By Allah, I have brought water until I felt a pain in my chest. He said: Some captives have been brought to your father, go and ask him for a servant. She said: And I, by Allah, have ground flour until my hands became sore. So she went to the Prophet (ﷺ) and he said: “What brings you here, O my daughter?” She said: I have come to greet you; and she felt too shy to ask him, so she went back, ‘Ali said: What happened? She said: I felt too shy to ask him. So we went together and I said: O Messenger of Allah, by Allah I have brought water until I started to feel pain in my chest. And Fatimah said: I have ground flour until my hands hurt. Allah has brought you plenty of captives, so give us a servant. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: “By Allah, I will not give it to you and leave ahlus-suffah starving when I have nothing to spend on them. Rather I will sell them (the captives) and spend the price on (ahlus-suffah).” So they went back. Then the Prophet (ﷺ) came, when they were under the cover which, if it covered their heads, it left their feet bare, and if it covered their feet, it left their heads bare. They wanted to get up, but he said: `Stay where you are.` And then he said: `Shall I not tell you of something that is better than what you asked for?” They said: Yes. He said: `(It is) words that Jibreel (عليه السلام) taught me.` He said: “Following every prayer, glorify Allah ten times, and praise Him ten times and magnify Him ten times. And when you go to your bed, glorify Allah thirty-three times, praise Him thirty-three times and magniÍy Him thirty-four times.” He said: By Allah, I never omitted that from the time the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) taught it to me. Ibnul-Kawwa’ said to him: Not even on the night of Siffeen? He said: May Allah cause your doom, O people of Iraq! Yes, not even on the night of Siffeen.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: `If I were to appoint anyone to a position of authority without consultation, I would have appointed Ibn Umm `Abd (Abdullah bin Mas`ood).`

We went out with ‘Ali to the Khawarij, and he fought them and killed them. Then he said: Look, for the Prophet (ﷺ) of Allah said: “There will emerge people who speak the truth but it will not go further than their throats; they will pass out of the truth as the arrow passes through the prey. Their sign is that among them will be a black man with a deformed hand, with black hairs on his hand.” If it is him, you will have killed the worst of people, and if it is not him, you will have killed the best of people.” We wept, then he said: Go and look. So we looked, and we found the one with the deformity. We fell down in prostration and ‘Ali fell down in prostration with us, but he said: `They speak the word of truth.”

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) prayed Witr at all times of the night, at the beginning, in the middle and at the end, and finally he prayed Witr at the end of the night.

I heard a man ask `Ali (رضي الله عنه): I bought this cow to offer it as a sacrifice. He said:[It may be offered on behalf of seven people. He said: [What if something is wrong with] the horn? He said: It does not matter. He said: [What if it is] lame? He said: If it can reach the place of sacrifice, then sacrifice it. Then he said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) commanded us to check the eyes and ears.

Abu `Abdur-Rahman as-Sulami and Hibban bin `Atiyyah had a dispute. `Abdur-Rahman said to Hibban: I know what made your companion - meaning `Ali (رضي الله عنه) - audacious. He said: What is it, may you be bereft of your father? He said. Something I heard `Ali (رضي الله عنه) say. He said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) sent me, az-Zubair and Abu Marthad on a mission, and we were all horsemen. He said: `Go to Rawdat Khakh, for there you will find a woman who has a letter with her from Hatib bin Abi Balta`ah to the mushrikeen; bring it to me.` So we went on our horses until we caught up with her where the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) had told us, travelling on a camel of hers. He [Hatib] had written to the people of Makkah, telling them about the march of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). We said to her. Where is the letter you have with you? She said: I do not have any letter. We made her camel kneel down and searched her luggage for it, but we did not find anything. My two companions said: We do not see any letter with her, I said: You know that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) did not tell a lie. Then I swore: By the One by whom oaths are sworn, you will give us the letter or we will remove your clothes. She stretched out her hand to her girdle, which was wrapped around her, and brought out the letter. I brought it to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and they said: O Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), he has betrayed Allah and His Messenger and the believers; let me strike his neck. He said: `O Hatib, what made you do what you did?` He said: O Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), by Allah, it is not that I do not believe in Allah and His Messenger, but I wanted to do a favour for the people by means of which Allah might protect my family and my property, for every one of your Companions has some of his people there through whom Allah will protect his family and his property. He said: You have spoken the truth, do not say anything to him but good.` ʻUmar said: O, Messenger of Allah, he betrayed Allah and His Messenger and the believers, let me strike his neck. He said. `ls he not one of the people of Badr? How do you know? Perhaps Allah looked upon them and said. “Do what you like, for Paradise is guaranteed for you.ʻʼ ʻUmarʻs eyes filled with tears and he said: Allah, may He be exalted, and His Messenger know best.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) forbade me to wear a blend of linen and silk, to use red saddle cloths, to wear clothes dyed with safflower and to recite Qur`an whilst bowing or prostrating.

