We came upon `Abdullah bin Mas`ud and he said "O people! If somebody knows something, he can
say it, but if he does not know it, he should say, "Allah knows better,' for it is a sign of having
knowledge to say about something which one does not know, 'Allah knows better.' Allah said to His
Prophet: 'Say (O Muhammad ! ) No wage do I ask of You for this (Quran) nor am I one of the
pretenders (a person who pretends things which do not exist).' (38.86) Now I will tell you about Ad-
Dukhan (the smoke), Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) invited the Quraish to embrace Islam, but they delayed their
response. So he said, "O Allah! Help me against them by sending on them seven years of famine
similar to the seven years of famine of Joseph." So the famine year overtook them and everything was
destroyed till they ate dead animals and skins. People started imagining to see smoke between them
and the sky because of severe hunger. Allah said:
'Then watch you for the Day that the sky will bring forth a kind of smoke plainly visible, covering the
people. . . This is painful torment.' (44.10-11) (So they invoked Allah) "Our Lord! Remove the
punishment from us really we are believers." How can there be an (effectual) reminder for them when
an Apostle, explaining things clearly, has already come to them? Then they had turned away from him
and said: 'One taught (by a human being), a madman?' 'We shall indeed remove punishment for a
while, but truly, you will revert (to disbelief).' (44.12-15) Will the punishment be removed on the Day
of Resurrection?" `Abdullah added, "The punishment was removed from them for a while but they
reverted to disbelief, so Allah destroyed them on the Day of Badr. Allah said:
'The day We shall seize you with a mighty grasp. We will indeed (then) exact retribution." (44.16)
Sahih al-Bukhari Book 65, Hadith 331
Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) used to practice I`tikaf every year in the month of Ramadan. And after offering the
morning prayer, he used to enter the place of his I`tikaf. `Aisha asked his permission to let her practice
I`tikaf and he allowed her, and so she pitched a tent in the mosque. When Hafsa heard of that, she also
pitched a tent (for herself), and when Zainab heard of that, she too pitched another tent. When, in the
morning, Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) had finished the morning prayer, he saw four tents and asked, "What is
this?" He was informed about it. He then said, "What made them do this? Is it righteousness? Remove
the tents, for I do not want to see them." So, the tents were removed. The Prophet (ﷺ) did not perform
I`tikaf that year in the month of Ramadan, but did it in the last ten days of Shawwal.
Sahih al-Bukhari Book 33, Hadith 16
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Avoid the seven great destructive sins." The people enquire, "O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)!
What are they? "He said, "To join others in worship along with Allah, to practice sorcery, to kill the
life which Allah has forbidden except for a just cause, (according to Islamic law), to eat up Riba
(usury), to eat up an orphan's wealth, to give back to the enemy and fleeing from the battlefield at the
time of fighting, and to accuse, chaste women, who never even think of anything touching chastity
and are good believers.
Sahih al-Bukhari Book 55, Hadith 29
Fatimah came to the Prophet (ﷺ), asking him for a servant. So he (ﷺ) said to her: “Say: ‘O Allah, Lord of the Seven Heavens and the Lord of the Magnificent Throne, our Lord, and the Lord of everything, Revealer of the Tawrah, the Injil, and the Quran, Splitter of the seed-grain and the date-stone, I seek refuge in You from the evil of everything that You are holding by the forelock, You are the First, for there is nothing above You, and You are the Last, for there is nothing after you. And you are az-Zahir, for there is nothing above you. And you are Al-Batin, for there is nothing below You. Relieve me from debt, and enrich me from poverty (Allāhumma rabbas samāwātis-sab`i wa rabbal-`arshil-`aẓīm, rabbana, wa rabba kulli shai’in, munzilat-Tawrāti wal-Injīli wal-Qur’ān, fāliqal-habbi wan-nawā, a`ūdhu bika min sharri kulli shai’in anta ākhidhun bināṣiyatihi, antal-awwalu falaisa qablaka shai’un, wa antal-ākhiru falaisa ba`daka shai’un, wa antaẓ-ẓāhiru falaisa fawqaka shai’un, wa antal-bāṭinu falaisa dūnaka shai’un, iqḍi `anni-daina wa aghnini minal-faqr).”
Jami` at-Tirmidhi Book 48, Hadith 112
A black lady slave of some of the 'Arabs embraced Islam and she had a hut in the mosque. She used to
visit us and talk to us, and when she finished her talk, she used to say: "The day of the scarf was one
of our Lord's wonders: Verily! He has delivered me from the land of Kufr." When she said the above
verse many times, I (i.e. `Aisha) asked her, "What was the day of the scarf?" She replied, "Once the
daughter of some of my masters went out and she was wearing a leather scarf (round her neck) and the
leather scarf fell from her and a kite descended and picked it up, mistaking it for a piece of meat. They
(i.e. my masters) accused me of stealing it and they tortured me to such an extent that they even
looked for it in my private parts. So, while they all were around me, and I was in my great distress,
suddenly the kite came over our heads and threw the scarf, and they took it. I said to them 'This is
what you accused me of stealing, though I was innocent."
Sahih al-Bukhari Book 63, Hadith 60
0 Allah, enable me to derive benefit from my husband, Allah's Messenger (ﷺ), and from my father Abu Sufyan, and from my brother Mu'awiya. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said to her: Verily, you have asked Allah about the durations of life already set, and the steps which you would take, and the sustenances the share of which is fixed. Nothing would take place earlier than its due time, and nothing would be deferred beyond that when it is due. So, if you were to ask Allah about your safety from the torment of Hell-Fire and from the torment of the grave, it would have been better for you. A person said: Allah's Messenger, what about those apes and swine which suffered metamorphosis? Thereupon Allah's Apostle (ﷺ) said: Verily, Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, did not destroy a people or did not torment a people, and let their race grow. Apes and swine had been even before that (when the deniers of truth were tormented and suffered metamorphosis). This hadith has been narrated on the authority of Sufyin through another chain of transmitters but with a slight variation of wording.
Sahih Muslim Book 46, Hadith 51
Yahya related to me from Malik from Abu'z Zinad from al-Araj from
Abu Hurayra that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant
him peace, said, "A man said to his family that he had never done a
good action, and that when he died they were to burn him and then
scatter half of him on the land and half of him on the sea, and by
Allah, if Allah destined it for him He would punish him with a
punishment which He had not punished anyone else with in all the
worlds. When the man died, they did as he had told them. Then Allah
told the land to collect everything that was in it, and told the sea
to collect everything that was in it, and then He said to the man,
'Why did you do this?' and he said, 'From fear of You, Lord, and You
know best.' "
Abu Hurayra added, "And He forgave him."
Muwatta Malik Book 16, Hadith 53