The Prophet appointed a man from the tribe of Bani Asad, called Ibn Al-Utabiyya to collect the Zakat. When he returned (with the money) he said (to the Prophet), "This is for you and this has been given to me as a gift." The Prophet stood up on the pulpit (Sufyan said he ascended the pulpit), and after glorifying and praising Allah, he said, "What is wrong with the employee whom we send (to collect Zakat from the public) that he returns to say, 'This is for you and that is for me?' Why didn't he stay at his father's and mother's house to see whether he will be given gifts or not? By Him in Whose Hand my life is, whoever takes anything illegally will bring it on the Day of Resurrection by carrying it over his neck: if it is a camel, it will be grunting: if it is a cow, it will be mooing: and if it is a sheep it will be bleating!" The Prophet then raised both his hands till we saw the whiteness of his armpits (and he said), "No doubt! Haven't I conveyed Allah's Message?" And he repeated it three times.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Abdullah ibn Dinar that he had seen Abdullah ibn Umar with a man praying at his side. When the man sat in the fourth raka, heput both feet to one side and crossed them. When Abdullah finished, he disapproved of that to him, and the man protested, "But you do the same." Abdullah ibn Umar said, "I am ill."

The Prophet (saws) said: When any of you hears the summons to prayer while he has a vessel in his hand, he should not lay it down till he fulfils his need.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi that Abdullah ibn Umar, when he prayed over the dead, would say, "Peace be upon you" loud enough for whoever was near to him to hear.

That his father said, "When `Umar was stabbed, Suhaib started crying: O my brother! `Umar said, 'Don't you know that the Prophet said: The deceased is tortured for the weeping of the living'?"

Malik said that he had heard that Said ibn al-Musayyab and Sulayman ibn Yasar were asked, "Does one deal more harshly in taking the blood-money in the sacred month?" They said, "No. But it is increased in it because of violating the month." It was said to Said, "Does one increase for the wound as one increases for the life?" He said, "Yes."

Malik added, "I think that they meant the same as what Umar ibn al-Khattab did with respect to the blood-money of the Mudliji when he struck his son." (i.e. giving 120 camels instead of 100).

Yahya related to me from Malik from Yahya ibn Saqd that he had heard that as-Sa'ib ibn Khabbab died, and his wife went to Abdullah ibn Umar and mentioned to him that her husband had died and mentioned some land which they had at Qanah, (a district on the outskirts of Madina), and asked him if it would be alright for her to stay overnight there. He forbade her to do so. So, she went out before dawn from Madina and spent the whole day on their land, but when evening came, she spent the night in her house.

We were sitting in the company of Hudhaifa who asked for water and a Magian brought him water. But when he placed the cup in his hand, he threw it at him and said, "Had I not forbidden him to do so more than once or twice?" He wanted to say, "I would not have done so," adding, "but I heard the Prophet saying, "Do not wear silk or Dibaja, and do not drink in silver or golden vessels, and do not eat in plates of such metals, for such things are for the unbelievers in this worldly life and for us in the Hereafter."

During the Prophet's fatal illness, he used to recite the Mu'auwidhat (Surat An-Nas and Surat Al- Falaq) and then blow his breath over his body. When his illness was aggravated, I used to recite those two Suras and blow my breath over him and make him rub his body with his own hand for its blessings." (Ma`mar asked Az-Zuhri: How did the Prophet use to blow? Az-Zuhri said: He used to blow on his hands and then passed them over his face.)

The Prophet, during his fatal ailment used to blow (on his hands and pass them) over his body while reciting the Mu'auwidhat (Surat-an-Nas and Surat-al-Falaq). When his disease got aggravated, I used to recite them for him and blow (on his hands) and let him pass his hands over his body because of its blessing. (Ma`mar asked Ibn Shihab: How did he use to do Nafth? He said: He used to blow on his hands and then pass them over his face.)

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that Said ibn al-Musayyab was asked about a woman who made a stipulation on her husband not to take her away from her town. Said ibn al-Musayyab said, "He takes her away if he wishes."

Malik said, "The custom among us is that when a man marries a woman, and he makes a condition in the marriage contract that he will not marry after her or take a concubine, it means nothing unless there is an oath of divorce or setting-free attached to it. Then it is obliged and required of him."

A meal was brought to Allah's Apostle while his step-son, `Umar bin Abi Salama was with him. Allah's Apostle said to him, "Mention the Name of Allah and eat of the dish what is nearer to you."

that she said, "O Allah's Apostle! Anas is your servant, so please invoke for Allah's blessing for him." The Prophet said, "O Allah! Increase his wealth and offspring and bless (for him) whatever You give him."

The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: When one of you throws pebbles at the last jamrah (Jamrat al-Aqabah), everything becomes lawful for him except women (sexual intercourse).

