nor I am one of the pretenders (a person who pretends things which do not exist.)' (38.86) The Qur'aish delayed in embracing Islam for a period, so the Prophet invoked evil on them, saying, 'O Allah! Help me against them by sending seven years of (famine) like those of Joseph.' So they were afflicted with such a severe year of famine that they were destroyed therein and ate dead animals and bones. They started seeing something like smoke between the sky and the earth (because of severe hunger). Abu Sufyan then came (to the Prophet) and said, "O Muhammad! You came to order us for to keep good relations with Kith and kin, and your kinsmen have now perished, so please invoke Allah (to relieve them).' Then Ibn Mas`ud recited:-- 'Then watch you for the day that the sky will bring forth a kind of smoke plainly visible....but truly you will return! (to disbelief) (44.10-15) Ibn Mas`ud added, Then the punishment was stopped, but truly, they reverted to heathenism (their old way). So Allah (threatened them thus): 'On the day when we shall seize you with a mighty grasp.' (44.16) And that was the day of the Battle of Badr. Allah's saying- "Lizama" (the punishment) refers to the day of Badr Allah's Statement: Alif-Lam-Mim, the Romans have been defeated, and they, after their defeat, will be victorious,' (30.1- 3) (This verse): Indicates that the defeat of Byzantine has already passed.

The Prophet said, "The biggest of Al-Ka`ba'ir (the great sins) are (1) to join others as partners in worship with Allah, (2) to murder a human being, (3) to be undutiful to one's parents (4) and to make a false statement," or said, "to give a false witness."

I used to teach Qur'an to 'Abdur-Rahman bin Auf. When Umar performed his last Hajj, 'Abdur-Rahman said (to me) at Mina, "Would that you had seen Chief of the believers today! A man came to him and said, "So-and-so has said, "If Chief of the Believers died, we will give the oath of allegiance to such-and-such person,' 'Umar said, 'I will get up tonight and warn those who want to usurp the people's rights.' I said, 'Do not do so, for the season (of Hajj) gathers the riffraff mob who will form the majority of your audience, and I am afraid that they will not understand (the meaning of) your saying properly and may spread (an incorrect statement) everywhere. You should wait till we reach Medina, the place of migration and the place of the Sunna (the Prophet's Traditions). There you will meet the companions of Allah's Apostle from the Muhajirin and the Ansar who will understand your statement and place it in its proper position' 'Umar said, 'By Allah, I shall do so the first time I stand (to address the people) in Medina.' When we reached Medina, 'Umar (in a Friday Khutba-sermon) said, "No doubt, Allah sent Muhammad with the Truth and revealed to him the Book (Quran), and among what was revealed, was the Verse of Ar-Rajm (stoning adulterers to death).'" (See Hadith No. 817,Vol. 8)

[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].

The Prophet said, "Amongst the trees, there is a tree, the leaves of which do not fall and is like a Muslim. Tell me the name of that tree." Everybody started thinking about the trees of the desert areas. And I thought of the date-palm tree. The others then asked, "Please inform us what is that tree, O Allah's Apostle?" He replied, "It is the date-palm tree."

[Muslim].