General Behavior (Kitab Al-Adab)

Ghalib said: When we were sitting at al-Hasan's door, a man came along. He said: My father told me on the authority of my grandfather, saying: My father sent me to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and said: Go to him and give him a greeting. So I went to him and said: My father sends you a greeting. He said: Upon you and upon your father be peace.

Gabriel gives you a greeting. Replying she said: Upon him be peace and grace of Allah.

I was present with the Messenger of Allah at the battle of Hunayn. We travelled on a hot day when the heat was extreme. We halted under the shade of a tree. When the sun passed the meridian, I put on my coat of mail and rode on my horse. I came to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) who was in a tent.

I said: Peace, Allah's mercy and His blessings be upon you! The time of departure has come.

He said: Yes. He then said: Rise, Bilal. He jumped out from beneath a gum-acacia tree and its shade was like that of a bird.

He said: I am at your service and at your pleasure, and I make myself a sacrifice for you.

He said: Put the saddle on the horse for me. He then took out a saddle, both sides of which were stuffed with palm-leaves; it showed no arrogance and pride. So he rode and we also rode. He then mentioned the rest of the tradition.

Abu Dawud said: Abu 'Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri did not transmit any tradition except this one. This is a tradition of an expert transmitted by Hammad b. Salamah.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) laughed AbuBakr or Umar said to him: May Allah make your teeth laugh! He then mentioned the tradition.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) came upon us when my mother and I were plastering a wall of mine. He asked: What is this, Abdullah ? I replied: It is something I am repairing. He said! The matter is quicker for you than that.

The Messenger of Allah(ﷺ) came upon me when we were repairing our cottage that was broken. He asked: What is this? We replied: This cottage of ours has broken and we are repairing it. The Messenger of Allah(ﷺ) said: I see that the command is quicker than that.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) came out, and on seeing a high-domed building, he said: What is it?

His companions replied to him: It belongs to so and so, one of the Ansar.

He said: he said nothing but kept the matter in mind. When its owner came and gave him a greeting among the people, he turned away from him. When he had done this several times, the man realised that he was the cause of the anger and the rebuff.

So he complained about it to his companions, saying: I swear by Allah that I cannot understand the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ).

They said: He went out and saw your domed building. So the man returned to it and demolished it, levelling it to the ground. One day the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) came out and did not see it.

He asked: What has happened to the domed building?

They replied: Its owner complained to us about your rebuff, and when we informed him about it, he demolished it.

He said: Every building is a misfortune for its owner, except what cannot, except what cannot, meaning except that which is essential.

We came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and asked him for some corn. He said: Go, Umar, and give them. He ascended with us a room upstairs, took a key from his apartment and opened it.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: If anyone cuts the lote-tree, Allah brings him headlong into Hell.

Abu Dawud was asked about the meaning of this tradition. He said: This is a brief tradition. It means that if anyone cuts uselessly, unjustly and without any right a lote-tree under the shade of which travellers and beasts take shelter, Allah will bring him into Hell headlong.

A similar report (as previous) was narrated from a man from Thaqif, from 'Urwah bin Az-Zubair, who attributed the Hadith to the Prophet (ﷺ).

I asked Hisham ibn Urwah about the cutting of a lote-tree when he was leaning against the house of Urwah. He said: Do you not see these doors and leaves? These were made of the lote-tree of Urwah which Urwah used to cut from his hand? He said: There is no harm in it.

Humayd's version adds: You have brought an innovation, O Iraqi! He said: The innovation is from you. I heard someone say at Mecca: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) cursed him who cuts a lote-tree. He then mentioned the rest of the tradition to the same effect.

I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: A human being has three hundred and sixty joints for each of which he must give alms. The people asked him: Who is capable of doing this ? He replied: It may be mucus in the mosque which you bury, and something which you remove from the road; but if you do not find such, two rak'ahs in the forenoon will be sufficient for you.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: In the morning alms are due from every bone in man's fingers and toes. Salutation to everyone he meets is alms; enjoining good is alms; forbidding what is disreputable is alms; removing what is harmful from the road is alms; having sexual intercourse with his wife is alms. The people asked: He fulfils his desire, Messenger of Allah; is it alms? He replied: Tell me if he fulfilled his desire where he had no right, would he commit a sin ? He then said: Two rak'ahs which one prays in the forenoon serve instead of all that.

Abu Dawud said: Hammad did not mention enjoining good and forbidding what is disreputable.

The tradition mentioned above has also been transmitted by Abu Dharr through a different chain of narrators. In this version the transmitter mentioned the Prophet(ﷺ) in the middle of the tradition.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: A man never did a good deed but removed a thorny branch from the road; it was either in the tree and someone cut it and threw it on the road, or it was lying in it, he removed it. Allah accepted this good deed of his and brought him into Paradise.

Do not leave a fire burning in your houses while you are asleep.

A mouse came dragging a wick and dropped before the Messenger of Allah(ﷺ) on the mat on which he was sitting with the result that it burned a hole in it about the size of dirham. He (the prophet) said: When you go to sleep, extinguish your lamps, for the devil guides a creature like this to do thus and sets you on fire.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: We have not made peace with them since we fought with them, so he who leaves any of them alone through fear does not belong to us.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Kill all the snakes, and he who fears their revenge does not belong to me.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: He who leaves the snakes along through fear of their pursuit, does not belong to us. We have not made peace with them since we have fought with them.