Abu Dawud said: This is a weak tradition. The narrator al-Hajjaj neither saw al-Zuhri nor heard tradition from him.

`Ali bin Abi Talib sent a piece of gold not yet taken out of its ore, in a tanned leather container to Allah's Apostle . Allah's Apostle distributed that amongst four Persons: 'Uyaina bin Badr, Aqra bin H`Abis, Zaid Al-Khail and the fourth was either Alqama or Amir bin at-Tufail. On that, one of his companions said, "We are more deserving of this (gold) than these (persons)." When that news reached the Prophet , he said, "Don't you trust me though I am the truth worthy man of the One in the Heavens, and I receive the news of Heaven (i.e. Divine Inspiration) both in the morning and in the evening?" There got up a man with sunken eyes, raised cheek bones, raised forehead, a thick beard, a shaven head and a waist sheet that was tucked up and he said, "O Allah's Apostle! Be afraid of Allah." The Prophet said, "Woe to you! Am I not of all the people of the earth the most entitled to fear Allah?" Then that man went away. Khalid bin Al-Wahd said, "O Allah's Apostle! Shall I chop his neck off?" The Prophet said, "No, for he may offer prayers." Khalid said, "Numerous are those who offer prayers and say by their tongues (i.e. mouths) what is not in their hearts." Allah's Apostle said, "I have not been ordered (by Allah) to search the hearts of the people or cut open their bellies." Then the Prophet looked at him (i.e. that man) while the latter was going away and said, "From the offspring of this (man there will come out (people) who will recite the Qur'an continuously and elegantly but it will not exceed their throats. (They will neither understand it nor act upon it). They would go out of the religion (i.e. Islam) as an arrow goes through a game's body." I think he also said, "If I should be present at their time I would kill them as the nations a Thamud were killed."

I asked the Prophet whether the round wall (near Ka`ba) was part of the Ka`ba. The Prophet replied in the affirmative. I further said, "What is wrong with them, why have they not included it in the building of the Ka`ba?" He said, "Don't you see that your people (Quraish) ran short of money (so they could not include it inside the building of Ka`ba)?" I asked, "What about its gate? Why is it so high?" He replied, "Your people did this so as to admit into it whomever they liked and prevent whomever they liked. Were your people not close to the Pre-Islamic Period of ignorance (i.e. they have recently embraced Islam) and were I not afraid that they would dislike it, surely I would have included the (area of the) wall inside the building of the Ka`ba and I would have lowered its gate to the level of the ground."

Yahya related to me from Malik that Humayd ibn Qays al-Makki said, "A man came to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, with the two sons of Jafar ibn Abi Talib. He said to their nursemaid, 'Why do I see them so thin?' Their nursemaid said, 'Messenger of Allah, the evil eye goes quickly to them. Nothing stops us from asking someone to make incantations (using ayats of Qur'an) for them, except that we do not know what of that would agree with you.' The Messenger of ,Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'Make incantations for them. Had anything been able to precede the decree, the evil eye would precede it.' "

(As above, No. 354, but added) Then Allah's Apostle said, "Recite if you wish: "Would you then." ..(47.22)

I was with Allah's Apostle in one of the Markets of Medina. He left (the market) and so did I. Then he asked thrice, "Where is the small (child)?" Then he said, "Call Al-Hasan bin `Ali." So Al-Hasan bin `Ali got up and started walking with a necklace (of beads) around his neck. The Prophet stretched his hand out like this, and Al-Hasan did the same. The Prophet embraced him and said, "0 Allah! l love him, so please love him and love those who love him." Since Allah's Apostle said that. nothing has been dearer to me than Al-Hasan.

Allah's Apostle said, "The Hour will not be established until the sun rises from the West: and when the people see it, then whoever will be living on the surface of the earth will have faith, and that is (the time) when no good will it do to a soul to believe then, if it believed not before." (6.158)

Anas b. Malik reported that Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) died when he was sixty-three years old, and so was the case with Abu Bakr, and so was the case with Umar who was also sixty-three (when he died).

While we were with Allah's Apostle in a holy battle, we never went up a hill or reached its peak or went down a valley but raised our voices with Takbir. Allah's Apostle came close to us and said, "O people! Don't exert yourselves, for you do not call a deaf or an absent one, but you call the All- Listener, the All-Seer." The Prophet then said, "O `Abdullah bin Qais! Shall I teach you a sentence which is from the treasures of Paradise? ( It is): 'La haula wala quwata illa billah. (There is neither might nor power except with Allah).

Allah's Apostle said, "A man used to give loans to the people and used to say to his servant, 'If the debtor is poor, forgive him, so that Allah may forgive us.' So when he met Allah (after his death), Allah forgave him."

