In Surat al-Muzzammil (73), the verse: "Keep vigil at night but a little, a half thereof" (2-3) has been abrogated by the following verse: "He knoweth that ye count it not, and turneth unto you in mercy. Recite then of the Qur'an that which is easy for you" (v.20). The phrase "the vigil of the night" (nashi'at al-layl) means the early hours of the night. They (the companions) would pray (the tahajjud prayer) in the early hours of the night.

He (Ibn Abbas) says: It is advisable to offer the prayer at night (tahajjud), prescribed by Allah for you (in the early hours of the night). This is because when a person sleeps, he does not know when he will awake. The words "speech more certain" (aqwamu qilan) means that this time is more suitable for the understanding of the Qur'an. He says: The verse: "Lo, thou hast by day a chain of business" (v.7) means engagement for long periods (in the day's work).

Yahya related to me from Malik from Yahya ibn Said from Muhammad ibn Ibrahim that Abd ar-Rahman ibn Abi Amra al-Ansari said that Uthman ibn Affan came to the isha prayer and seeing only a few people in the mosque, he lay down at the back of the mosque to wait for the number of people to increase. Ibn Abi Amra went and sat down beside him and Uthman asked him who he was, so he told him. Uthman said, "What have you memorised of the Qur'an?", and he told him. Uthman said, "If someone is present at isha, it is as if he had stood in prayer for half a night, and if some one is present at subh, it is as if he had stood in prayer for a whole night.

Abu Musa was asked regarding (the inheritance of) a daughter, a son's daughter, and a sister. He said, "The daughter will take one-half and the sister will take one-half. If you go to Ibn Mas`ud, he will tell you the same." Ibn Mas`ud was asked and was told of Abu Musa's verdict. Ibn Mas`ud then said, "If I give the same verdict, I would stray and would not be of the rightly-guided. The verdict I will give in this case, will be the same as the Prophet did, i.e. one-half is for daughter, and one-sixth for the son's daughter, i.e. both shares make two-thirds of the total property; and the rest is for the sister." Afterwards we cams to Abu Musa and informed him of Ibn Mas`ud's verdict, whereupon he said, "So, do not ask me for verdicts, as long as this learned man is among you."

The Prophet (saws) said about a person who had intercourse with his wife while she was menstruating: He must give one dinar or half a dinar in alms.

Abu Dawud said: The correct version says si: One dinar or half a dinar. Shu'bah (a narrator) did not sometimes narrate this tradition as a statement of the Prophet (saws).

Mu`adh bin Jabal gave this verdict for us in the lifetime of Allah's Apostle. One-half of the inheritance is to be given to the daughter and the other half to the sister. Sulaiman said: Mu`adh gave a verdict for us, but he did not mention that it was so in the lifetime of Allah's Apostle.

Ash-'Shu`bi asked me, "Did you notice how Al-Hasan used to narrate Hadiths from the Prophets? I stayed with Ibn `Umar for about two or one-and-half years and I did not hear him narrating any thing from the Prophet except his (Hadith): He (Ibn `Umar) said, "Some of the companions of the Prophet including Sa`d, were going to eat meat, but one of the wives of the Prophet called them, saying, 'It is the meat of a Mastigure.' The people then stopped eating it. On that Allah's Apostle said, 'Carry on eating, for it is lawful.' Or said, 'There is no harm in eating it, but it is not from my meals."

I asked Abu Sa'id al-Khudri about wearing lower garment. He said: You have come to the man who knows it very well. The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: The way for a believer to wear a lower garment is to have it halfway down his legs and he is guilty of no sin if it comes halfway between that and the ankles, but what comes lower than the ankles is in Hell. On the day of Resurrection. Allah will not look at him who trails his lower garment conceitedly.

I suffered from drought; so I entered a garden of Medina, and rubbed an ear-corn. I ate and carried in my garment. Then its master came, he beat me and took my garment. He came to the Messenger of Allah (saws) who said to him: You did not teach him if he was ignorant; and you did not feed him if he was hungry. He ordered him, so he returned my garment to me, and gave me one or half a wasq (sixty or thirty sa's) of corn.

Allah's Apostle said to me, "The most beloved fasting to Allah was the fasting of (the Prophet) David who used to fast on alternate days. And the most beloved prayer to Allah was the prayer of David who used to sleep for (the first) half of the night and pray for 1/3 of it and (again) sleep for a sixth of it."

The Prophet delayed the `Isha' prayer till midnight and then he offered the prayer and said, "The people prayed and slept but you have been in prayer as long as you have been waiting for it (the prayer)." Anas added: As if I am looking now at the glitter of the ring of the Prophet on that night.

I sat with Ka`b bin Ujra in this mosque, i.e. Kufa Mosque, and asked him about the meaning of: "Pay a ransom (i.e. Fidya) of either fasting or . . . . (2.196)" He said, "I was taken to the Prophet while lice were falling on my face. The Prophet said, 'I did not think that your trouble reached to such an extent. Can you afford to slaughter a sheep (as a ransom for shaving your head)?' I said, 'No.' He said, 'Then fast for three days, or feed six poor persons by giving half a Sa of food for each and shave your head.' So the above Verse was revealed especially for me and generally for all of you."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Two deens shall not co-exist in the Arabian Peninsula."

