Sunan Abi Dawud: General Behavior (Kitab Al-Adab)

the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was one of the best of men in character. One day he sent me to do something, and I said: I swore by Allah that I would not go. But in my heart I felt that I should go to do what the Prophet of Allah (ﷺ) had commanded me; so I went out and came upon some boys who were playing in the street. All of a sudden the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) who had come up behind caught me by the back of the neck, and when I looked at him he was laughing. He said: Go where I ordered you, little Anas. I replied: Yes, I am going, Apostle of Allah! Anas said: I swear by Allah, I served him for seven or nine years, and he never said to me about a thing which I had done: Why did you do such and such? Nor about a thing which I left: why did not do such and such?

I served the Prophet (ﷺ) at Medina for ten years. I was a boy. Every work that I did was not according to the desire of my master, but he never said to me: Fie, nor did he say to me: Why did you do this? or Why did you not do this?

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to sit with us in meetings and talk to us. When he stood up we also used to stand up and see him entering the house of one of his wives. One day he talked to us and we stood up as he stood up and we saw that an Arabi (a nomadic Arab) caught hold of him and gave his cloak a violent tug making his neck red.

AbuHurayrah said: The cloak was coarse. He turned to him and the Arabi said to him: Load these two camels of mine, for you do not give me anything from your property or from your father's property.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said to him: No, I ask Allah's forgiveness; no, I ask Allah's forgiveness; no, I ask Allah's forgiveness. I shall not give you the camel-load until you make amends for the way in which you tugged at me.

Each time the Arabi said to him: I swear by Allah, I shall not do so.

He then mentioned the rest of the tradition. He (the Prophet), then called a man and said to him: Load these two camels of his: one camel with barley and the other with dates. He then turned to us and said: Go on your way with the blessing of Allah.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Good way, dignified good bearing and moderation are the twenty-fifth part of Prophecy.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: If anyone suppresses anger when he is in a position to give vent to it, Allah, the Exalted, will call him on the Day of Resurrection over the heads of all creatures, and ask him to choose any of the bright and large eyed maidens he wishes.

Abu Dawud said: The name of the transmitter Abu Marhum is 'Abd al-Rahman b. Maimun

He then mentioned a similar tradition described above. This version has: Allah will fill his heart with security and faith. He did not mention the words "Allah will call him". This version further adds: He who gives up wearing beautiful garments when he is able to do so (out of humility, as Bishr's version has) will be clothed by Allah with the robe of honour, and he who marries for Allah's sake will be crowned by Allah with the crown of Kingdom.

Whom do you consider a wrestler among you? The people replied: (the man) whom the men cannot defeat in wrestling. He said: No, it is he who controls himself when he is angry.

Two men reviled each other in the presence of the Prophet (ﷺ) and one of them became excessively angry so much so that I thought that his nose will break up on account of excess of anger. The Prophet (ﷺ) said: I know a phrase which, if he repeated, he could get rid of this angry feeling. They asked: What is it, Messenger of Allah? He replied: He should say: I seek refuge in Thee from the accursed devil. Mu'adh then began to ask him to do so, but he refused and persisted in quarrelling, and began to enhance his anger.

Two men reviled each other in the presence of the Prophet (ﷺ). Then the eyes of one of them became red and his jugular veins swelled. The Apostle of Allah (ﷺ) said: I know a phrase by repeating which the man could get rid of the angry feelings: I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed devil. The man said: Do you see insanity in me.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said to us: When one of you becomes angry while standing, he should sit down. If the anger leaves him, well and good; otherwise he should lie down.

The Prophet (ﷺ) sent Mu`adh for some of his work. He then transmitted the rest of the tradition mentioned above.

Abu Dawud said: This tradition is sounder of the two traditions.

AbuWa'il al-Qass said: We entered upon Urwah ibn Muhammad ibn as-Sa'di. A man spoke to him and made him angry. So he stood and performed ablution; he then returned and performed ablution, and said: My father told me on the authority of my grandfather Atiyyah who reported the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as saying: Anger comes from the devil, the devil was created of fire, and fire is extinguished only with water; so when one of you becomes angry, he should perform ablution.

the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was never given his choice between two things without taking the easier(or lesser) of them provided it involved no sin, for if it did, no one kept farther away from it than he. And the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) never took revenge on his own behalf for anything unless something Allah had forbidden has been transgressed, in which event he took revenge for it for Allah’s sake.

the Messenger of Allah (saws ) never struck a servant or a woman.

The Prophet of Allah (ﷺ) was commanded to hold to forgiveness from the conduct of the people.

When the Prophet (ﷺ) was informed of anything of a certain man, he would not say: What is the matter with so and so that he says? But he would say: What is the matter with the people that they say such and such?

A man who had the mark of yellowness on him came to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). The apostle of Allah (ﷺ) rarely mentioned anything of a man which he disliked before him. When he went out, he said: Would that you asked him to wash it from him.

Abu Dawud said: Salam is not 'Alawi (from the descendants of 'Ali). He used to foretell events by stars. He bore witness before 'Abi b. Arafat to the visibility of moon, but he did not accept his witness.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: The believer is simple and generous, but the profligate is deceitful and ignoble.

A man asked permission to see the Prophet (ﷺ), and he said: He is a bad son of the tribe, or: He is a bad member of the tribe. He then said : Give him permission. Then when he entered, he spoke to him leniently. `A’isha asked : Apostle of Allah! You spoke to him leniently while you said about him what you said! He replied: The one who will have the worst position in Allah’s estimation on the Day of Resurrection will be the one whom people left alone for fear of his ribaldry.

A man asked permission to see the Prophet (ﷺ), and the Prophet (ﷺ) said: He is a bad member of the tribe. When he entered, the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) treated in a frank and friendly way and spoke to him. When he departed , I said: Messenger of Allah! When he asked permission, you said: He is a bad member of the tribe, but when he entered, you treated him in a frank and friendly way. The Messenger of Allah replied: Aisha! Allah does not like the one who is unseemly and lewd in his language.

the Prophet (ﷺ) said: `A’isha! There are some bad people who are respected for fear of their tongues.

I never said that when any man brought his mouth to the ear of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and he withdrew his head until the man himself withdrew his head, and I never saw that when any man took him by his hand and he withdrew his hand, until the man himself withdrew his hand.

The Prophet (ﷺ) passed by a man of the Ansar when he was giving his brother a warning against modesty. The Apostle of Allah (ﷺ) said : Leave him alone, for modesty is a part of faith.

We were sitting with `Imran b. Hussain and Bushair b. Ka`b was also there. `Imran b. Hussain reported the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as saying: Modesty is good altogether, or he said: Modesty is altogether good. Bushair b. Ka`b said : We find in some books that there is a modesty which produces peace and dignified bearing, and there is a modesty which produces weakness. `Imran b. Hussain repeated the same words. So `Imran became angry so much so that his eyes became red, and he said : Don’t you see that I am transmitting a tradition from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and you are mentioning something from your books? He (Qatadah) said : We said : Abu Nujaid, it is sufficient.

One of the things people have learnt from the words of the earliest prophecy is : If you have no shame, do what you like.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: By his good character a believer will attain the degree of one who prays during the night and fasts during the day.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: There is nothing heavier than good character put in the scale of a believer on the Day of Resurrection.

