`Adi took a white rope (or thread) and a black one, and when some part of the night had passed, he looked at them but he could not distinguish one from the other. The next morning he said, "O Allah's Apostle! I put (a white thread and a black thread) underneath my pillow." The Prophet said, "Then your pillow is too wide if the white thread (of dawn) and the black thread (of the night) are underneath your pillow! "

from the black thread." was revealed, but: '... of dawn' was not revealed (along with it) so some men, when intending to fast, used to tie their legs, one with white thread and the other with black thread and would keep on eating till they could distinguish one thread from the other. Then Allah revealed' ... of dawn,' whereupon they understood that meant the night and the day.

When the above verses were revealed: 'Until the white thread appears to you, distinct from the black thread,' I took two (hair) strings, one black and the other white, and kept them under my pillow and went on looking at them throughout the night but could not make anything out of it. So, the next morning I went to Allah's Apostle and told him the whole story. He explained to me, "That verse means the darkness of the night and the whiteness of the dawn."

My father said, "I heard Ibn `Umar reciting the poetic verses of Abu Talib: And a white (person) (i.e. the Prophet) who is requested to pray for rain and who takes care of the orphans and is the guardian of widows." Salim's father (Ibn `Umar) said, "The following poetic verse occurred to my mind while I was looking at the face of the Prophet (p.b.u.h) while he was praying for rain. He did not get down till the rain water flowed profusely from every roof-gutter: And a white (person) who is requested to pray for rain and who takes care of the orphans and is the guardian of widows . . . And these were the words of Abu Talib."

Abyad spoke to the Messenger of Allah (saws) about sadaqah when he came along with a deputation to him.

He replied: O brother of Saba', sadaqah is unavoidable. He said: We cultivated cotton, Messenger of Allah. The people of Saba' scattered, and there remained only a few at Ma'arib.

He therefore concluded a treaty of peace with the Messenger of Allah (saws) to give seventy suits of cloth, equivalent to the price of the Yemeni garments known as al-mu'afir, to be paid every year on behalf of those people of Saba' who remained at Ma'arib.

They continued to pay them till the Messenger of Allah (saws) died.

The governors after the death of the Messenger of Allah (saws) broke the treaty concluded by Abyad by Hammal with the Messenger of Allah (saws) to give seventy suits of garments.

AbuBakr then revived it as the Messenger of Allah (saws) had done till AbuBakr died. When AbuBakr died, it was discontinued and the sadaqah was levied.

When the following verses were revealed: 'Eat and drink until the white thread appears to you, distinct from the black thread' and of dawn was not revealed, some people who intended to fast, tied black and white threads to their legs and went on eating till they differentiated between the two. Allah then revealed the words, 'of dawn', and it became clear that meant night and day.

Yahya related to me from Malik that he heard that Umar ibn al- Khattab said, "I love to look at a Qur'an reader in white garments."

This hadith has been transmitted on the authority of Abu Juhaifa with a slight variation of wording.

When the Prophet (saws) entered Mecca his banner was white.

I heard `Abdullah bin Abi `Aufa saying, "The Prophet forbade the use of green jars." I said, "Shall we drink out of white jars?" He said, "No."

The Prophet said, "My Lake-Fount is (so large that it takes) a month's journey to cross it. Its water is whiter than milk, and its smell is nicer than musk (a kind of Perfume), and its drinking cups are (as numerous) as the (number of) stars of the sky; and whoever drinks from it, will never be thirsty."

Kill all the snakes except the little white one which looks like a silver wand.

Abu Dawud said: A man said to me: A white snake does not wind in its movement. If it is correct, that is a sign in it, if Allah wills.

I said, "O Allah's Apostle! What is the meaning of the white thread distinct from the black thread? Are these two threads?" He said, "You are not intelligent if you watch the two threads." He then added, "No, it is the darkness of the night and the whiteness of the day.''

"The flag of the Messenger of Allah (saws) was black, and his standard was white."

