There was no name dearer to `Ali than his nickname Abu Turab (the father of dust). He used to feel
happy whenever he was called by this name. Once Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) came to the house of Fatima but
did not find `Ali in the house. So he asked "Where is your cousin?" She replied, "There was
something (a quarrel) between me and him whereupon he got angry with me and went out without
having a midday nap in my house." Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) asked a person to look for him. That person came,
and said, "O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)! He (Ali) is sleeping in the mosque." So Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) went there and
found him lying. His upper body cover had fallen off to one side of his body, and so he was covered
with dust. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) started cleaning the dust from him, saying, "Get up, O Abu Turab! Get up,
Abu Turab!" (See Hadith No. 432, Vol 1)
Sahih al-Bukhari Book 79, Hadith 54
While a man was delivering a speech in the tribe of Kinda, he said, "Smoke will prevail on the Day of
Resurrection and will deprive the hypocrites their faculties of hearing and seeing. The believers will
be afflicted with something like cold only thereof." That news scared us, so I went to (Abdullah) Ibn
Mas`ud while he was reclining (and told him the story) whereupon he became angry, sat up and said,
"He who knows a thing can say, it, but if he does not know, he should say, 'Allah knows best,' for it is
an aspect of knowledge to say, 'I do not know,' if you do not know a certain thing. Allah said to His
prophet. 'Say (O Muhammad): No wage do I ask of you for this (Quran), nor I am one of the
pretenders (a person who pretends things which do not exist.)' (38.86)
The Qur'aish delayed in embracing Islam for a period, so the Prophet (ﷺ) invoked evil on them, saying, 'O
Allah! Help me against them by sending seven years of (famine) like those of Joseph.' So they were
afflicted with such a severe year of famine that they were destroyed therein and ate dead animals and
bones. They started seeing something like smoke between the sky and the earth (because of severe
hunger). Abu Sufyan then came (to the Prophet) and said, "O Muhammad! You came to order us for
to keep good relations with Kith and kin, and your kinsmen have now perished, so please invoke
Allah (to relieve them).' Then Ibn Mas`ud recited:-- 'Then watch you for the day that the sky will
bring forth a kind of smoke plainly visible....but truly you will return! (to disbelief) (44.10-15)
Ibn Mas`ud added, Then the punishment was stopped, but truly, they reverted to heathenism (their old
way). So Allah (threatened them thus): 'On the day when we shall seize you with a mighty grasp.'
(44.16) And that was the day of the Battle of Badr. Allah's saying- "Lizama" (the punishment) refers
to the day of Badr Allah's Statement:
Alif-Lam-Mim, the Romans have been defeated, and they, after their defeat, will be victorious,' (30.1-
3) (This verse): Indicates that the defeat of Byzantine has already passed.
Sahih al-Bukhari Book 65, Hadith 296
Malik related to me from al-Walid ibn Abdullah ibn Sayyad that
al-Muttalib ibn Abdullah ibn Hantab al-Makhzumi informed him that a
man asked the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him
peace, "What is backbiting?" The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless
him and grant him peace, said, "It is to mention about a man what he
does not want to hear." He said, "Messenger of Allah! Even if it is
true?" The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him
peace, said, "If you utter something false, then it is slander."
Muwatta Malik Book 56, Hadith 10