Abu al-Walid said: I heard 'Ata al-Kaikharani say: Abu Dawud said: His name is 'Ata b. Ya'qub. He is the maternal uncle of Ibrahim b. Nafi'. He is called Kaikharani or Kukharani.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: I guarantee a house in the surroundings of Paradise for a man who avoids quarrelling even if he were in the right, a house in the middle of Paradise for a man who avoids lying even if he were joking, and a house in the upper part of Paradise for a man who made his character good.

neither the Jawwaz nor the Jazari will enter paradise. He said that the Jawwaz is the one who is coarse and uncivil.

The she-camel of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) called al-Adba’ had not been outstripped by another, but an A`rabi (a nomadic Arab) came on a young riding camel of his and it outstripped it. That distressed the companions of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), but he said: It is Allah’s right that nothing should become exalted in the world but he lowers it.

It is Allah’s right that nothing should become exalted in the world but he lowers it.

A man came and praised ‘Uthman in his face, al-Miqdad b. Al-Aswad took dust and threw it on his face, saying : The Apostle of Allah (ﷺ) said : When you see those who are given to praising people, throw dust in their faces.

You have beheaded your friend (saying it three times). He then said : One who cannot help expressing praise of his companion, should say : I consider him such and such (as he intends to say), but I do not declare him pure with Allah.

I went with a deputation of Banu Amir to the apostle of Allah (ﷺ), and we said: You are our lord (sayyid). To this he replied: The lord is Allah, the Blessed and Exalted. Then we said: And the one of us most endowed with excellence and superiority. To this he replied: Say what you have to say, or part of what you have to say, and do not let the devil make you his agents.

Allah is gentle, likes gentleness, and gives for gentleness what he does not give for harshness.

Al-Miqdam ibn Shurayh, quoting his father, said: I asked Aisha about living in the desert. She said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to go to the desert to these rivulets. Once he intended to go to the desert and he sent to me a she-camel from the camel of sadaqah which had not been used for riding so far. He said to me: Aisha! show gentleness, for if gentleness is found in anything, it beautifies it and when it is taken out from anything it damages it.

Ibn al-Sabbah said in his version: Muharramah means a mount which has not been used for riding.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: He who is deprived of gentleness is deprived of good.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: There is hesitation in everything except in the actions of the next world.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: He who does not thank the people is not thankful to Allah.

The Immigrants (Muhajirun) said: Messenger of Allah! the Helpers (Ansar) got the entire reward. He said: no, so long as you pray to Allah for them and praise them.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: If someone is given something, he should give a return for it provided he can afford; if he cannot afford, he should praise him. He who praises him for it, thanks him, and he who conceals it is ungrateful to him.

Abu Dawud said: It has been transmitted by Yahya b. Ayyub, from `Umarah b. Ghaziyyah, from Sharahbil on the authority of Jabir.

Abu Dawud said: In the chain of this tradition `Umarah b. Ghaziyyah said: A man from my tribe said. The man referred by him is Sharahbil. It is likely that they disliked him and, therefore, they did not name him.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: If someone is donated something, and he mentions it, he thanks for it, and if he conceals it, he is ungrateful for it.

Avoid sitting in the roads. The people said: Apostle of Allah! We must have meeting places in which to converse. The apostle of Allah (ﷺ) said: If you insist on meeting, give the road its due. They asked: What is the due of roads, Apostle of Allah? He replied: Lowering the eyes, removing anything offensive, returning salutation, commanding what is reputable and forbidding what is disreputable.

And guiding the people on their way.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: the same occasion: Help the oppressed (sorrowful) and guide those who have lost their way.

A woman came to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and said: Messenger of Allah: I have some need with you. He said to her: Mother of so and so, sit in the corner of any street you wish and I shall sit with you. So she sat and the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) also sat with her till she fulfilled her need.

The narrator Ibn 'Isa did not mention "till she fulfilled her need." And Kathir said: from Humaid on the authority of Anas.

A woman who had something (feebleness) in her mind.

I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as saying: The best places to sit are those which provide most room.

Abu Dawud said: The name of 'Abd al-Rahman b. Abi 'Amr is 'Abd al-Rahman b. 'Amr b. Abi 'Umrat al-Ansari.

AbulQasim (ﷺ) said: When one of you is in the sun (Shams)--Makhlad's version has "fay'"--and the shadow withdraws from him so that he is partly in sun and partly in shade, he should get up.

Qais quoted his father as saying that he (his father) came when the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was addressing. He stood in the sun. He ordered him (to shift) and he shifted to the shade.

the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) entered the mosque, and saw them (his companions) in separate groups. He said: How is it that I see you in separate groups?

It seems he liked collective gathering.

When we came to the Prophet (ﷺ), each one would sit down where there was room.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) cursed the one who sat in the middle of a circle.

Sa'id ibn AbulHasan said: When AbuBakrah came to us to give some evidence, a man got up from his place, but he refused to sit in it saying: The Prophet (ﷺ) forbade this, and the Prophet (ﷺ) forbade anyone to wipe his hand on the garment of anyone whose clothing he had not himself provided.

A man came to the Prophet (ﷺ), another man got up from his place for him, and when he went to sit in it, the Prophet (ﷺ) forbade him.

Abu Dawud said: The name of Abu al-Khusaib is Ziyad b. 'Abd al-Rahman.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: A believer who recites the Qur'an is like a citron whose fragrance is sweet and whose taste is sweet, a believer who does not recite the Qur'an is like a date which has no fragrance but has sweet taste, a profligate who recites the Qur'an is like basil whose fragrance is sweet but whose taste is bitter, and the profligate who does not recite the Qur'an is like the colocynth which has a bitter taste and has not fragrance. A good companion is like a man who has musk; if nothing of it goes to you, its fragrance will (certainly) go to you; and a bad companion is like a man who has bellows; if its (black) root does not go to you, its smoke will (certainly) go to you.

Anas said: We used tell one another that a good companion is like... He then transmitted the rest of the tradition.

The tradition mentioned above has also been transmitted by Anas b. Malik from the Prophet (ﷺ) through a different chain of narrators in a similar way.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Associate only with a believer, and let only a God-fearing man eat your meals.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: A man follows the religion of his friend; so each one should consider whom he makes his friend.

The spirits are in marshaled hosts; those who know one another will be friendly, and those who do not, will keep apart.

Gladden people and do not scare them; make things easy and do not make them difficult.

I came to the Prophet (ﷺ). The people began to praise me and make a mention of me. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: I know you, that is, he knew him. I said: My father and mother be sacrificed for you! you were my partner and how good a partner ; you neither disputed nor quarrelled.

When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) sat talking (to the people), he would often raise his eyes to the sky.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) spoke in a distinct and leisurely manner.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) spoke in a distinct manner so that anyone who listened to him could understand it.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Every important matter which is not begun by an expression of praise to Allah is maimed.

Abu Dawud said: It has also been transmitted by Yunus, 'Aqil, Shu'aib, Sa'id b. 'Abd al-Aziz from al-Zuhri from the Prophet (ﷺ) in Mursal form (the link of the Companion is missing).

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Every sermon which does not contain a tashahhud is like a hand cut off.

A beggar passed by Aisha and she gave him a piece of bread. Another man who wore clothes and had a good appearance passed by her, and she made him sit down and he ate (with her). When she was asked about that, she replied: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Treat the people according to their ranks.

Abu Dawud said: The version of Yahya is short.

