General Behavior (Kitab Al-Adab)

Abu Umama said: The Messenger of Allah came out to us leaning on a staff. We stood up for him, but he said: Do not stand up as the non-Arabs stand up to honor one another.

A man said: My father sent me to the Messenger of Allah and told me, Go to him and convey my greeting of peace. I went and said: My father sends you his greeting of peace. The Messenger of Allah replied: Peace be upon you and upon your father.

Aisha said that the Prophet told her: Gabriel sends you his greeting of peace. She replied: And upon him be peace and the mercy of Allah.

Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri said: I was with the Messenger of Allah at Hunayn. We travelled on an intensely hot day and took shelter beneath a tree. When the sun began to decline, I put on my armor, mounted my horse, and went to the Messenger of Allah in his tent. I said: Peace be upon you, Messenger of Allah, and the mercy and blessings of Allah. It is time to depart. He said: Yes. Then he said: Bilal, get up. Bilal sprang out from beneath an acacia tree whose shade was like the shadow of a bird. He said: At your service and obedience; may I be your ransom. The Prophet said: Saddle my horse. Bilal brought a saddle whose two sides were made of palm fiber, without ostentation or arrogance. The Prophet mounted, and we mounted. The report continues. Abu Dawud said: Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri has no other hadith than this one. It is a fine hadith, transmitted by Hammad ibn Salama.

The Messenger of Allah laughed, and Abu Bakr or Umar said to him: May Allah keep you smiling. The narrator continued the report.

Abdullah ibn Amr said: The Messenger of Allah passed by while my mother and I were plastering a wall of mine. He asked: What is this, Abdullah? I replied: Something I am repairing. He said: The appointed time is closer than that.

In a similar version, the Messenger of Allah passed by while we were repairing a worn enclosure of ours. He asked: What is this? We replied: Our enclosure has worn out, and we are repairing it. The Messenger of Allah said: I see that the appointed time is closer than that.

Anas ibn Malik said: The Messenger of Allah went out and saw a high dome. He asked: What is this? His Companions said: It belongs to so-and-so, a man from the Ansar. He remained silent and kept his displeasure to himself. When the owner came to greet him among the people, the Messenger of Allah turned away from him. He did this several times, until the man noticed his anger and avoidance and complained to his Companions. He said: By Allah, I do not recognize the Messenger of Allah. They said: He went out and saw your dome. The man returned to his dome and demolished it until it was level with the ground. One day the Messenger of Allah went out and did not see it. He asked: What happened to the dome? They said: Its owner complained to us about your avoiding him, so we told him, and he demolished it. The Messenger of Allah said: Every building is a burden on its owner, except what is necessary—except what is necessary.

Dukayn ibn Said al-Muzani said: We came to the Prophet and asked him for food. He said: Umar, go and give them some. He took us up to an upper room, took the key from his waist wrap, and opened it.

The Messenger of Allah said: Whoever cuts down a lote tree, Allah will plunge his head into the Fire. Abu Dawud was asked what this hadith meant. He said: The hadith is abbreviated. It means whoever cuts down a lote tree in open country, one that gives shade to a traveler and animals, needlessly, unjustly, and without any right to it, Allah will plunge his head into the Fire.

An unnamed man from Thaqif related from Urwa ibn al-Zubayr, tracing a similar report back to the Prophet.

I asked Hisham ibn Urwa about cutting lote trees while he was leaning against Urwa’s palace. He said: Do you see these doors and panels? They are made from Urwa’s lote trees. Urwa used to cut them from his own land, and he said there was no harm in it. Humayd’s version adds that he said: Iraqi, have you brought me an innovation? I replied: The innovation came from your side. I heard people in Mecca say that the Messenger of Allah cursed whoever cuts down a lote tree. Then he related the report in a similar sense.

The Messenger of Allah said: A human being has three hundred and sixty joints, and he must give charity for each one. They asked: Who could manage that, Prophet of Allah? He replied: Burying phlegm in the mosque and removing something harmful from the road are charity. If you cannot find anything to do, then two units of the midmorning prayer will suffice you.

The Prophet said: Every morning, charity is due for every joint of the son of Adam. Greeting everyone you meet is charity; enjoining what is right is charity; forbidding what is wrong is charity; removing harm from the road is charity; and having intercourse with one’s wife is charity. They asked: Messenger of Allah, does one receive charity for satisfying his desire? He replied: What do you think—if he had satisfied it unlawfully, would he not have sinned? Two units of the midmorning prayer suffice for all of that. Abu Dawud said: Hammad’s version does not mention enjoining what is right or forbidding what is wrong.

Abu Dharr reported the same hadith through another chain, mentioning the Prophet in its middle.

The Messenger of Allah said: A man who had never done any good removed a thorny branch from the road. It had either been on a tree and he cut it down, or it was lying there and he moved it aside. Allah appreciated this act and admitted him to Paradise.

The Prophet said: Do not leave a fire burning in your homes when you go to sleep.

Ibn Abbas said: A mouse came, seized the wick, dragged it over, and dropped it before the Messenger of Allah on the mat on which he was sitting. It burned a spot the size of a dirham. The Prophet said: When you go to sleep, extinguish your lamps, for Satan may guide creatures like this to that, and they may burn you.

The Messenger of Allah said: Since the time we fought them, we have not made peace with these creatures. Whoever refrains from killing any of them out of fear is not one of us.

The Messenger of Allah said: Kill all snakes. Whoever fears their revenge is not from me.