[Abu 'Eisa said:] This Hadith is Hasan Gharib from this route, as a narration of Ibn 'Abbas.

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.

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that al-Qasim ibn Muhammad and Nafi, the mawla of Abdullah ibn Umar said, "You cannot do itikaf unless you are fasting, because of what Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, says in His Book, 'And eat and drink until the white thread becomes clear to you from the black thread of dawn, then complete the fast until night-time, and do not have intercourse with them while you are doing itikaf in mosques,' (Sura 2 ayat 187). Allah only mentions itikaf together with fasting."

Malik said, "That is what we go by here."

Thauban reported that Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) said. Verily, Allah drew the ends of the world near me until I saw its east and west, and He bestowed upon me two treasures, the red and the white. The rest of the hadith is the same.

I heard Abii Juhaifa saying, "I saw the Prophet, and Al-Hasan bin `Ali resembled him." I said to Abu- Juhaifa, "Describe him for me." He said, "He was white and his beard was black with some white hair. He promised to give us 13 young she-camels, but he expired before we could get them."

The Messenger of Allah (saws) entered upon me. The version of Musaddad and Ibn as-Sarh has: one day looking pleased". The version of Uthman has: "The lines of his forehead were realised." He said: O Aisha, are you not surprised to hear that Mujazziz al-Mudlaji saw that Zayd and Usamah had a rug over them concerning their heads and letting their feet appear. He said: These feet are related.

Abu Dawud: Usamah was black and Zaid was white.

He asked the Messenger of Allah (saws) for giving him some land which had arak trees growing in it. The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: There is no (permission for) protecting a land which has arak trees growing in it. He said: These arak trees are within the boundaries of my field. The Prophet (saws) said: There is no (permission for) protecting a land which has arak trees growing in it.

The narrator Faraj said: By the phrase 'within the boundaries of my field' he meant the land which had crop growing in it and was surrounded on four sides.

Yahya related to me from Malik that Rabia ibn Abi Abd ar-Rahman heard Anas ibn Malik say, "The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was not excessively tall or short. He was not very pallid nor dark. He did not have curly hair or lank hair. Allah commissioned him at the age of forty. He stayed in Makka ten years and at Madina for ten years and Allah the Mighty, the Majestic made him die when he was sixty. There were not twenty white hairs in his hair or beard, may Allah bless him and grant him peace."

Anas b. Malik reported that Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) was neither very conspicuously tall nor short-statured, and his color was neither glaringly white nor brown; his hair was neither very curly nor very straight; Allah commissioned him (as a Prophet) when he had reached the age of forty years, and he stayed in Mecca for ten years and for ten years in Medina; Allah took him away when he had just reached the age of sixty, and there had not been twenty white hair in his head and beard.

Allah's Apostle was neither very tall nor short, neither absolutely white nor deep brown. His hair was neither curly nor lank. Allah sent him (as an Apostle) when he was forty years old. Afterwards he resided in Mecca for ten years and in Medina for ten more years. When Allah took him unto Him, there was scarcely twenty white hairs in his head and beard.

The Prophet was neither conspicuously tall, nor short; neither, very white, nor tawny. His hair was neither much curled, nor very straight. Allah sent him (as an Apostle) at the age of forty (and after that) he stayed for ten years in Mecca, and for ten more years in Medina. Allah took him unto Him at the age of sixty, and he scarcely had ten white hairs on his head and in his beard.

The tradition mentioned above has also been transmitted by ibn Shihab through a different chain of narrators to the same effect. This version adds “She said “he entered upon me looking pleased with the lines of his face brightened.

Abu Dawud said “Ibn ‘Uyainah did not remember the words “the lines of his face”.”

Abu Dawud said “The words “the lines of his face” have been narrated by Ibn ‘Uyainah himself. He did not hear Al Zuhri say (these words). He heard some person other than Al Zuhri say these words. The words “the lines of his face” occur in the tradition narrated by Al Laith and others.

Abu Dawud said “ I heard Ahmad bin Salih say “Usamah was very black like tar and Zaid was white like cotton.”