I heard ‘Ali (رضي الله عنه) say: Shall I not tell you of the best of this ummah after its Prophet (ﷺ)? [It is] Abu Bakr. Then he said: Shall I not tell you of the best of this ummah after Abu Bakr? [It is] ‘Umar (رضي الله عنه).

I entered upon `Ali bin Abi Talib along with two other men, one man from among my people and another from Banu Asad - I think and he sent us on an errand and said: You are strong people, so use your strength to serve your religion. Then he went to the outhouse and relieved himself. Then he came out and took a handful of water and washed himself with it. Then he started reciting Qur`an. Then it was as if he realised that we found that strange, so he said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to relieve himself, then come out and recite Qur`an and eat meat with us. Nothing came between him and the Qur`an except janabah.

Witr is not a must like (obligatory) prayer, but it is Sunnah, so do not omit it. Shu`bah said: I found it written with me: And the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) prayed Witr.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) told me to offer a sacrifice on his behalf, and I will continue to offer a sacrifice on his behalf forever.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) cursed the one who consumes riba, the one who pays it, the two who witness it, the one who writes it down, the woman who does tattoos and the woman who gets tattoos done for adornment, the one who withholds zakah, the one who marries a woman and divorces her so that she becomes permissible for her first husband, and the one for whom that is done, And he forbade wailing (for the deceased).

`Three things, O ‘Ali, you should not delay. They are: prayer when the time comes, funerals when the bier is there, and a single woman, if she finds a compatible match.”

`Ali (رضي الله عنه) addressed us and said: Who is the best of this ummah after its Prophet ? I said: You, O Ameer al-Mu`mineen. He said: No, the best of this ummah after its Prophet is Abu Bakr, then `Umar (رضي الله عنهما), and it would not be far-fetched to suggest that tranquillity was uttered on the lips of `Umar (رضي الله عنه).

‘Ali (رضي الله عنه) said: O Abu Juhaifah, shall I not tell you of the best of this ummah after its Prophet ? I said: Yes indeed, He [Abu Juhaifah] said: And I did not think that anyone was better than him. He [`Ali] said: The best of this ummah after its Prophet is Abu Bakr, and after Abu Bakr it is ‘Umar (رضي الله عنهما), and after both of them there is a third one - but he did not name him.

`Ali (رضي الله عنه) said: The best of this ummah after its Prophet is Abu Bakr, and after Abu Bakr it is ‘Umar (رضي الله عنهما), and if I wanted to tell you of the third one, I could do so.

My father was part of the police force of Ali (رضي الله عنه). He stood beneath the minbar and told me that he, meaning ‘Ali (رضي الله عنه), ascended the minbar and praised and glorified Allah and sent blessings upon the Prophet (ﷺ), and he said: The best of this ummah after its Prophet is Abu Bakr, and the second is ‘Umar (رضي الله عنهما), And he said: Allah puts goodness wherever He wants.

I fell sick and the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) passed by me when I was saying O Allah, if my time has come then grant me relief; if it has not yet come then raise me in status; and if this is a trial then grant me patience. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: “What did you say?” He repeated to him what he had said, and he nudged him with his foot and said: `O Allah, grant him well being` or “O Allah, heal him.” - Shu`bah was not certain. He [‘Ali] said: And I never suffered that sickness again after that.

I used to come to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) every morning. If he cleared his throat, I would enter, and if he remained silent, I would not enter. He came out to me (on one occasion) and said: “Something happened last night. I heard some movement in the house, then I saw Jibreel (عليه السلام). I said: ‘What prevented you from entering the house?` He said: “In the house there is a dog.` I went in and I saw a puppy belonging to al-Hasan beneath a chair of ours. He [Jibreel] said: “The angels do not enter a house if there are three things in it: a dog or an image or a person who is junub.`

(The body of) `Umar bin al Khattab (رضي الله عنه) was placed between the minbar and the grave, and ‘Ali came and stood before the rows. He said: Here he is, three times. Then he said: May the mercy of Allah be upon you; there is no one among the creation of Allah with whose record of deeds I would more like to meet Allah, apart from the Prophet (ﷺ), than the one who lies here, covered with this garment.