(Once) the Prophet said, "Have you got carpets?" I replied, "Whence can we get carpets?" He said, "But you shall soon have carpets." I used to say to my wife, "Remove your carpets from my sight," but she would say, "Didn't the Prophet tell you that you would soon have carpets?" So I would give up my request.

I was a blacksmith and did some work for Al-`As bin Wail. When he owed me some money for my work, I went to him to ask for that amount. He said, "I will not pay you unless you disbelieve in Muhammad." I said, "By Allah! I will never do that till you die and be resurrected." He said, "Will I be dead and then resurrected after my death?" I said, "Yes." He said, "There I will have property and offspring and then I will pay you your due." Then Allah revealed. 'Have you seen him who disbelieved in Our signs, and yet says: I will be given property and offspring?' (19.77)

That while he was with a delegation from Quraish to Muawiya, the latter heard the news that `Abdullah bin `Amr bin Al-`As said that there would be a king from the tribe of Qahtan. On that Muawiya became angry, got up and then praised Allah as He deserved, and said, "Now then, I have heard that some men amongst you narrate things which are neither in the Holy Book, nor have been told by Allah's Apostle. Those men are the ignorant amongst you. Beware of such hopes as make the people go astray, for I heard Allah's Apostle saying, 'Authority of ruling will remain with Quraish, and whoever bears hostility to them, Allah will destroy him as long as they abide by the laws of the religion.' "

That while he was included in a delegation of Quraish staying with Muawiya, Muawiya heard that `Abdullah bin `Amr had said that there would be a king from Qahtan tribe, whereupon he became very angry. He stood up, and after glorifying and praising Allah as He deserved, said, "To proceed, I have come to know that some of you men are narrating things which are neither in Allah's Book, nor has been mentioned by Allah's Apostle . Such people are the ignorant among you. Beware of such vain desires that mislead those who have them. I have heard Allah's Apostle saying, 'This matter (of the caliphate) will remain with the Quraish, and none will rebel against them, but Allah will throw him down on his face as long as they stick to the rules and regulations of the religion (Islam).'"

The Prophet said, "The Israelis used to be ruled and guided by prophets: Whenever a prophet died, another would take over his place. There will be no prophet after me, but there will be Caliphs who will increase in number." The people asked, "O Allah's Apostle! What do you order us (to do)?" He said, "Obey the one who will be given the pledge of allegiance first. Fulfil their (i.e. the Caliphs) rights, for Allah will ask them about (any shortcoming) in ruling those Allah has put under their guardianship."

Abdullah heard his son praying to Allah: O Allah, I ask Thee a white palace on the right of Paradise when I enter it. He said: O my son, ask Allah for Paradise and seek refuge in Him from Hell-Fire, for I heard the Messenger of Allah (saws) say: In this community there will be some people who will exceed the limits in purification as well as in supplication.

My father died and was in debt. I suggested that his creditors take the fruits (i.e. dates) of my garden in lieu of the debt of my father, but they refused the offer, as they thought that it would not cover the full debt. So, I went to the Prophet and told him about it. He said (to me), "When you pluck the dates and collect them in the Mirbad (i.e. a place where dates are dried), call me (Allah's Apostle)." Finally he came accompanied by Abu Bakr and `Umar and sat on the dates and invoked Allah to bless them. Then he said, "Call your creditors and give them their full rights." So, I paid all my father's creditors in full and yet thirteen extra Wasqs of dates remained, seven of which were 'Ajwa and six were Laun or six of which were Ajwa and seven were Laun. I met Allah's Apostle at sunset and informed him about it. On that he smiled and said, "Go to Abu Bakr and `Umar and tell them about it." They said, "We perceived that was going to happen, as Allah's Apostle did what he did."

Ibn Sa'd said: My father (Sa'd ibn AbuWaqqas) heard me say: O Allah, I ask Thee for Paradise, its blessings, its pleasure and such-and-such, and such-and-such; I seek refuge in Thee from Hell, from its chains, from its collars, and from such-and-such, and from such-and-such. He said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (saws) say: There will be people who will exaggerate in supplication. You should not be one of them. If you are granted Paradise, you will be granted all what is good therein; if you are protected from Hell, you will be protected from what is evil therein.