Abu Dawud said: Maimun did not meet 'A'ishah.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Glorifying Allah involves showing honour to a grey-haired Muslim and to one who can expound the Qur'an, but not to one who acts extravagantly regarding it, or turns away from it, and showing honour to a just ruler.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: One should not sit between two men except with their permission.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: It is not lawful for a man to separate two persons except with their permission.

When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) sat, he had his knees drawn up supported by his hands.

Abu Dawud said: 'Abd Allah b. Ibrahim was an old man and his traditions were rejected.

She saw the Prophet (ﷺ) sitting with his arms round his legs. She said: When I saw the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) in such humble condition in the sitting position (according to Musa's version), I trembled with fear.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) came upon me when I was sitting thus: having my left hand behind my back and leaning on the fleshy part of it, and said: Are you sitting in the manner of those with whom Allah is angry?

the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) forbade sleeping before the night prayer and talking after it.

When the Prophet (ﷺ) prayed the dawn prayer, he sat cross-legged where he was till the sun had come well up.

Two persons should not talk privately ignoring the third, for that will grieve him.

Abu Salih said: I asked Ibn `Umar: If they are four? He replied: Then it does not harm you.

I was sitting with my father and there was also a boy with him. He got up and then returned. So my father mentioned a tradition on the authority of Abu Hurairah from the Prophet (ﷺ) saying: If anyone gets up from where he has been sitting and comes back to it, he has most right to it.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) would sit and we would also sit around him. If he got up intending to return, he would take off his sandals or something he was wearing, and his Companions recognising his purpose (that he would return) would stay where they were.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: People who get up from an assembly in which they did not remember Allah will be just as if they had got up from an ass's corpse, and it will be a cause of grief to them.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: If anyone sits at a place where he does not remember Allah, deprivation will descend on him from Allah; and if he lies at a place where he does not remember Allah, deprivation will descend on him from Allah.

There are some expressions which a man utters three times when he gets up from an assembly he will be forgiven for what happened in the assembly; and no one utters them in an assembly held for a noble cause or for remembrance of Allah but that is stamped with them just as a document is stamped with a signet-ring. These expressions are: Glory be to Thee, O Allah, and I begin with praise of Thee, there is no god but thou; I ask Thy pardon, and return to Thee in repentance.

A similar tradition has also been transmitted by Abu Hurairah from the Prophet (ﷺ) through a different chain of narrators.

When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) intended to get up from the assembly he used to say in the last. Glory be to Thee. O Allah, and I begin with praise of Thee, I testify that there is no god but Thou; I ask Thy pardon, and return to Thee in repentance. The man asked: Messenger of Allah! you utter the words now which you did not do in the past? He replied: (This is an) atonement for what takes place in the assembly.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: None of my Companions must tell me anything about anyone, for I like to come out to you with no ill-feelings.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) called me. He intended to send me with some goods to AbuSufyan to distribute among the Quraysh at Mecca after the conquest.

He said: Search for a companion. Then Amr ibn Umayyah ad-Damri came to me and said: I have been told that you are intending to make a journey and are seeking a companion.

I said: Yes. He said: I am your companion. I then went to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and said: I have found a companion.

He asked: Who is he? I replied: Amr ibn Umayyah ad-Damri. He said: When you come down to the territory of his people, be careful of him, for a maxim says: If one is your real brother, do not feel safe with him.

So we proceeded, and when I reached al-Abwa', he said to me: I have some work with my people at Waddan, so stay here till I come back. I said: Do not lose your way. When he turned his back, I recalled the words of the Prophet (ﷺ). So I rode my camel and galloped without stopping. When I reached al-Asafir, he was pursuing me with a group of men. So I galloped and forged ahead of him. When he saw me that I had outstripped him, they returned and he came to me.

He said to me: I had some work with my people. I said: Yes. We then went on until we reached Mecca, and I gave the goods to AbuSufyan.

A believer is not stung twice from the same hole.

when the Prophet(ﷺ) walked, it looked as if he bent forwards.

I saw the Messenger of Allah(ﷺ). I asked: How did you see him? He said: He was white, good-looking, and when he walked, it looked as if he was descending to a low ground.

The Messenger of Allah(ﷺ) forbade that a man should lie placing(and according to Qutaibah’s version: “should raise”) one of his legs over the other. Qutaibah’s version adds: When he was lying on his back.

‘Abbad b. Tamim quoted his paternal uncle as saying that he had seen the Messenger of Allah(ﷺ) lying on his back in the mosque according to Qa’nabi’s version) placing one foot over the other.

‘Umar b. al-khattab and ‘Uthman b. ‘Affan used to do that.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: When a man tells something and then departs, it is a trust.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Meetings are confidential except three: those for the purpose of shedding blood unlawfully, or committing fornication, or acquiring property unjustly.

The most serious breach of trust in Allah’s sight is that a man who has intercourse with his wife, and she with him, spreads her secret.

A mischief-maker will not enter paradise.

The worst of the people is a man who is double-faced; he presents one face to some and another to others.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: He who is two-faced in this world will have two tongues of fire on the Day of Resurrection.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was asked: Messenger of Allah! What is back-biting? He replied: It is saying something about your brother which he would dislike. He was asked again: Tell me how the matter stands if what I say about my brother is true? He replied: If what you say of him is true, you have slandered him, and if what you say of him is not true, you have reviled him.

I said to the Prophet (ﷺ): It is enough for you in Safiyyah that she is such and such (the other version than Musaddad's has:) meaning that she was short-statured. He replied; You have said a word which would change the sea if it were mixed in it. She said: I imitated a man before him (out of disgrace). He said: I do not like that I imitate anyone even if I should get such and such.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: The most prevalent kind of usury is going to lengths in talking unjustly against a Muslim's honour.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: The gravest sin is going to lengths in talking unjustly against a Muslim's honour, and it is a major sin to abuse twice for abusing once.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: When I was taken up to heaven I passed by people who had nails of copper and were scratching their faces and their breasts. I said: Who are these people, Gabriel? He replied: They are those who were given to back biting and who aspersed people's honour.

Abu Dawud said: Yahya b. 'Uthman has also transmitted it from Baqiyyah, there is no mention of Anas in it.

This tradition has also been transmitted by ‘Isa b. Abi ‘Isa al-sailahini from Abu al-Mughirah, as Ibn al-musaffa said.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: O community of people, who believed by their tongue, and belief did not enter their hearts, do not back-bite Muslims, and do not search for their faults, for if anyone searches for their faults, Allah will search for his fault, and if Allah searches for the fault of anyone, He disgraces him in his house.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: If anyone eats once at the cost of a Muslim's honour, Allah will give him a like amount of Jahannam to eat; if anyone clothes himself with a garment at the cost of a Muslim's honour, Allah will clothe him with like amount of Jahannam; and if anyone puts himself in a position of reputation and show Allah will disgrace him with a place of reputation and show on the Day of Resurrection.

Everything of a Muslim is sacred to a Muslim : his property, honour and blood. It is enough evil for any man to despise his brother Muslim.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: If anyone guards a believer from a hypocrite, Allah will send an angel who will guard his flesh on the Day of Resurrection from the fire of Jahannam; but if anyone attacks a Muslim saying something by which he wishes to disgrace him, he will be restrained by Allah on the bridge over Jahannam till he is acquitted of what he said.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: No (Muslim) man will desert a man who is a Muslim in a place where his respect may be violated and his honour aspersed without Allah deserting him in a place here he wishes his help; and no (Muslim) man who will help a Muslim in a place where his honour may be aspersed and his respect violated without Allah helping him in a place where he wishes his help.

