Allah's Apostle said, "Nobody has the right to be better than (Jonah) bin Matta."

We came upon `Abdullah bin Mas`ud and he said "O people! If somebody knows something, he can say it, but if he does not know it, he should say, "Allah knows better,' for it is a sign of having knowledge to say about something which one does not know, 'Allah knows better.' Allah said to His Prophet: 'Say (O Muhammad ! ) No wage do I ask of You for this (Qur'an) nor am I one of the pretenders (a person who pretends things which do not exist).' (38.86) Now I will tell you about Ad- Dukhan (the smoke), Allah's Apostle invited the Quraish to embrace Islam, but they delayed their response. So he said, "O Allah! Help me against them by sending on them seven years of famine similar to the seven years of famine of Joseph." So the famine year overtook them and everything was destroyed till they ate dead animals and skins. People started imagining to see smoke between them and the sky because of severe hunger. Allah said: 'Then watch you for the Day that the sky will bring forth a kind of smoke plainly visible, covering the people. . . This is painful torment.' (44.10-11) (So they invoked Allah) "Our Lord! Remove the punishment from us really we are believers." How can there be an (effectual) reminder for them when an Apostle, explaining things clearly, has already come to them? Then they had turned away from him and said: 'One taught (by a human being), a madman?' 'We shall indeed remove punishment for a while, but truly, you will revert (to disbelief).' (44.12-15) Will the punishment be removed on the Day of Resurrection?" `Abdullah added, "The punishment was removed from them for a while but they reverted to disbelief, so Allah destroyed them on the Day of Badr. Allah said: 'The day We shall seize you with a mighty grasp. We will indeed (then) exact retribution." (44.16)

Yahya related to me from Malik from Zayd ibn Aslam from Ata ibn Yasar that Kab al-Ahbar said, "If the person who passed in front of a man praying knew what he was bringing on himself, it would be better for him to sink into the ground than to pass in front of him."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Suhayl ibn Abi Salih from his father from Abu Hurayra that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Whoever makes an oath and then sees that something else would be better than it, should do kaffara for his oath and do what is better."

Yahya said that he heard Malik say, "Anyone who says that he has a vow but does not mention the name of Allah, is still obliged to make the kaffara for an oath (if he breaks it)".

Malik said, "Emphasis is when a man swears one thing several times, repeating the oath in his speech time after time. For instance, the statement, 'By Allah, I will not decrease it from such-and-such,' sworn three times or more. The kaffara of that is like the kaffara of one oath. If a man swears, 'I will not eat this food or wear these clothes or enter this house,' that is all in one oath, and he is only obliged to do one kaffara. It is the same for a man who says to his wife, 'You are divorced if I clothe you in this garment or let you go to the mosque,' and it is one entire statement in the normal pattern of speech. If he breaks any of that oath, divorce is necessary, and there is no breaking of oath after that in whatever he does. There is only one oath to be broken in that."

Malik said, "What we do about a woman who makes a vow without her husband's permission is that she is allowed to do so and she must fulfill it, if it only concerns her own person and will not harm her husband. If, however, it will harm her husband, he may forbid her to fulfill it, but it remains an obligation against her until she has the opportunity to complete it."

Allah's Apostle said, "Fasting is a shield (or a screen or a shelter). So, the person observing fasting should avoid sexual relation with his wife and should not behave foolishly and impudently, and if somebody fights with him or abuses him, he should tell him twice, 'I am fasting." The Prophet added, "By Him in Whose Hands my soul is, the smell coming out from the mouth of a fasting person is better in the sight of Allah than the smell of musk. (Allah says about the fasting person), 'He has left his food, drink and desires for My sake. The fast is for Me. So I will reward (the fasting person) for it and the reward of good deeds is multiplied ten times."

Yahya related to me from Malik that Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Abi Sasaca said that he heard Abu'l-Hubab Said ibn Yasar say that he had heard Abu Hurayra say, "The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'Allah afflicts the one for whom He desires good.'"

Ma'iz came to the Prophet (saws) and admitted (having committed adultery) four times in his presence so he ordered him to be stoned to death, but said to Huzzal: If you had covered him with your garment, it would have been better for you.

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 wives of the Prophet out of their jealousy, backed each other against the Prophet, so I said to them, "It may be, if he divorced you all, that Allah will give him, instead of you wives better than you." So this Verse was revealed. (66.5)

Yahya related to me from Malik from Sumayy, the mawla of Abu Bakr, that Abu Bakr ibn Abd ar-Rahman used to say, "Someone who goes to the mosque in the morning or the afternoon with no intention of going anywhere else, either to learn good or teach it, is like someone who does jihad in the way of Allah and returns with booty."

Bashir's name in pre-Islamic days was Zahm ibn Ma'bad. When he migrated to the Messenger of Allah (saws). He asked: What is your name? He replied: Zahm. He said: No, you are Bashir.

