Sunan al-Nasa'i — The Book of Qiyam Al-Lail (The Night Prayer) and Voluntary Prayers During the Day

“He used to pray ‘Isha, then he would recite tasbih, then after that he would pray whatever Allah (SWT) willed (he should pray) of night prayer. Then he would go and sleep for as long as he had prayed. Then he would get up from sleep and pray for as long as he had slept, and this last prayer of his would continue until dawn.”

“If you swear an oath, then you see something better than it, then offer expiation for your oath, and do that which is better.”

“We pledged to the Messenger of Allah to hear and obey both in times of hardship and ease, when we felt energetic and when we felt tired, and when others are preferred over us, that we would not contend with the orders of whomever was entrusted with it, and that we would speak the truth wherever we may be.”

“The Prophet used to wear Sibtiyyah sandals and dye his beard yellow with Wars and saffron.” And Ibn ‘Umar used to do that.

“May Allah curse Al-Mutanammisat and who have their teeth separated. Shall I not curse those whom the Messenger of Allah cursed?”

I memorised (a tradition) from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ): There is no orphanhood after puberty, and there is no silence for the whole day till the night.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: If anyone brings barren land into cultivation, it belong to him. He then transmitted a similar tradition mentioned above (No. 3067). He (‘Urwah) said: One who transmitted this tradition to me said that two persons brought their dispute to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). One of them grew palm trees in the land of the other. He decided to return the land to its owner of the palm-trees to remove his palm-trees. He said: I saw when their roots were being struck with axes. The trees were fully grown up, but they were removed from there.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) gave license regarding the sale of ‘araya when the amount was less then five wasqs or five wasqs. Dawud b. al-Husain was doubtful. Abu Dawud said: The tradition by Jabir indicates up to four wasqs.

In the time of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) a man suffered loss affecting fruits he had bought and owed a large debt, so the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Give him sadaqah (alms). So the people gave him sadaqah (alms), but as that was not enough to pay the debt in full, the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Take what you find. But that is all you may have.

“Ka’b!” He said: “At your service, Messenger of Allah.” Thereupon he made a gesture with is hand indicating: Remit half the debt due to you. Ka’b said: “I shall do so, Messenger of Allah.” The Prophet (ﷺ) then said: “Get up and discharge”

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: The testimony of a deceitful man or woman, of an adulterer and adulteress, and of one who harbours rancour against his brother is not allowable.

When the verse “That they should cast their outer garments over their persons” was revealed, the women of Ansar came out as if they had crows over their heads by wearing outer garments.

The Prophet (ﷺ) came to visit her when she was veiled, and said: use one fold and not two. Abu Dawud said: “Use one fold and not two” means: “Do not fold it like the turban of a man. Do not double it up manifolds.”

The Prophet (ﷺ) as saying: Jews and Christians do not dye (their beards), so act differently from them.

The people passed by the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) with a jew whose face blackened with charcoal and he was being taken around. He adjured them by Allah and asked: What is the prescribed punishment for a fornicator in your Divine book? He (the narrator) said: They referred him to a man of them. The Prophet (ﷺ) adjured him and asked: What is the punishment for a fornication in your Divine Book? He replied: Stoning. But fornication spread among our people of rank, so we disliked that a person of rank should be left alone and the punishment be inflicted on one who is lower in rank than him. So we suspended it for us. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) then commanded regarding him and he was stoned to death. He then said: O Allah! I am the first to give life to a command of Thy Book which they had killed.

When the slave-woman of any of you commits fornication, he should inflict the prescribed punishment on her, but not hurl reproaches at her. This is to be done up to three times. If she a fourth time, he should flog her, and sell her even if only for a rope of hair.

A man brought an Abyssinian to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said: This man has killed my nephew. He asked: How did you kill him? He replied: I struck his head with axe but I did not intend to kill him. He asked: Have you some money so that you pay his blood-wit? He said: No. He said: What is your opinion if I send you so that you ask the people (for money) and thus collect your blood-wit? He said: No. He asked : Will your masters give you his blood-wit (to pay his relatives)? He said: No. He said to the man. Take him. So he brought him out to kill him. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: If he kill him, he will be like him. This (statement) reached the man where he was listening to his statement. He said: He is here, order regarding him as you like. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Leave him alone. And he once said: He will bear the burden of the sin of the slain and that of his own and thus he will become one of the Companions of Hell. So he let him go.

A man asked : where is my father, Messenger of Allah? He replied! Your father is in Hell. When he turned his back, he said : My father and your father are in Hell.

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.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) never failed to utter these supplications in the evening and in the morning: O Allah, I ask Thee for security in this world and in the Hereafter: O Allah! I ask Thee for forgiveness and security in my religion and my worldly affairs, in my family and my property; O Allah! conceal my fault or faults (according to Uthman’s version), and keep me safe from the things which I fear; O Allah! guard me in front of me and behind me, on my right hand and on my left, and from above me: and I seek in Thy greatness from receiving unexpected harm from below me.” AbuDawud said: Waki’ said: That is to say, swallowing by the earth.

if a man becomes the client of any people without the permission of his patrons (i.e. those who have freed him), on him will be the curse of Allah, of angels and of all people; no obligatory or supererogatory worship will be accepted from him.

