The way of life of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the early generations

Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: Three birds were presented to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) as a gift. He gave one bird to his maidservant to eat. The next day the maidservant brought the meat of that bird. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to her: Did I not forbid you from saving anything for tomorrow? Allah Almighty grants each day's provision.
Ahmad recorded this narration and its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih, except for Hilal Abu al-Mu'alla, and he is thiqah (trustworthy).

Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: Seven of the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would suck on a single date, and they would eat leaves, until the corners of their mouths became swollen.
Al-Tabarani recorded this narration in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat; its chain contains a narrator, Khulayd bin Da'laj, and he is da'if (weak).

Sayyiduna Jabir bin Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent us on a military expedition with Sayyiduna Abu Ubaydah (may Allah be pleased with him). We were six hundred and some men, and we were to confront the caravan of Quraysh. The only thing the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) could find to give us as provision for the journey was a large bag of dates. Sayyiduna Abu Ubaydah (may Allah be pleased with him) would give us one date each every day, which we would suck and then drink water after it. When they ran out, we felt their absence intensely. Then we would knock down leaves with our sticks and drink water after them. After this the narrator mentioned the whole hadith, and he says: When we came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), he asked: Do you have anything of it (that is, of the meat of the huge fish) with you? We said: Yes! The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Then feed us some of it too! (The narrator says:) So we sent its meat to him (peace and blessings be upon him), and he ate it. (Allamah al-Haythami says:) I say: He has transmitted the whole lengthy hadith, and
this narration is mentioned in the "Sahih", but there the wording transmitted is: "We were three hundred men", while here the wording is: "We were six hundred and some men."
Al-Tabarani recorded this narration in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat; its chain contains a narrator, Zam'ah bin Salih, and he is da'if (weak).

Sayyiduna Talhah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: When a man came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and had no acquaintance in Madinah with whom he could stay, he would stay with the People of the Suffah. Some of my companions also stayed there. Every two days, two mudds of dates would be allotted to us from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Once the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was offering a prayer when one of his Companions called out to him: O Messenger of Allah! The dates have burned our stomachs, and our coarse garments have torn away from us. When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) completed the prayer, he stood up, praised and glorified Allah Almighty, and then mentioned the hardship he had faced from his people. He said: "My companion and I spent more than ten days in such a state that we had nothing to eat except the fruit of the arak (pilu) tree, until we came to our Ansari brothers, and they treated us generously with their food; their food was mostly dates and milk. By the One besides whom there is no god, if I could find bread and meat to feed you, I would feed you that too. It may be that you will find a time (here the narrator is in doubt about some words) in which people will wear (fine) clothes like the coverings of the Ka'bah, and bowls (of various foods) will be brought to them morning and evening."
Al-Tabarani recorded this narration and al-Bazzar recorded something similar, except that at its beginning he transmitted these words: "When one of us came to Madinah and had an acquaintance there, he would stay with that acquaintance, and if he had no acquaintance there, he would stay on the platform of the Suffah. I came to Madinah and stayed on the platform of the Suffah, and two other men were staying there with me. Every day we received two mudds from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)." The rest of the narration is as before. The narrators of al-Bazzar are the narrators of the Sahih, except for Muhammad bin Uthman al-Uqayli, and he is thiqah (trustworthy).

Sayyiduna Fadalah al-Laythi (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: We came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Whoever had an acquaintance would stay with his acquaintance, and whoever had no acquaintance would stay at the Suffah. Since I had no acquaintance there, I stayed on the platform of the Suffah. On Friday a man called out loudly to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: O Messenger of Allah! The dates have burned our stomachs. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever of you remains alive will soon find a situation in which bowls (of various foods) will be brought to him morning and evening, and you will wear clothes just as coverings are hung over the Ka'bah."
Al-Tabarani recorded this narration from his teacher al-Miqdam bin Dawud, and he is da'if (weak), though he has been declared trustworthy; the rest of the narrators of this narration are thiqat (trustworthy).

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saw hunger in the faces of his Companions and said: Receive glad tidings, for soon a time will come upon you when one of you will be given a bowl of tharid in the morning and the like of it in the evening. The people said: O Messenger of Allah! We will be in a better state at that time. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Rather, you are in a better state today compared to that time.
Al-Bazzar recorded this narration, and its chain is jayyid (good).