Yahya said: 'Ubaid Allah b. 'Abd Allah b. 'Umar and 'Uqbah b. Shaddad transmitted it to me.

Abu Dawud said: This yahya b. Sulaim is the son of Zaid, the freed slave of the Prophet (ﷺ), and Isma'il b. Bashir is the freed slave of Banu Maghalah. Sometimes the name of 'Utbah b. Shaddad is mentioned instead of 'Uqbah.

A desert Arab came and making his camel kneel and tethering it, entered the mosque and prayed behind the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). When The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) had given the salutation, he went to his riding beast and, after untethering and riding it, he called out: O Allah, show mercy to me and to Muhammad and associate no one else in Thy mercy to us. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) then said: Do you think that he or his camel is farther astray? Did you not listen to what he said? They replied: Certainly.

Is one of you helpless to be like AbuDaygham or Damdam (Ibn Ubayd is doubtful) who would say when morning came: O Allah, I gave my honour as alms to Thy servants?

Is one of you unable to be like Abu Damdam? The people asked: who is Abu Damdam? He replied : A man of old before you. He then mentioned the rest of tradition to the tradition to the same effect. This version has : who would say (in the morning) : My honors is for the one who reviles me.

Abu Dawud said: This tradition has also been transmitted by Hashim bin al-Qasim from Muhammad b. 'Adb Allah al-'Ammi from Thabit on the authority of Anas from Prophet (ﷺ) to the same effect.

Abu Dawud said: The tradition of Hammad (i.e. 'Abd al-Rahman's version) is sounder.

I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: If you search for the faults of the people, you will corrupt them, or will nearly corrupt them. AbudDarda' said: These are the words which Mu'awiyah himself from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), and Allah benefited him by them.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: When a ruler seeks to make imputations against the people, he corrupts them.

Zayd ibn Wahb said: A man was brought to Ibn Mas'ud. He was told: This is so and so, and wine was dropping from his beard. Abdullah thereupon said: We have been prohibited to seek out (faults). If anything becomes manifest to us, we shall seize it.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: He who sees something which should be kept hidden and conceals it will be like one who has brought to life a girl buried alive.

AbulHaytham quoted Dukhayn, the scribe of Uqbah ibn Amir, saying: We had some neighbours who used to drink wine. I forbade them, but they did not stop.

I then said to Uqbah ibn Amir: These neighbours of ours drink wine, and I tried to prevent them but they did not stop, and I am going to call the police about them.

He said: Leave them.

I again came to Uqbah ibn Amir and said: Our neighbours have refused to refrain from drinking wine, and I am going to call the police for them.

He said: Woe to thee! Leave them alone. I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: he then mentioned the tradition to the same effect as recorded above on the authority of the narrator Muslim.

Abu Dawud said: In this version Hashim b. al-Qasim said on the authority of Laith: Do not do it, but preach them and threaten them.

A Muslim is a Muslim’s brother: he does not wrong him or abandon him. If anyone cares for his brother’s need, Allah will care for his need ; if anyone removes a Muslim’s anxiety, Allah will remove from him, on account of it, one of the anxieties of the Day of resurrection ; and if anyone conceals a Muslim’s fault, Allah will conceal his fault on the Day of resurrection.

when two men abuse one another, what they say is laid to the charge of the one who began it, so long as the one who is wronged does not go over the score.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Allah has revealed to me that you must be humble, so that no one oppresses another and boasts over another.

While the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was sitting with some of his companions, a man reviled AbuBakr and insulted him. But AbuBakr remained silent. He insulted him twice, but AbuBakr controlled himself. He insulted him thrice and AbuBakr took revenge on him. Then the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) got up when AbuBakr took revenge.

AbuBakr said: Were you angry with me, Messenger of Allah?

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) replied: An angel came down from Heaven and he was rejecting what he had said to you. When you took revenge, a devil came down. I was not going to sit when the devil came down.

A man was reviling Abu Bakr. He then mentioned the rest of the tradition in a similar manner.

Abu Dawud said: Similarly, it has been transmitted by Safwan b. ‘Isa, from Ibn ‘Affan, as Sufyan said.

Ibn Awn said: I asked about the meaning of intisar (revenge) in the Qur'anic verse: "But indeed if any do help and defend themselves (intasara) after a wrong (done) to them, against them there is no cause of blame." Then Ali ibn Zayd ibn Jad'an told me on the authority of Umm Muhammad, the wife of his father.

Ibn Awn said: It was believed that she used to go to the Mother of the Faithful (i.e. Aisha). She said: The Mother of the Faithful said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) came upon me while Zaynab, daughter of Jahsh, was with us. He began to do something with his hand. I signalled to him until I made him understand about her. So he stopped. Zaynab came on and began to abuse Aisha. She tried to prevent her but she did not stop.

So he (the Prophet) said to Aisha: Abuse her.

So she abused her and dominated her. Zaynab then went to Ali and said: Aisha abused you and did (such and such). Then Fatimah came (to the Prophet) and he said to her: She is the favourite of your father, by the Lord of the Ka'bah!

She then returned and said to them: I said to him such and such, and he said to me such and such. Then Ali came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and spoke to him about that.

When your companion dies, leave him and do not revile him.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Make a mention of the virtues of your dead, and refrain from (mentioning) their evils.

I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: There were two men among Banu Isra'il, who were striving for the same goal. One of them would commit sin and the other would strive to do his best in the world. The man who exerted himself in worship continued to see the other in sin.

He would say: Refrain from it. One day he found him in sin and said to him: Refrain from it.

He said: Leave me alone with my Lord. Have you been sent as a watchman over me? He said: I swear by Allah, Allah will not forgive you, nor will he admit you to Paradise. Then their souls were taken back (by Allah), and they met together with the Lord of the worlds.

He (Allah) said to this man who had striven hard in worship; Had you knowledge about Me or had you power over that which I had in My hand? He said to the man who sinned: Go and enter Paradise by My mercy. He said about the other: Take him to Hell.

AbuHurayrah said: By Him in Whose hand my soul is, he spoke a word by which this world and the next world of his were destroyed.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: There is no sin more fitted to have punishment meted out by Allah to its perpetrator in advance in this world along with what He stores up for him in the next world than oppression and severing ties of relationship.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Avoid envy, for envy devours good deeds just as fire devours fuel or (he said) "grass."

Sahl ibn AbuUmamah said that he and his father (AbuUmamah) visited Anas ibn Malik at Medina during the time (rule) of Umar ibn AbdulAziz when he (Anas ibn Malik) was the governor of Medina. He was praying a very short prayer as if it were the prayer of a traveller or near it.

When he gave a greeting, my father said: May Allah have mercy on you! Tell me about this prayer: Is it obligatory or supererogatory?

He said: It is obligatory; it is the prayer performed by the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). I did not make a mistake except in one thing that I forgot.

He said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to say: Do not impose austerities on yourselves so that austerities will be imposed on you, for people have imposed austerities on themselves and Allah imposed austerities on them. Their survivors are to be found in cells and monasteries. (Then he quoted:) "Monasticism, they invented it; we did not prescribe it for them."

Next day he went out in the morning and said: will you not go out for a ride, so that you may see something and take a lesson from it?

He said: Yes. Then all of them rode away and reached a land whose inhabitants had perished, passed away and died. The roofs of the town had fallen in.