He (Bashir) said: When I was walking with the Messenger of Allah (saws) he passed by the graves of the polytheists. He said: They lived before (a period of) abundant good. He said this three times. He then passed by the graves of Muslims. He said: They received abundant good.

The Messenger of Allah (saws) suddenly saw a man walking in shoes between the graves. He said: O man, wearing the shoes! Woe to thee! Take off thy shoes. So the man looked (round), When he recognized the Messenger of Allah (saws), he took them off and threw them away.

I heard the Messenger of Allah (saws) say: If any of you is suffering from anything or his brother is suffering, he should say: Our Lord is Allah Who is in the heaven, holy is Thy name, Thy command reigns supreme in the heaven and the earth, as Thy mercy in the heaven, make Thy mercy in the earth; forgive us our sins, and our errors; Thou art the Lord of good men; send down mercy from Thy mercy, and remedy, and remedy from Thy remedy on this pain so that it is healed up.

The Prophet offered a wedding banquet on the occasion of his marriage to Zainab, and provided a good meal for the Muslims. Then he went out as was his custom on marrying, he came to the dwelling places of the mothers of the Believers (i.e. his wives) invoking good (on them), and they were invoking good (on him). Then he departed (and came back) and saw two men (still sitting there). So he left again. I do not remember whether I informed him or he was informed (by somebody else) of their departure).

Abu-l-Qasim (the Prophet) said, "On Friday there is a particular time. If a Muslim happens to be praying and invoking Allah for something good during that time, Allah will surely fulfill his request." The Prophet pointed out with his hand. We thought that he wanted to illustrate how short that time was.

Allah's Apostle said, "If Allah wants to do good to somebody, He afflicts him with trials."

We used to say in the prayer: 'AsSalam be on Allah, As-Salam be on so-and so.' So one day the Prophet said to us, "Allah Himself is As-Salam; when anyone of you sits during his prayer, he should say: 'at-tah, iyyatu-li l-lahi,' up to 'As-Salihin,' (All the compliments are for Allah ...righteous people) for when he recites this, then he says his Salam to all the righteous people present in the heavens and on the earth. Then he should say, 'I testify that none has the right to be worshipped except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and His Apostle,' and then he can select whatever he likes to celebrate (Allah's) Praises."

Abu Dawud said: Abu Sa'id added the following words in his version: He should then tale hold of her forelock and pray for blessing in the case of a woman or a slave.

I came to Medina when an epidemic had broken out. While I was sitting with `Umar bin Al-Khattab a funeral procession passed by and the people praised the deceased. `Umar said, "It has been affirmed to him." And another funeral procession passed by and the people praised the deceased. `Umar said, "It has been affirmed to him." A third (funeral procession) passed by and the people spoke badly of the deceased. He said, "It has been affirmed to him." I (Abu Al-Aswad) asked, "O chief of the believers! What has been affirmed?" He replied, "I said the same as the Prophet had said, that is: if four persons testify the piety of a Muslim, Allah will grant him Paradise." We asked, "If three persons testify his piety?" He (the Prophet) replied, "Even three." Then we asked, "If two?" He replied, "Even two." We did not ask him regarding one witness.

About the story of `Aisha and their narrations were similar attesting each other, when the liars said what they invented about `Aisha, and the Divine Inspiration was delayed, Allah's Apostle sent for `Ali and Usama to consult them in divorcing his wife (i.e. `Aisha). Usama said, "Keep your wife, as we know nothing about her except good." Barirah said, "I cannot accuse her of any defect except that she is still a young girl who sleeps, neglecting her family's dough which the domestic goats come to eat (i.e. she was too simpleminded to deceive her husband)." Allah's Apostle said, "Who can help me to take revenge over the man who has harmed me by defaming the reputation of my family? By Allah, I have not known about my family-anything except good, and they mentioned (i.e. accused) a man about whom I did not know anything except good."

Abul Qasim (the Prophet ) said, "There is an hour (or a moment) of particular significance on Friday. If it happens that a Muslim is offering a prayer and invoking Allah for some good at that very moment, Allah will grant him his request." (The sub-narrator placed the top of his finger on the palm of the other hand between the middle finger and the little one.)

People with a bier passed by the Messenger of Allah (saws). They (the companions) spoke highly of him. He said: Paradise is certain for him. Then some people with another (bier) passed by him. They spoke very badly of him. He said: Hell is certain for him. He then said: Some of you are witness to others.

That her father (Abu Bakr) never broke his oath till Allah revealed the order of the legal expiation for oath. Abu Bakr said, "If I ever take an oath (to do something) and later find that to do something else is better, then I accept Allah's permission and do that which is better, (and do the legal expiation for my oath ) ".

The Prophet came out to inform us about the Night of Qadr but two Muslims were quarreling with each other. So, the Prophet said, "I came out to inform you about the Night of Qadr but such-and-such persons were quarreling, so the news about it had been taken away; yet that might be for your own good, so search for it on the 29th, 27th and 25th (of Ramadan).