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Yazid al-Khatmi (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Are you in a better state today, or will you be at the time when one bowl will be brought to one of you in the morning and another in the evening, one garment will be brought in the morning and another in the evening, and you will hang curtains over your houses just as cloth is hung over the Ka'bah? A man said: O Messenger of Allah! We will be in a better state at that time. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: (No!) Rather, you are in a better state today."
Al-Tabarani recorded this narration, and its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih, except for Abu Ja'far al-Khatmi, and he is thiqah (trustworthy).

Sayyiduna Abu Juhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Soon the world will be opened up for you, to the extent that you will hang curtains in your houses just as cloth is hung over the Ka'bah." We said: Will we be upon the same religion that we are upon today? The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: You will be upon the same religion that you are upon today. We said: Then will we be better at that time, or are we better today? The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Rather, you are better today."
Al-Bazzar recorded this narration, and its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih, except for Abd al-Jabbar bin al-Abbas al-Shibami, and he is thiqah (trustworthy).

Sayyiduna Abu Juhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: I ate tharid and then came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and I belched in his presence. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "O Abu Juhayfah! Those who remain hungry the longest on the Day of Resurrection will be those who ate their fill the most in this world."
Al-Bazzar recorded this narration with two chains, and the narrators of one of them are thiqat (trustworthy).

Ali bin al-Aqmar narrates from his father: I saw Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) holding up his sword in the open square of Kufah and saying: Who will buy this sword of mine from me? By Allah! I have defended the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) with it many times, and if I had the money to buy a waist-wrapper, I would not have sold it.
Al-Tabarani recorded this narration in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat; its chain contains a narrator, Sulayman bin al-Hakam, and he is da'if (weak).

Sayyiduna Abu Barzah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: We were taking part in a military expedition, and we encountered some people from among the polytheists. We drove them back from a place where bread was being baked. We seized that bread and began eating it. We had heard in the Days of Ignorance that whoever eats that bread becomes fat. When we had eaten that bread, we examined our sides to see whether they had become fat.

In one narration the wording is: On the occasion of the Battle of Khaybar we were with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and we drove those people back from a place where there were loaves of bread made of sifted flour. Al-Tabarani recorded all of these narrations, and their narrators are the narrators of the Sahih.

A man from the tribe of Abs narrates: I was walking with Sayyiduna Salman al-Farisi (may Allah be pleased with him) along the bank of the river Tigris. He said: O man of Banu Abs! Get down and drink! I drank. He said: How much has your drinking reduced (the water of) the Tigris? I said: It has hardly reduced it at all. He said: Knowledge is likewise; it is taken from, but it does not diminish. Then he said: Mount! Then we passed by heaps of wheat and barley, and he said: Do you think that this has been opened up for us, while life was made hard for the Companions of Sayyiduna Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), because our situation is better and theirs was bad? I replied: I do not know. He said: But I know: our situation is bad and theirs was better. Then he said: "The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) never ate his fill for three consecutive days until he went into the presence of Allah Almighty."
Al-Tabarani recorded this narration; its chain contains a narrator who has not been named, and the rest of the narrators of this narration have been declared trustworthy.

Sayyidah Umm Sulaym (may Allah be pleased with her) narrates: I was in the chamber of one of the wives of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was also with that wife. Meanwhile a man came and complained of being in need. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Be patient! By Allah! The household of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) has had nothing (to give) for the past seven days, nor has a fire been lit under their cooking pot for the past three days. By Allah! If I were to ask Allah Almighty to turn all the mountains of Tihamah into gold, He would do so.
Al-Tabarani recorded this narration; its chain contains a narrator, al-Hajjaj bin Farrukh, whom Ibn Hibban declared thiqah (trustworthy) despite his considerable weakness; the rest of the narrators of this narration are the narrators of the Sahih.