He asked: Do you know this land? I said: Who acquainted me with it and its inhabitants? (Anas said:) This is the land of the people whom oppression and envy destroyed. Envy extinguishes the light of good deeds, and oppression confirms or falsifies it. The eye commits fornication, and the palm of the hand, the foot, body, tongue and private part of the body confirm it or deny it.

when a man cures anything, the curse goes up to heaven and the gates of heaven are locked against it. Then it comes down to the earth and its gates are locked against it. Then it goes right and left, and if it finds no place of entrance it returns to the thing which was cursed, and if it finds no place of entrance it returns to the thing which was cursed, and if it deserves what was said (it enters it), otherwise it returns to the one who uttered it.

Abu Dawud said : Marwan b. Muhammad said: He is Rabah b. al-Walid who heard from him (nimran). He (Marwan b. Muhammad) said: Yahya b. Hussain was confused in it.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Do not invoke Allah's curse, Allah's anger, or Hell.

I heard the Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) say: Men given to cursing will not be witnesses or intercessors.

A man cursed the wind. The narrator Muslim's version has: The wind snatched away a man's cloak during the time of the Prophet (ﷺ) and he cursed it. The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Do not curse it, for it is under command, and if anyone curses a thing undeservedly, the curse returns upon him.

Something of her was stolen, and she began to curse him (i.e. the thief). The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said to her: Do not lessen his sin.

Do not hate each other; do not envy each other; do not desert each other; and be the servants of Allah as brethren. It is not allowed for a Muslim to keep apart from his brother for more than three days.

it is not allowable for a Muslim to keep apart from his brother for more than three days. When they meet, this turns away from him, and that turns away from him. The better of the two is the one who initiates in salutation.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: It is not allowable for a believer to keep from a believer for more than three days. If three days pass, he should meet him and give him a salutation, and if he replies to it they will both have shared in the reward; but if he does not reply he will bear his sin (according to Ahmad's version) and the one who gives the salutation will have come forth from the sin of keeping apart.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: It is not right for a Muslim to keep apart from another Muslim for more than three days. Then when he meets him and gives three salutations, receiving during that time no response, the other bears his sin.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: It is not allowable for a Muslim to keep apart from his brother for more than three days, for one who does so and dies will enter Hell.

AbuKhirash heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: If one keeps apart from his brother for a year, it is like shedding his blood.

The gates of Paradise are opened on Mondays and Thursdays, and forgiveness is granted to every man who does not associate anything with Allah, except for a man between whom and his brother there is rancor. Command will be given that they should be given respite till they conciliate.

Abu Dawud said: The Prophet (ﷺ) kept apart from some of his wives for forty days, and Ibn 'Umar kept apart from his son till he died.

Abu Dawud said: If keeping apart is meant for the sake of Allah, then it has no concern with it. 'Umar bin 'Abd al-'Aziz covered his face from a man.

Avoid suspicion for suspicion is the most lying form of talk. Do not be inquisitive about one another, or spy on one another.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: The believer is the believer's mirror, and the believer is the believer's brother who guards him against loss and protects him when he is absent.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Shall I not inform you of something more excellent in degree than fasting, prayer and almsgiving (sadaqah)? The people replied: Yes, Prophet of Allah! He said: It is putting things right between people, spoiling them is the shaver (destructive).

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: He who forged in order to put things right between two persons did not lie. The version by Ahmad ibn Muhammad and Musaddad has: The liar is not the one who puts things right between people, saying what is good and increasing good.

I did not hear the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) making a concession for anything people say falsely except in three matters. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) would say: I do not count as a liar a man who puts things right between people, saying a word by which he intends only putting things right, and a man who says something in war, and a man who says something to his wife, or a wife who says something to her husband.

The Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) came and visited me in the morning when I had been conducted to my husband, and sat on my bedding as you are sitting beside me. Some little girls of ours began to play the tambourine and eulogise those of my ancestors who were killed in the battle of Badr, and then one of them said: And among us is a Prophet who knows what will happen tomorrow. He said : Stop this and say what you were saying.

When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) came to Medina, the Abyssinians played for his coming out of joy; they played with spears.

Nafi' said: Ibn Umar heard a pipe, put his fingers in his ears and went away from the road. He said to me: Are you hearing anything? I said: No. He said: He then took his fingers out of his ears and said: I was with the Prophet (ﷺ), and he heard like this and he did like this.

AbuAli al-Lu'lu said: I heard AbuDawud say: This is a rejected tradition.

I was sitting behind Ibn ‘Umar on the mount when he passed a shepherd who was blowing a pipe. He then mentioned the rest of the tradition in a similar manner.

Abu Dawud said : Between Mut’im and Nafi the name of a narrator Sulaiman b. Musa has been inserted.

When we were with Ibn ‘Umar, he heard the sound of a man who was blowing a pipe. He then mentioned a similar tradition.

Abu Dawud said : This is more rejected.

They began to play, amuse and sing. He united the support of his hand round his knees that were drawn up, and said: I heard Abdullah (ibn Mas'ud) say: I heard the apostle of Allah (ﷺ) say: Singing produces hypocrisy in the heart.

Am effeminate man (mukhannath) who had dyed his hands and feet with henna was brought to the Prophet (ﷺ). He asked: What is the matter with this man? He was told: "Messenger of Allah! He imitates the look of women." So he issued an order regarding him and he was banished to an-Naqi'. The people said: Messenger of Allah! Should we not kill him? He said: I have been prohibited from killing people who pray. AbuUsamah said: Naqi' is a region near Medina and not a Baqi'.

if Allah conquers al-Ta’if for you tomorrow, I shall lead you to a woman who has four folds of fats in front and eight behind. Thereupon the Prophet (May peace be upon him) said: Put them out of your houses.

Abu Dawud said : The woman had four folds of fat on her belly.

The Prophet (May peace be upon him) cursed effeminate men (mukhannathan) and women who imitated men, saying: Put them out of your houses, and put so-and-so out. (that is to say, the effeminate men)

I used to play with dolls. Sometimes the Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) entered upon me when the girls were with me. When he came in, they went out, and when he went out, they came in.

When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) arrived after the expedition to Tabuk or Khaybar (the narrator is doubtful), the draught raised an end of a curtain which was hung in front of her store-room, revealing some dolls which belonged to her.

He asked: What is this? She replied: My dolls. Among them he saw a horse with wings made of rags, and asked: What is this I see among them? She replied: A horse. He asked: What is this that it has on it? She replied: Two wings. He asked: A horse with two wings? She replied: Have you not heard that Solomon had horses with wings? She said: Thereupon the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) laughed so heartily that I could see his molar teeth.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) married me when I was seven or six. When we came to Medina, some women came. according to Bishr's version: Umm Ruman came to me when I was swinging. They took me, made me prepared and decorated me. I was then brought to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), and he took up cohabitation with me when I was nine. She halted me at the door, and I burst into laughter.

Abu Dawud said: That is to say: I menstruated, and I was brought in a house, and there were some women of the Ansari in it. They said: With good luck and blessing. The tradition of one of them has been included in the other.

The tradition mentioned above (No. 4915) has also been transmitted by AbuUsamah in a similar manner through a different chain of narrators.

This version has: "With good fortune. " She (Umm Ruman) entrusted me to them. They washed my head and redressed me. No one came to me suddenly except the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) in the forenoon. So they entrusted me to him.