When the reciters of Qur'an were martyred, Allah's Apostle recited Qunut for one month and I never saw him (i.e. Allah's Apostle) so sad as he was on that day.

I heard Allah's Apostle while he was delivering a sermon on a pulpit, saying, "You will meet Allah barefooted, naked, and uncircumcised."

I said, "O Allah's Prophet! We are living in a land ruled by the people of the Scripture; Can we take our meals in their utensils? In that land there is plenty of game and I hunt the game with my bow and with my hound that is not trained and with my trained hound. Then what is lawful for me to eat?" He said, "As for what you have mentioned about the people of the Scripture, if you can get utensils other than theirs, do not eat out of theirs, but if you cannot get other than theirs, wash their utensils and eat out of it. If you hunt an animal with your bow after mentioning Allah's Name, eat of it. and if you hunt something with your trained hound after mentioning Allah's Name, eat of it, and if you hunt something with your untrained hound (and get it before it dies) and slaughter it, eat of it."

The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: The first defect that permeated Banu Isra'il was that a man (of them) met another man and said: O so-and-so, fear Allah, and abandon what you are doing, for it is not lawful for you. He then met him the next day and that did not prevent him from eating with him, drinking with him and sitting with him. When they did so. Allah mingled their hearts with each other.

He then recited the verse: "curses were pronounced on those among the children of Isra'il who rejected Faith, by the tongue of David and of Jesus the son of Mary"...up to "wrongdoers".

He then said: By no means, I swear by Allah, you must enjoin what is good and prohibit what is evil, prevent the wrongdoer, bend him into conformity with what is right, and restrict him to what is right.

(Later on) Allah's Apostle (once again) went along with Ubai bin Ka'b to the garden of date-palms where Ibn Saiyad was staying. When the Prophet entered the garden, he started hiding himself behind the trunks of the date-palms as he wanted to hear something from the Ibn Saiyad before the latter could see him. Ibn Saiyad was lying in his bed, covered with a velvet sheet from where his murmurs were heard. Ibn Saiyad's mother saw the Prophet while he was hiding himself behind the trunks of the date-palms. She addressed Ibn Saiyad, "O Saf!" (And this was his name). Ibn Saiyad got up. The Prophet said, "Had this woman let him to himself, he would have revealed the reality of his case." Then the Prophet got up amongst the people, glorifying Allah as He deserves, he mentioned Ad-Dajjal, saying, "I warn you about him (i.e. Ad-Dajjal) and there is no prophet who did not warn his nation about him, and Noah warned his nation about him, but I tell you a statement which no prophet informed his nation of. You should understand that he is a one-eyed man and Allah is not one-eyed."

During the lifetime of Allah's Apostle, some men among the hypocrites used to remain behind him (i.e. did not accompany him) when he went out for a Ghazwa and they would be pleased to stay at home behind Allah's Apostle When Allah's Apostle returned (from the battle) they would put forward (false) excuses and take oaths, wishing to be praised for what they had not done. So there was revealed:-- "Think not that those who rejoice in what they have done, and love to be praised for what they have not done.." (3.188)

I heard Ka`b bin Malik narrating (when he did not join the battle of Tabuk): Allah's Apostle forbade all the Muslims to speak to us. I would come to Allah's Apostle and greet him, and I would wonder whether the Prophet did move his lips to return to my greetings or not till fifty nights passed away. The Prophet then announced (to the people) Allah's forgiveness for us (acceptance of our repentance) at the time when he had offered the Fajr (morning) prayer.

Two person of Bani Thaqif and one from Quarish (or two persons from Quraish and one from Bani Thaqif) who had fat bellies but little wisdom, met near the Ka`ba. One of them said, "Did you see that Allah hears what we say? " The other said, "He hears us if we speak aloud, but He does not hear if we speak in stealthy quietness (softly)." The third fellow said, "If He hears when we speak aloud, then He surely hears us if we speak in stealthy quietness (softly)." So Allah revealed the Verse:-- 'And you have not been screening against yourselves, lest your ears, and your eyes and your skins should testify against you..." (41.22)

Allah's Apostle sent for a Ansari man who came with water dropping from his head. The Prophet said, "Perhaps we have forced you to hurry up, haven't we?" The Ansari replied, "Yes." Allah's Apostle further said, "If you are forced to hurry up (during intercourse) or you do not discharge then ablution is due on you (This order was canceled later on, i.e. one has to take a bath).

It was said, "O Allah's Apostle! We know how to greet you, but how to invoke Allah for you?" The Prophet said, "Say: Allahumma salli ala Muhammadin wa'ala `Ali Muhammaddin, kama sallaita 'ala all Ibrahim, innaka Hamidun Majid."