Sayyidah al-Shifa' bint Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with her) narrates: I came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to ask him for something. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) kept apologising to me while I kept insisting. Meanwhile the time for prayer came. I left and came to my daughter, who was the wife of Shurahbil bin Hasanah. I found Shurahbil at home and said: The time for prayer has come and you are at home? I began to reproach him. He said: O aunt! Do not reproach me. I had only one garment (to wear outside), and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) has borrowed it from me. (The narrator says:) I thought: May my father and mother be ransomed for him (peace and blessings be upon him)! I kept insisting before him today, while this is his state, and I did not even know it. Then Shurahbil said: (The garment the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) has borrowed) is a shirt on which we had sewn patches.
Al-Tabarani recorded this narration; its chain contains a narrator, Abd al-Wahhab bin al-Dahhak, and he is matruk (abandoned).

Sayyidah Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her) narrates: I know about the largest amount of wealth that came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) up to his passing away. Once, at night, a pouch came to him containing eight hundred dirhams and a written document. He sent it to me, because it was my designated night. After the Isha prayer the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) came and began offering prayer at his particular place of prayer in the chamber. I had spread out the bedding for him and for myself, and I kept waiting. He kept praying for quite a long time, then he came away from the place of prayer, then went back again. This kept happening until the call was given for the morning prayer (or he was called for the morning prayer). He prayed and came back, and he said: Where is that pouch which kept me in trial last night? The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent for it and distributed that money. I said: O Messenger of Allah! You did something you did not used to do before? The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: I was offering prayer, and in the meantime this came; I would end the prayer, then look at it, then start praying again. (Allamah al-Haythami says:) I say: Various chains of this hadith have already passed in the chapter on spending, (stating) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) feared that he might pass away before distributing that money.
Al-Tabarani recorded this narration with various chains, some of which are jayyid (good).

Sayyiduna Sahl bin Sa'd (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that he heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: "O people! Fear Allah! For if you fear Allah, He will soon grant you the olive oil of Syria and the wheat of Syria to eat your fill."
Al-Tabarani recorded this narration; its chain contains a narrator, Abd al-Muhaymin bin Abbas, and he is da'if (weak).

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) says: You offer more (voluntary) prayers than the Companions of Sayyiduna Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and worship with greater effort, yet they were better than you. The people asked: O Abu Abd al-Rahman! Why is that? He replied: Because they were more detached from the world and more eager for the Hereafter.
Al-Tabarani recorded this narration; its chain contains a narrator, Umarah bin Yazid, a student of Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him), and I do not know him; the rest of the narrators of this narration are thiqat (trustworthy).

Ali bin Badhimah narrates: The belongings of Sayyiduna Salman al-Farisi (may Allah be pleased with him) were sold, and their price came to 14 dirhams.
Al-Tabarani recorded this narration, and its chain is munqati' (broken).

Sayyidah Salma (may Allah be pleased with her), the wife of Sayyiduna Abu Rafi' (may Allah be pleased with him), narrates: Sayyiduna Imam Hasan bin Ali (may Allah be pleased with him), Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Ja'far (may Allah be pleased with him) and Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) came to my house. They said: Prepare for us too the food that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to like. The woman said: O my sons, you will not desire it today. The woman says: I got up, took some barley, ground it, sifted it and baked bread from it; with the bread, olive oil served as the curry. I sprinkled some pepper on it, then I placed that food before those gentlemen and said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to like this.
Al-Tabarani recorded it, and its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih, except for the narrator named Fa'id, the slave (mawla) of the son of Sayyiduna Abu Rafi' (may Allah be pleased with him), and he is thiqah (trustworthy).

Sayyiduna Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him) says: If only you had seen us when we used to be with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), you would have thought that the smell of sheep was coming from us, because our clothing was of wool and our food was the two black things, that is, dates and water. (Allamah al-Haythami says:) I say:
Abu Dawud recorded it in abridged form. Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat, and its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih.

Sayyidah Aishah Siddiqah (may Allah be pleased with her) narrates: A cup containing milk and honey was brought to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Two drinks in one drink, and two kinds of curry in one cup! I have no need of it. I do not say that it is forbidden (haram), but I dislike that Allah Almighty should question me on the Day of Resurrection about superfluous things. I adopt humility for the sake of Allah Almighty. Whoever adopts humility for the sake of Allah Almighty, Allah Almighty raises him high; whoever is arrogant, Allah Almighty brings him low; whoever adopts moderation, Allah Almighty makes him prosperous; and whoever remembers death often, Allah Almighty loves him."
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat; its chain contains a narrator, Nu'aym bin Muwarri' al-Anbari, whom Ibn Hibban declared thiqah (trustworthy), while more than one declared him da'if (weak). The remaining narrators of this report are thiqat (trustworthy).

Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: Several new moons would pass over the household of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and during that time no lamp would be lit (for light at night) in the house of any one of them, nor any fire kindled (for cooking). If they found olive oil, they would apply it, and if they found fat, they would eat it.
Abu Ya'la recorded it; its chain contains a narrator, Uthman bin Ata' al-Khurasani, who is da'if (weak); Duhaym declared him thiqah (trustworthy). The remaining narrators of this report are thiqat (trustworthy).

Sayyiduna Abu Dharr al-Ghifari (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: "The most beloved of you to me and the closest of you to me will be the one who joins me holding to the covenant I took from him."
Al-Bazzar recorded it; its chain contains a narrator, Musa bin Ubaydah al-Rabadhi, who is da'if (weak).

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) reports that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "It would not please me that Mount Uhud should become gold for me and I spend it in the path of Allah, and then on the day I die I leave a single dinar of it (that is, unspent), except for a dinar I have kept aside for a creditor, if there is one (that is, any debt)." The narrator says: Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) passed away, and he did not leave any dinar, dirham, slave or slave-girl; he (peace and blessings be upon him) left his coat of armour, which was pawned for thirty sa' of barley. (Allamah al-Haythami says:) I say: Al-Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah recorded part of it.
Al-Bazzar recorded it, and its chain is hasan (good).

Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: I came into the presence of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). At that time he was lying on a bed woven with cord (or rope), and under his head was a leather pillow stuffed with palm fibre. A few of his Companions came into his presence; when Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) came in, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) turned on his side. Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) saw that there was no cloth between the side of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the cords of the bed, and because of that the cords had left a mark on the side of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). So Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) wept. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked him: Why are you weeping, O Umar? Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: By Allah, I would not weep were it not that I know you are more honoured in the sight of Allah Almighty than Chosroes and Caesar; they (that is, Caesar and Chosroes) live in every kind of luxury and comfort, while you are the Messenger of Allah and this is your condition that I see. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: Are you not pleased that this world is for them and the Hereafter is for us? Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) replied: Yes indeed (that is, I am pleased with that). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Then it is so.
Ahmad and Abu Ya'la recorded it. The narrators of Ahmad are the narrators of the Sahih, except for Mubarak bin Fadalah; a group declared him thiqah (trustworthy) and a group declared him da'if (weak).

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrates: Once Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) came into the presence of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). At that time the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was on a mat whose mark had formed on his body. He submitted: O Messenger of Allah, if you were to spread some bedding, this mark would not form. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: What have I to do with this world? By the One in whose Hand is my soul, the likeness of me and this world is that of a rider who travels on a hot day, takes shade under a tree for a short while, then sets off from there and leaves it (the tree or its shade) behind.
Ahmad, al-Tabarani and al-Bazzar recorded it. The narrators of Ahmad are the narrators of the Sahih, except for Hilal bin Khabbab, and he is thiqah (trustworthy).

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) says: I came into the presence of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). At that time he was in an upper room that was like a pigeon-house. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was sleeping on a mat whose mark had formed on his side. I wept. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: O Abdullah, why are you weeping? I submitted: O Messenger of Allah, Chosroes and Caesar walk on khazz, dibaj and harir (that is, various kinds of silk), while you are sleeping on this mat which has left a mark on your side. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: O Abdullah, do not weep, for this world is for them and the Hereafter will be for us. What have I to do with this world? The likeness of me and this world is that of a rider who halts under a tree, then sets off and leaves it behind.
Al-Tabarani recorded it; its chain contains a narrator, Ubaydullah bin Sa'id, who used to lead al-A'mash about; Ibn Hibban declared him thiqah (trustworthy) and a group declared him da'if (weak). The remaining narrators of this report are thiqat (trustworthy).