When we came to Medina, the women came to me when I was playing on the swing, and my hair were up to my ears. They brought me, prepared me, and decorated me. Then they brought me to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and he took up cohabitation with me, when I was nine.

I was swinging and I had my friends. They brought me to a house ; there were some women of the Ansar (Helpers). They said: With good luck and blessing.

We came to Medina and stayed with Banu al-Harith b. al-Khazraj. She said : I swear by Allah, I was swinging between two date-palms. Then my mother came down; and I had my hair up to the ears. The transmitter then rest of the tradition.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: He who plays backgammon disobeys Allah and His Apostle.

If anyone plays backgammon, he sinks his hand in the flesh of swine and its blood.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) saw a man pursuing a pigeon. He said: A devil is pursuing a female devil.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: The Compassionate One has mercy on those who are merciful. If you show mercy to those who are on the earth, He Who is in the heaven will show mercy to you.

Musaddad did not say: The client of 'Adb Allah b. 'Amr. He said: The Prophet (ﷺ) said.

I heard AbulQasim (ﷺ) who spoke the truth and whose word was verified say: Mercy is taken away only from him who is miserable.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Those who do not show mercy to our young ones and do not realise the right of our elders are not from us.

To Allah, his book, his Apostle, the leaders (public authorities) of the believers and all the believers, and the leaders (public authorities) of Muslim and the Muslims and the Muslims in general.

I swore allegiance to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) promising to hear and obey, and behave sincerely towards every Muslim. AbuZur'ah said: Whenever he sold and bought anything, he would say: What we took from you is dearer to us than what we gave you. So choose (as you like).

If anyone removes his brother’s anxiety of this world, Allah will remove for him one of the anxieties of the Day of resurrection; if anyone makes easy for an impoverished man, Allah will make easy for him in this world and on the day of resurrection; if anyone conceals a Muslim’s secrets, Allah will conceal his secrets in this world and on the Day of resurrection; Allah will remain in the aid of a servant so long as the servant remains in the aid of his brother.

Abu Dawud said: ‘Uthman did not transmit the following words from Abu Mu’awiyah: “if anyone makes easy for an impoverished man”.

Your prophet (May peace be upon him) said : Every good act is a SADAQAH (almsgiving).

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: On the Day of Resurrection you will be called by your names and by your father's names, so give yourselves good names.

Your names which are dearest to Allah are ‘Abd Allah and ‘Abd al-Rahman.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Call yourselves by the names of the Prophets. The names dearest to Allah are Abdullah and AbdurRahman, the truest are Harith and Hammam, and the worst are Harb and Murrah.

Have you some dates? I said : Yes. I then gave him some dates which he put in his mouth, chewed them, opened his mouth and them in it. The baby began to lick them. The prophet (May peace be upon him) said: ANSAR’s favourite (fruit) is dates. And he gave him the name of ‘Abd al-Rahman.

The Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) changed the name of ‘Asiyah and called her Jamilah.

Zainab daughter of Abu Salamah asked him: Which name did you give to your daughter? He replied : Barrah. She said: The Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) forbade giving this name. I was called Barrah but the Prophet (May peace be upon him) said: Do not declare yourselves pure, for Allah knows best those of you who are obedient. He said: we asked; which name should we give her? He replied: Call her Zainab.

A man called Asram was among those who came to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: What is your name? He replied: Asram. He said: No, you are Zur'ah.

When Hani went with his people in a deputation to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), he heard them calling him by his kunyah (surname), AbulHakam.

So the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) called him and said: Allah is the judge (al-Hakam), and to Him judgment belongs. Why are you given the kunyah AbulHakam?

He replied: When my people disagree about a matter, they come to me, and I decide between them, and both parties are satisfied with my decision.

He said: How good this is! What children have you? He replied: I have Shurayh, Muslim and Abdullah. He asked; Who is the oldest of them? I replied: Shurayh. He said: Then you are AbuShurayh.

Abu Dawud said: This is Shuraib who broke the chain, and who entered Tustar.

Abu Dawud said: I have been told that Shuraib broke the gate of Tustar, and he entered it through tunnel.

The Prophet (ﷺ) asked: What is your name? He replied: Hazn (rugged). He said: You are Sahl (smooth). He said: No, smooth is trodden upon and disgraced. Sa'id said: I then thought that ruggedness would remain among us after it.

AbuDawud said: The Prophet (ﷺ) changed the names al-'As, Aziz, Atalah, Shaytan, al-Hakam, Ghurab, Hubab, and Shihab and called him Hisham. He changed the name Harb (war) and called him Silm (peace). He changed the name al-Munba'ith (one who lies) and called him al-Mudtaji' (one who stands up). He changed the name of a land Afrah (barren) and called it Khadrah (green). He changed the name Shi'b ad-Dalalah (the mountain path of a stray), the name of a mountain path and called it Shi'b al-Huda (mountain path of guidance). He changed the name Banu az-Zinyah (children of fornication) and called them Banu ar-Rushdah (children of those who are on the right path), and changed the name Banu Mughwiyah (children of a woman who allures and goes astray), and called them Banu Rushdah (children of a woman who is on the right path).

AbuDawud said: I omitted the chains of these for the sake of brevity.

Masruq said: I met Umar ibn al-Khattab (Allah be pleased with him) who said: Who are you? I replied: Masruq ibn al-Ajda'. Umar then said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: al-Ajda' (mutilated) is a devil.

Do not call your servant Yasar (wealth), Rabah (profit), Nijih(prosperous) and Aflah (successful), for you may ask; Is he there? And someone says: No. Samurah said: These are four (names), so do not attribute more to me.

The Aposlte of Allah (May peace be upon him) forbade giving four names to our slaves : Aflah (successful), Yasar (wealth), Naf(beneficial) and Rabah (profit).

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: If I survive (God willing), I shall forbid my people to give the names Nafi' (beneficial), Aflah (successful) and Barakah (blessing). Al-A'mash said: I do not know whether he mentioned Nafi' or not. When a man comes and asks: Is there Barakah (blessing)? The people say: No.

Abu Dawud said: A similar tradition has been transmitted by Abu al-Zubair on the authority of Jabir from the Prophet (ﷺ) through a different chain of narrators. This version has no mention of Barakah.

The vilest names in Allah’s sight on the Day of resurrection will be that of a man called Malik al-Amlak.

Abu Dawud said: This tradition has also been transmitted by Shu'aib b. Abi Hamzah from Abi al-Zinad through different chain of narrators. This version has the words "akhna' ismin" (most obscene name) instead of "akhna ismin" (the vilest name).

This verse was revealed about us, the Banu Salimah: "Nor call each other by (offensive) nicknames: ill-seeming is a name connoting wickedness (to be used of one) after he has believed." He said: When the apostle of Allah (ﷺ) came to us, every one of us had two or three names. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) began to say: O so and so! But they would say: Keep silence, Messenger of Allah! He becomes angry by this name. So this verse was revealed: "Nor call each other by (offensive) nicknames."

Zayd ibn Aslam quoted his father as saying: Umar ibn al-Khattab (Allah be pleased with him) struck one of his sons who was given the kunyah AbuIsa, and al-Mughirah ibn Shu'bah had the kunyah AbuIsa. Umar said to him: Is it not sufficient for you that you are called by the kunyah AbuAbdullah? He replied: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) gave me this kunyah. Thereupon he said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was forgiven all his sins, past and those followed. But we are among the people similar to us. Henceforth he was called by the kunyah AbuAbdullah until he died.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said to him: My sonny.