One of the finest acts of kindness is for a man to treat his father’s friends in a kindly way after he has departed.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Treating those under one’s authority will produce prosperity, but an evil nature produces evil fortune.

The young should salute the old, the one who is passing by should salute the one who is sitting, and a small company should salute a large one.

The Messenger of Allah(ﷺ) prohibited killing the jinnan(small snakes) that are in the house, except the one which have two streaks and the one with small tail, for they obliterate the eyesight and cause miscarriage.

what is with you? I said : Here is a snake. He said : what do you want ? I said : I shall kill it. He then pointed to a room in his house in front of his room and said : My cousin (son of my uncle) was in this room. He asked his permission to go to his wife on the occasion of the battle of Troops (Ahzab), as he was recently married. The Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) gave him permission and ordered him to take his weapon with him. He came to his house and found his wife standing at the door of the house. When he pointed to her with the lance, she said; do not make haste till you see what has brought me out. He entered the house and found an ugly snake there. He pierced in the lance while it was quivering. He said : I do not know which of them died first, the man or the snake. His people then came to the Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) and said: supplicate Allah to restore our companion to life for us. He said : Ask forgiveness for your Companion. Then he said : In Medina a group of Jinn have embraced Islam, so when you see one of them, pronounce a waring to it three times and if it appears to you after that, kill it after three days.

That there was a man who was not very sensible and he would make purchases. So his family came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said: “O Messenger of Allah! Stop him (from making purchases).” So Allah’s Prophet (ﷺ) called him to prohibit him, and he said: “O Messenger of Allah! I have no patience for business.” So he said: “When you are buying, say: ‘Hand to hand, and no cheating.'” There is a narration on this topic from Ibn ‘Umar. The Hadith of Anas is a Hasan Sahih Gharib Hadith. This is acted upon according to the people of knowledge. They say that the free man can be prevented from selling and buying when his intellect is weak. This is the view of Ahmad and Ishaq. Some of the scholars did not think that the free person who had attained the age of responsibility could be prevented from that.

“Make a public announcement about it for one year, if it is claimed then give it to him. Otherwise remember its sack, string, and its count. Then use it, and if its owner comes, give it to him.”

“The most loved garment to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was the Qamis (long shirt).”

“The Messenger of Allah (s.a.w) said: ‘Let one of you not take his brother’s staff, neither in play nor seriousness. Whoever took his brother’s staff, then let him return it to him.”‘

“Indeed there is a fitnah for every Ummah, and the Fitnah for my Ummah is wealth.”

“The Prophet (ﷺ) was being guarded until this Ayah was revealed: ‘Allah will protect you from mankind.’ So the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) stuck his head out from the room and said: ‘O you people! Go away, for Allah shall protect me.'” This Hadith is Gharib.

“The Messenger of Allah said: ‘There is a devil for ablution who is called Walahan, so be on guard against the insinuating thoughts (Waswas) about water.'”

“I used to eat the meat from a bone when I was menstruating, then the Messenger of Allah would take it and put his mouth where my mouth had been. And I would drink from a vessel, and the Messenger of Allah would take it and put his mouth where my mouth had been, and I was menstruating.”

“When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) went out from this city (Al-Madinah) he did not perform more than two Rak’ah for prayer until he returned.”

“One night at the time of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) I was late returning from the ‘Isha’, then I came and he said: ‘Where were you?’ I said: ‘I was listening to the recitation of a man among your Companions, for I have never heard a recitation or a voice like his from anyone.’ He got up and I got up with him, to go and listen to him. Then he turned to me and said: ‘This is Salim, the freed slave of Abu Hudhaifah. Praise is to Allah Who has created such men among my Ummah.’”

“A woman came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, my sister has died and she owed a fast of two consecutive months.’ He said: ‘Do you not think that if your sister owed a debt, you would pay it off for her?’ She said: ‘Of course.’ He said: ‘The right of Allah is greater.’”

he gave a horse in charity at the time of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), then he saw its owner selling it for a low price. He went to the Prophet (ﷺ) and asked him about that, and he said: “Do not buy what you gave in charity.”

“I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: ‘Whoever equips a warrior in the cause of Allah until he is fully equipped, he will have a reward like his, until he dies or returns.”

“We said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, should we not build you a house in Mina that will be a means of shade for you?’ He said: ‘No, Mina is just a stopping place for those who get there first.’”

“The most beloved of names to Allah are ‘Abdullah and ‘Abdur-Rahman.”

“Bismillah, la hawla wa la quwwata illa billah, at-tuklanu ‘ala Allah (In the Name of Allah, there is no power and strength except with Allah, and trust is placed in Allah).”