The Prophet said, 'The example of a good pious companion and an evil one is that of a person carrying musk and another blowing a pair of bellows. The one who is carrying musk will either give you some perfume as a present, or you will buy some from him, or you will get a good smell from him, but the one who is blowing a pair of bellows will either burn your clothes or you will get a bad smell from him."

"The Prophet said, 'The best alms is that which is given when one is rich, and a giving hand is better than a taking one, and you should start first to support your dependents.' A wife says, 'You should either provide me with food or divorce me.' A slave says, 'Give me food and enjoy my service." A son says, "Give me food; to whom do you leave me?" The people said, "O Abu Huraira! Did you hear that from Allah's Apostle ?" He said, "No, it is from my own self."

While Allah's Apostle was sitting in the mosque with some people, three men came. Two of them came in front of Allah's Apostle and the third one went away. The two persons kept on standing before Allah's Apostle for a while and then one of them found a place in the circle and sat there while the other sat behind the gathering, and the third one went away. When Allah's Apostle finished his preaching, he said, "Shall I tell you about these three persons? One of them betook himself to Allah, so Allah took him into His grace and mercy and accommodated him, the second felt shy from Allah, so Allah sheltered Him in His mercy (and did not punish him), while the third turned his face from Allah and went away, so Allah turned His face from him likewise. "

All the idols which were worshiped by the people of Noah were worshiped by the Arabs later on. As for the idol Wadd, it was worshiped by the tribe of Kalb at Daumat-al-Jandal; Suwa` was the idol of (the tribe of) Hudhail; Yaghouth was worshiped by (the tribe of) Murad and then by Bani Ghutaif at Al-Jurf near Saba; Ya`uq was the idol of Hamdan, and Nasr was the idol of Himyar, the branch of Dhi-al-Kala`. The names (of the idols) formerly belonged to some pious men of the people of Noah, and when they died Satan inspired their people to (prepare and place idols at the places where they used to sit, and to call those idols by their names. The people did so, but the idols were not worshiped till those people (who initiated them) had died and the origin of the idols had become obscure, whereupon people began worshiping them.

There was a disagreement between them (i.e. Ibn `Abbas and Ibn Az-Zubair) so I went to Ibn `Abbas in the morning and said (to him), "Do you want to fight against Ibn Zubair and thus make lawful what Allah has made unlawful (i.e. fighting in Meccas?" Ibn `Abbas said, "Allah forbid! Allah ordained that Ibn Zubair and Bani Umaiya would permit (fighting in Mecca), but by Allah, I will never regard it as permissible." Ibn `Abbas added. "The people asked me to take the oath of allegiance to Ibn AzZubair. I said, 'He is really entitled to assume authority for his father, Az-Zubair was the helper of the Prophet, his (maternal) grandfather, Abu Bakr was (the Prophet's) companion in the cave, his mother, Asma' was 'Dhatun-Nitaq', his aunt, `Aisha was the mother of the Believers, his paternal aunt, Khadija was the wife of the Prophet , and the paternal aunt of the Prophet was his grandmother. He himself is pious and chaste in Islam, well versed in the Knowledge of the Qur'an. By Allah! (Really, I left my relatives, Bani Umaiya for his sake though) they are my close relatives, and if they should be my rulers, they are equally apt to be so and are descended from a noble family.

One night Allah's Apostle (p.b.u.h) stood up after the prayer and recited "Tashah-hud" and then praised Allah as He deserved and said, "Amma ba'du."

that he heard Ibn `Abbas saying, "Thursday! And you know not what Thursday is? After that Ibn `Abbas wept till the stones on the ground were soaked with his tears. On that I asked Ibn `Abbas, "What is (about) Thursday?" He said, "When the condition (i.e. health) of Allah's Apostle deteriorated, he said, 'Bring me a bone of scapula, so that I may write something for you after which you will never go astray.'The people differed in their opinions although it was improper to differ in front of a prophet, They said, 'What is wrong with him? Do you think he is delirious? Ask him (to understand). The Prophet replied, 'Leave me as I am in a better state than what you are asking me to do.' Then the Prophet ordered them to do three things saying, 'Turn out all the pagans from the Arabian Peninsula, show respect to all foreign delegates by giving them gifts as I used to do.' " The sub-narrator added, "The third order was something beneficial which either Ibn `Abbas did not mention or he mentioned but I forgot.'