Abu Dawud said: I heard Yahya b. Ma'in praising the transmitter Muhammad b. Mahbub, and he said: He transmitted a large number of traditions.

Call yourselves by my name, but do not use my KUNYAH (surname).

Abu Dawud said : Abu Salih has transmitted it in a similar way from Abu Hurairah, and similar are the traditions of Abu Sufyan from Jabir, of Salim b. Abl al-Ja’d from Jabir, of Sulaiman al-Yashkuri from Jabir, and of Ibn al-Munkadir from Jabir and similar others and Anas b. Malik.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: If anyone is called by my name, he must not be given my kunyah (surname), and if anyone uses my kunyah (surname), he must not be called by my name.

Abu Dawud said: Ibn 'Ajlan transmitted it to the same effect from his father on the authority if Abu Hurairah. It has also been transmitted by Abu Zar'ah from Abu Hurairah in two different versions. And similar is the version of 'Abd al-Rahman b. Abi 'Amrah from Abu Hurairah. This version is disputed: Al-Thawri and Ibn Juraij transmitted it according to the version of Abu al-Zubair; and Ma'qil b. 'Ubaid Allah transmitted it according to the version of Ibn Sirin. It is again dispted on Musa b. Yasar from Abu Hurariah, transmitting it in two versions: Hammad b. Khalid and Ibn Abi Fudaik varied in their versions.

I said: Messenger of Allah! tell me if a son is born to me after your death, may I give him your name and your kunyah? He replied: Yes. The transmitter Abu Bakr did not mention the words "I said". Instead, he said: 'Ali said to the Prophet (ﷺ).

A woman came to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and said: Messenger of Allah! I have given birth to a boy, and call him Muhammad and AbulQasim as kunyah (surname), but I have been told that you disapproved of that. He replied: What is it which has made my name lawful and my kunyah unlawful, or what is it which has made my kunyah unlawful and my name lawful?

The Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) used to come to visit us. I had a younger brother who was called Abu ‘Umair by Kunyah (surname). He had a sparrow with which he played, but it died. So one day the prophet (May peace be upon him) came to see him and saw him grieved. He asked: What is the matter with him? The people replied: His sparrow has died. He then said: Abu ‘Umair! What has happened to the little sparrow?

Aisha said: Messenger of Allah! All my fellow-wives have kunyahs? He said: Give yourself the kunyah by Abdullah, your son - that is to say, her nephew (her sister's son).

Musaddad said: Abdullah ibn az-Zubayr. She was called by the kunyah Umm Abdullah.

Abu Dawud said: Qurran b. Tammam and Ma'mar all have transmitted it from Hisham in a similar manner. It has also been transmitted by Abu Usamah from Hisham, from 'Abbad b. Hamzah. Similarly, Hammad b. Salamah and Maslamah b. Qa'nab have narrated it from Hisham, like the tradition transmitted by Abu Usamah.

I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: It is great treachery that you should tell your brother something and have him believe you when you are lying.

I heard the Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) say: it is a bad riding-beast for a man (to say) za’ama (they asserted).

Abu DAwud said : This Abu ‘Abd Allah is Hudhaifah.

To proceed (amma ba’d)

None of you should Call (grapes) karm, for the karm is a Muslim man, but call (grapes) garden of grapes (hada’iq al-a’nab).

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: None of you must say: "My slave" (abdi) and "My slave-woman" (amati), and a slave must not say: "My lord" (rabbi or rabbati). The master (of a slave) should say: "My young man" (fataya) and "My young woman" (fatati), and a slave should say "My master" (sayyidi) and "My mistress" (sayyidati), for you are all (Allah's slave and the Lord is Allah, Most High.

He must say: “My master” (sayyidi) and “My patron” (mawlaya).

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Do not call a hypocrite sayyid (master), for if he is a sayyid, you will displease your Lord, Most High.

None of you must say Khabuthat nafsi (My heart is heaving), but one should say Laqisat nafsi (My heart is being annoyed).

None of you should say Ja’shat nafsi (My heart is being agitated), but one should say Laqisat nafsi (My heart is being annoyed).

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Do not say: "What Allah wills and so and so wills," but say: "What Allah wills and afterwards so and so wills.

A speaker gave sermon before the prophet (May peace be upon him). He said : he who obeys Allah and his Prophet will follow the right course, and he who disobeys them. He (The prophet) said: get up; he said: go away, a bad speaker you are.

I was riding on a mount behind the prophet (May peace be upon him). It stumbled. Thereupon I said: May the devil perish! He said: do not say; may the devil perish! For you say that, he will swell so much so that he will be like a house, and say: by my power. But say: in the name of Allah; for when you say that, he will diminish so much so that he will be like a fly.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: When you hear....(Musa's version has): When a man says people have perished, he is the one who has suffered that fate most.

Abu Dawud said: Malik said: If he says that out of sadness for the decadence of religion which he sees among the people, I do not think there is any harm in that. If he says that out of self-conceit and servility of the people, it is an abominable act which has been prohibited.

The desert Arabs may not dominate you in respect of the name of your prayer. Beware! It is al-`Isha, but they milk their camels when it is fairly dark.

Salim ibn AbulJa'dah said: A man said: (Mis'ar said: I think he was from the tribe of Khuza'ah): would that I had prayed, and got comfort. The people objected to him for it. Thereupon he said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as saying: O Bilal, call iqamah for prayer: give us comfort by it.

I and my father went to the house of my father-in-law from the Ansar to pay a sick visit to him. The time of prayer came. He said to someone of his relatives: O girl! bring me water for ablution so that I pray and get comfort. We objected to him for it. He said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: Get up, Bilal, and give us comfort by the prayer.

I never heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) attributing anyone to anything except to religion.

The people of Madina were started. The Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) rode on the horse belonging to Abu Talhah. He said: We did not see anything, or he said: we did not see (find) any fear. I found it (could run) like a river.

Avoid falsehood, for falsehood leads to wickedness, and wickedness to hell; and if a man continues to speak falsehood and makes falsehood his object, he will be recorded in Allah’s presence as a great liar. And adhere to truth, for truth leads to good deeds, and good deeds lead to paradise. If a man continues to speak the truth and makes truth his object, he will be recorded in Allah’s presence as eminently truthful.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Woe to him who tells things, speaking falsely, to make people laugh thereby. Woe to him! Woe to him!.

My mother called me one day when the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was sitting in our house. She said: Come here and I shall give you something. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) asked her: What did you intend to give him? She replied: I intended to give him some dates. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: If you were not to give him anything, a lie would be recorded against you.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: It is enough falsehood for a man to relate everything he hears.

Abu Dawud said: Hafs did not mention Abu Hurairah (in his version).

Abu Dawud said: No other transmitter except this old man, that is, 'Ali b. Hafs al-Mada'ini related the perfect chain of this tradition.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: To harbour good thoughts is a part of well-conducted worship. (This is according to Nasr's version).

Abu Dawud said: Mahna' is reliable and he is from Basrah.

The Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) was in the I’TIKAF(seclusion in the mosque). I came to visit him at night . I talked to him, got up and turned my back. He got up with me to accompany me. He was living in the house of Usamah b. Zaid. Two men of the Ansar passed by him. When they saw the Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him), they walked quickly. The prophet (May peace be upon him) said: Be at ease; she is Safiyyah daughter of Huyayy. They said: Glory be to Allah, Messenger of Allah! He said: The devil flows in man as the blood flows in him. I feared that he might inject something in your hearts, or he said “evil” (instead of something).