Malik said that Ibn Shihab said, ''Umar ibn al-Khattab searched for information about that until he was absolutely convinced that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had said, 'Two deens shall not co-exist in the Arabian Peninsula,' and he therefore expelled the jews from Khaybar."

Malik said, ''Umar ibn al-Khattab expelled the jews from Najran (a jewish settlement in the Yemen) and Fadak (a jewish settlement thirty miles from Madina). When the jews of Khaybar left, they did not take any fruit or land. The jews of Fadak took half the fruit and half the land, because the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had made a settlement with them for that. So Umar entrusted to them the value in gold, silver, camels, ropes and saddle bags of half the fruit and half the land, and handed the value over to them and expelled them."

(The Prophet) Solomon son of (the Prophet) David said, "Tonight I will go round (i.e. have sexual relations with) one hundred women (my wives) everyone of whom will deliver a male child who will fight in Allah's Cause." On that an Angel said to him, "Say: 'If Allah will.' " But Solomon did not say it and forgot to say it. Then he had sexual relations with them but none of them delivered any child except one who delivered a half person. The Prophet said, "If Solomon had said: 'If Allah will,' Allah would have fulfilled his (above) desire and that saying would have made him more hopeful."

Allah's Apostle told me, "The most beloved prayer to Allah is that of David and the most beloved fasts to Allah are those of David. He used to sleep for half of the night and then pray for one third of the night and again sleep for its sixth part and used to fast on alternate days."

Al-Hasan reported: Umar ibn al-Khattab gathered the people (in tarawih prayer) behind Ubayy ibn Ka'b (who led them). He used to lead them for twenty days (during Ramadan, and would not recite the supplication except in the second half of it (i.e. Ramadan). When the last ten days remained, he kept away from them, and prayed in his house. They used to say: Ubayy ran away.

Abu Dawud said: This tradition shows that whatever has been reported about the recitation of the supplication is not tenable. Moreover, these two traditions from Ubayy b. Ka'b indicate that another tradition which tells that the Prophet (saws) recited the supplication in the witr is weak.

The Prophet said, "The example of Muslims, Jews and Christians is like the example of a man who employed laborers to work for him from morning till night. They worked till midday and they said, 'We are not in need of your reward.' So the man employed another batch and said to them, 'Complete the rest of the day and yours will be the wages I had fixed (for the first batch). They worked until the time of the `Asr prayer and said, 'Whatever we have done is for you.' He employed another batch. They worked for the rest of the day till sunset, and they received the wages of the two former batches."

Sahl bin Hunaif and Qais bin Sa`d were sitting in the city of Al-Qadisiya. A funeral procession passed in front of them and they stood up. They were told that funeral procession was of one of the inhabitants of the land i.e. of a non-believer, under the protection of Muslims. They said, "A funeral procession passed in front of the Prophet and he stood up. When he was told that it was the coffin of a Jew, he said, "Is it not a living being (soul)?"

Yahya related to me from Malik that Ibn Shihab and also Urwa ibn az-Zubayr said the same as Said ibn al-Musayyab said about a woman. Her blood-money from a man is the same up to a third of the blood-money of a man. If what she is owed exceeds a third of the blood-money of the man, she is given up to half of the blood-money of a man.

Malik said, "The explanation of that is that she has blood-money for a head wound that lays bare the bone and one that splinters the bone and for what is less than the brain wound and the belly wound and the like of that of those which obliges a third of the blood-money or more. If the amount owed her exceeds that, her blood- money in that is half of the blood-money of a man."

Abu Musa reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying that Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, Stretches out His Hand during the night so that the people may repent for the fault committed from dawn till dusk and He stretches out His Hand during the day so that the people may repent for the fault committed from dusk to dawn. (He would accept repentance) before the sun rises in the west (before the Day of Resurrection). A hadith like this has been narrated on the authority of Shu'ba with the same chain of transmitters.

Allah's Apostle entered upon me and said, "Have I not been informed that you offer prayer all the night and fast the whole day?" I said, "Yes." He said, "Do not do so; Offer prayer at night and also sleep; Fast for a few days and give up fasting for a few days because your body has a right on you, and your eye has a right on you, and your guest has a right on you, and your wife has a right on you. I hope that you will have a long life, and it is sufficient for you to fast for three days a month as the reward of a good deed, is multiplied ten times, that means, as if you fasted the whole year." I insisted (on fasting more) so I was given a hard instruction. I said, "I can do more than that (fasting)" The Prophet said, "Fast three days every week." But as I insisted (on fasting more) so I was burdened. I said, "I can fast more than that." The Prophet said, "Fast as Allah's prophet David used to fast." I said, "How was the fasting of the prophet David?" The Prophet said, "One half of a year (i.e. he used to fast on alternate days). '