Sayyiduna Jundub (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: One finger of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was injured by a tree and blood came out of it, so the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "You are only a finger that has bled, and what you have met with has been in the path of Allah." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was lifted and laid on a bed woven with cord, and a leather pillow stuffed with palm fibre was placed under his head. The cord left a mark on his side. Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) came and began to weep. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: Why are you weeping? He submitted: O Messenger of Allah, Chosroes and Caesar sit on thrones of gold and wear dibaj and istabraq (silk brocade). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Are you not pleased that they have been given this world and you will be given the Hereafter? (Allamah al-Haythami says:) I say: In the "Sahih" these words of it are recorded: "You are only a finger that has bled, and what you have met with has been in the path of Allah."
Al-Tabarani recorded it; its chain contains a narrator, Umar bin Ziyad, whom Ibn Hibban declared thiqah (trustworthy), and there is weakness in him. The remaining narrators of this report are the narrators of the Sahih.

Sayyidah Aishah Siddiqah (may Allah be pleased with her) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had a bed strung with cord, and on his body was a black sheet. We seated him on the cord. Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) and Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) came into the presence of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), while the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was seated on the corded bed. Both of them saw that the mark of the cord had formed on the side of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), so Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) and Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) wept. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked them both: Why are you two weeping? They both submitted: We are weeping because the roughness of this bed has left its mark on your side, while Chosroes and Caesar are on beddings of silk and brocade. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The end of Chosroes and Caesar is Hell, and the end of this bed of mine is Paradise."
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat; its chain contains a narrator, Abd al-Aziz bin Yahya al-Madani, a resident of Naysabur, and he is a kadhdhab (liar).

Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) kept away from his wives. The narrator Shu'bah says: I think the wording of the narration is: he kept away for a month. Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) came into the presence of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who was at that time on a mat, and the mark of the mat had formed on his side. He submitted: O Messenger of Allah, Chosroes and Caesar drink from vessels of gold and silver, and this is your condition! The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Their good things have been given to them early, in the life of this world. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) also said: The month is also of twenty-nine days, like this, and like this, and like this. The narrator says: The third time, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) kept his thumb folded.
Al-Bazzar recorded it; its chain contains a narrator, Dawud bin Farahij, whom a group declared thiqah (trustworthy) and others declared da'if (weak). The remaining narrators of this report are the narrators of the Sahih.

It is reported about Sayyiduna Ali bin Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) that he came to Sayyidah Fatimah (may Allah be pleased with her) and said to her: Because of drawing water with the large bucket, I feel pain in my chest. Sayyidah Fatimah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: By Allah, because of grinding at the hand-mill, my hands hurt too. Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said to Sayyidah Fatimah (may Allah be pleased with her): Go to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and ask the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) for a servant who will serve you. Sayyidah Fatimah (may Allah be pleased with her) went to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and greeted the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) with salam. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: Why have you come? She replied: I came to greet the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) with salam. When she went back to Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him), she said: By Allah, out of awe of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) I could not speak to him. Then the two of them went to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Why have you two come? You two must have come for some need. Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) submitted: Yes, O Messenger of Allah. I complained to Fatimah that drawing water with the large bucket causes me pain, and Fatimah said that grinding flour causes her pain, so we have come to you so that you may give us a servant from what Allah Almighty has granted you. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "No. I will spend this on the People of the Suffah, whose insides are knotted with hunger, and I do not find anything with which to feed them." The narrator says: The two of them came back. When they lay down to sleep at night, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) came to them while they were under a quilt. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had given Sayyidah Fatimah (may Allah be pleased with her) that quilt as part of her dowry, along with a pillow stuffed with the grass called idhkhir. When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had turned down their request, it had weighed very heavily on Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) and Sayyidah Fatimah (may Allah be pleased with her). When they sensed the footsteps of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), they both began to get up. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Stay in your places. Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sat on the edge of the quilt, and then he said: You two came so that I might give you a servant. I direct you to something that is better for you than getting a servant: after every prayer, say Alhamdulillah ten times, say Subhan Allah ten times and say Allahu Akbar ten times; and when you lie down to sleep at night, say Subhan Allah 33 times, Alhamdulillah 33 times and Allahu Akbar 34 times. That makes one hundred. (Allamah al-Haythami says:) I say: The hadith narrated from Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) is mentioned in the "Sahih" and other books, but it is shorter than this.
Al-Bazzar recorded it; its chain contains a narrator, Ata' bin al-Sa'ib, who suffered from mental confusion (ikhtilat). The remaining narrators of this report are thiqat (trustworthy).