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: When a man makes a promise to his brother with the intention of fulfilling it and does not do so, and does not come at the appointed time, he is guilty of no sin.

I bought something from the Prophet (ﷺ) before he received his Prophetic commission, and as there was something still due to him I promised him that I would bring it to him at his place, but I forgot. When I remembered three days later, I went to that place and found him there. He said: You have vexed me, young man. I have been here for three days waiting for you.

Abu Dawud said: Muhammad b. Yahya said : This is, in our opinion, 'Abd al-Karim b. 'Abd Allah b. Shaqiq (instead of "from 'Abd al-Karim from 'Abd Allah b. Shaqiq").

Abu Dawud said: In a similar way I have been informed by 'Ali b. 'Abd Allah.

Abu Dawud said: I have been told that Bishr b. al-Sarri transmitted it from 'Abd Allah b. Shaqiq.

Messenger of Allah! I have a fellow-wife; will it be wrong for me to boast of receiving from my husband what he does not give me? He replied: the one who boasts of receiving what he has not been given is like him who has put on two garments of falsehood.

A man came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said: Messenger of Allah! give me a mount. The Prophet (ﷺ) said: We shall give you a she-camel's child to ride on. He said: What shall I do with a she-camel's child? The Prophet (ﷺ) replied: Do any others than she-camels give birth to camels?

When AbuBakr asked the permission of the Prophet (ﷺ) to come in, he heard Aisha speaking in a loud voice.

So when he entered, he caught hold of her in order to slap her, and said: Do I see you raising your voice to the Messenger of Allah? The Prophet (ﷺ) began to prevent him and AbuBakr went out angry. The Prophet (ﷺ) said when AbuBakr went out: You see I rescued you from the man.

AbuBakr waited for some days, then asked permission of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) to enter, and found that they had made peace with each other. He said to them: Bring me into your peace as you brought me into your war.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: We have done so: we have done so.

I came to the Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) at the expedition to Tabuk when he was in a small skin tent. I gave him a salutation and he returned it, saying: come in. I asked : the whole of me Messenger of Allah? He replied : The whole of you. So I entered.

The only reason why he asked whether the whole of him should come in was because of the smallness of the tent

The Prophet (ﷺ) addressed me as: O you with the two ears.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: None of you should take the property of his brother in amusement (i.e. jest), nor in earnest. The narrator Sulayman said: Out of amusement and out of earnest. If anyone takes the staff of his brother, he should return it. The transmitter Ibn Bashshar did not say "Ibn Yazid, and he said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said.

The Companions of the Prophet (ﷺ) told us that they were travelling with the Prophet (ﷺ). A man of them slept, and one of them went to the rope which he had with him. He took it, by which he was frightened. The Prophet (ﷺ) said: It is not lawful for a Muslim that he frightens a Muslim.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Allah , the Exalted, hates the eloquent one among men who moves his tongue round (among his teeth), as cattle do.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: On the Day of resurrection Allah will not accept repentance or ransom from him who learns excellence of speech to captivate thereby the hearts of men, or of people.

When two men who came from the east made a speech and the people were charmed with their eloquence, the Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) said: In some eloquent speech there is magic.

It would have been better for him. I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: I think (or, I have been commanded) that I should be brief in what I say, for brevity is better.

it is better for a man’s belly to be full of pus than to be full of poetry.

Abu ‘Ali said : I have been told that Abu ‘Ubaid said : It means that his heart is full of poetry so much so that it makes him neglectful of the Quran and remembrance of Allah. If the Quran and the knowledge (of religion) are dominant, the belly will not be full of poetry in our opinion. Some eloquent speech is magic. It means that a man expresses his eloquence by praising another man, and he speaks the truth about him so much so that he attracts the hearts to his speech. He then condemns him and speaks the truth about him so much so that he attracts the hearts to another of his speech, as if he spelled the audience by it.

In poetry there is wisdom.

A desert Arab came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and began to speak. Thereupon the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: In eloquence there is magic and in poetry there is wisdom.

I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: In eloquence there is magic, in knowledge ignorance, in poetry wisdom, and in speech heaviness.

Sa'sa'ah ibn Suhan said: The Prophet of Allah (ﷺ) spoke the truth. His statement "In eloquence there is magic" means: (For example), there is a right due from a man who is more eloquent in reasoning than the man who is demanding his right. He (the defendant) charms the people by his speech and takes away his right. His statement "In knowledge there is ignorance" means: A scholar brings to his knowledge what he does not know, and thus he becomes ignorant of that. His statement "In poetry there is wisdom" means: These are the sermons and examples by which people receive admonition. His statement "In speech there is heaviness" means: That you present your speech and your talk to a man who is not capable of understanding it, and who does not want it.

Umar passed by Hassan when he was reciting verses in the mosque. He looked at him. Thereupon he said: I used to recite verses when there was present in it the one who was better than you (i.e. the Prophet).

so he (‘Umar’) feared that he would refer to the Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him); therefore he allowed him.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to setup a pulpit in the mosque for Hassan who would stand on it and satirise those who spoke against the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) would say: The spirit of holiness (i.e. Gabriel) is with Hassan so long as he speaks in defence of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ).

The verse “And the poets it is those straying in evil who follow them. He (Allah) then abrogated it and made an exception saying: Except those who believe and work righteousness, engage much in the remembrance of Allah."

When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) finished the dawn prayer, he would ask: Did any of you have a dream last night? And he said: All that is left of Prophecy after me is a good vision.

A believer’s vision is the forty-sixth part of Prophecy.

When the time draws near, a believer’s vision can hardly be false. The truer one of them is in his speech, the truer he is in his vision. Visions are of three types: Good visions are glad tidings from Allah, a terrifying vision caused by the devil, and the ideas which come from within a man. So when one sees anything he dislikes, he should get up and pray, and should not tell it to the people. He said : I like a fetter and dislike a shackle on the neck; a fetter indicates being firmly established in religion.

Abu Dawud said : “when the time draws near” means that when the day and night are equal.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: The vision flutters over a man as long as it is not interpreted , but when it is interpreted, it settles. And I think he said: Tell it only to one who loves (i.e. friend) or one who has judgment.

I heard the Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) say: A good vision comes from Allah and a dream (hulm) from the devil, so when one of you sees what he dislikes, he must spit on his left (three times), and seek refuge in Allah from its evil. It will then not harm him.

When one of you sees a vision which he dislikes, he must spit on his left (three times), seek refuge in Allah from the devil three times, and turn from the side on which he was lying.

I heard the Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) say : He who sees me in a dream will see me when awake or as if he will see me when awake, for the devil does not take my likeness.

If anyone makes a representation of anything, Allah will punish him on the Day of Resurrection for it until he breathes into it, but he will be unable to do so. If anyone pretends to have had a dream which he did not see, he will be ordered to tie a knot in a grain of barley. If anyone listens to other people’s talk when they try to avoid him, lead will be poured into his ears on the Day of Resurrection.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: One night it seemed to me in a dream that we were in the house of Uqbah ibn Rafi' and were brought some of the fresh dates of Ibn tab. I interpreted it as meaning that to us is granted eminence (rif'ah) in this world, a blessed hereafter ('aqibah), and that our religion has been good (tabah).

When one of you yawns, he should hold his hand over his mouth, for the devil enters.