Musnad Ahmad

Malik bin Umair says that one day Zaid bin Suhan came to the service of Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) and after greeting, said: O Commander of the Faithful! Prevent us from those things from which the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) forbade you people. He replied: The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) forbade us from using gourds, green pitchers, wooden vessels, vessels made by hollowing out wood, and nabidh of barley (because wine was distilled in them), and also forbade silk, red saddle cloths, pure silk, and gold rings. Then he said that once the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) gifted me a silk garment. I wore it and went outside. When the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) saw this, he sent it to Lady Fatimah (may Allah be pleased with her) or to her aunt.

The previous hadith is also narrated through another chain.

On one occasion, Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) addressed the people from the pulpit and said: O people! I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) say, "Prayer is not invalidated by anything except hadath (minor impurity)." And I will not feel shy to explain to you what the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) did not feel shy to explain: hadath means that a person passes wind.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) that one of the people of Suffa passed away. Someone said in the presence of the Messenger of Allah: O Messenger of Allah! He has left behind a dinar and a dirham as inheritance. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "These are two coals of Hell with which he will be branded. You should perform your companion's funeral prayer yourselves."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever goes to visit a sick person, it is as if he is walking in the gardens of Paradise. When he sits by the sick person, he immerses himself in the ocean of Allah's mercy, and when he returns from there, seventy thousand angels are appointed for him who continue to pray for his forgiveness that day."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) that when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to stand upon seeing a funeral, we would also stand. Later, he himself began to remain seated, so we also began to remain seated.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Recite this supplication: «اَللّٰهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْأَلُكَ الْهُدَى وَالسَّدَادَ» 'O Allah! I ask You for guidance and steadfastness.' And when you say the word 'guidance,' keep in mind the guidance of the path, and when you say the word 'steadfastness,' keep in mind the straightness of the arrow." Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) also said that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade (the use of) silk, red saddle cloth, and wearing a ring on the index or middle finger.

Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that I mentioned the daughter of Sayyiduna Hamza (may Allah be pleased with him) before the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), so the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "She is my foster niece."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) that we were with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) at a funeral. On that occasion, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Who among you will go to Madinah and not leave any idol there without breaking it, not leave any grave without leveling it, and not see any picture without smearing it with mud and clay?" A man stood up and said: "O Messenger of Allah! I will do this." So that man set out, but when he reached Madinah, he was overawed by the people of Madinah and returned. Seeing this, Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "O Messenger of Allah! I will go." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) gave him permission. So when he returned, he said: "O Messenger of Allah! Wherever I found any kind of idol, I broke it; every grave I saw, I leveled it; and every picture I saw, I smeared it with mud." After this, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Now, whoever does any of these things again, it is as if he denies the revelation sent down upon Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)." He also said: "O Ali! Do not become one who puts people into trial or one who boasts, but be only a trader of goodness, for these are the people who can only surpass others through deeds."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) that once a silk garment was sent as a gift to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) from somewhere. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent it to me. I wore it and went outside, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) became angry to the extent that I saw signs of displeasure on the blessed face of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I did not give it to you to wear." Then he ordered me, so I distributed it among my women.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The angels of mercy do not enter a house in which there is a person in a state of major ritual impurity (junub), or a picture, or a dog."

Nazzal bin Sabrah says that once, in his presence, Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) performed the Zuhr prayer, then sat in the courtyard of the mosque to resolve people's issues. When the time for Asr prayer arrived, he took a handful of water and wiped his hands, arms, face, head, and feet with wet hands, then while standing, he drank that water and said that some people dislike drinking water while standing, whereas the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) also did as I have done. And the person who is not without ablution but already has ablution, this is the ablution of that person.

The previous hadith is also narrated through another chain of transmission.

Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) once sent him to Madinah Munawwarah and ordered that all the graves be leveled.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) sent an Ansari man and ordered him, "Level every grave and plaster every idol with clay." He said: "O Messenger of Allah! I do not wish to enter the houses of my people." Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent me. When I returned, he said, "Do not be among those who put people into trial or those who boast, but be only traders of goodness, for these are the people whom it is possible to surpass only through deeds."

The previous hadith is also narrated through another chain of transmission.

Abdu Khair, may Allah have mercy on him, says that once a chair was brought to Sayyiduna Ali, may Allah be pleased with him. I saw him sitting on it. Then a vessel was brought, and he washed his hands three times, then rinsed his mouth three times with the same water, put water into his nose, washed his face three times, washed both arms including the elbows three times, then again put his hands into the vessel and wiped his head once from front to back with both palms, and washed both feet including the ankles three times. Then he said that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, used to perform ablution in this manner. Whoever wants to see the way of ablution of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, this is it.

Abu Al-Wadi says that when Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) was engaged in battle with the people of Nahrawan, I was present there. Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Look for a man among the slain whose hand is defective and incomplete." The people searched for him among the corpses but did not find him, and the people began to say, "We cannot find him." Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Go and search again. By Allah! I am not lying to you, nor has I been lied to." This happened several times, and each time Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) sent the people again to search, and each time he swore an oath, saying, "I am not lying to you, nor has I been lied to." The last time, when the people searched, they found him lying under the corpses of the slain, buried in the dirt. They took him out and brought him before Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him). Abu Al-Wadi says: "It seems to me as if I am still seeing him before my eyes; he was an Abyssinian, on whose hand there was a mark like a woman's breast, and on that breast were hairs just like those on the tail of a wild mouse."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade the use of vessels made from pumpkin gourds and those made from wood.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) that one day the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was sitting waiting for a funeral. (In his blessed hand was a stick) with which he was scratching the ground. After a short while, he raised his head and said: "The abode of every one of you—whether Paradise or Hell—is present and determined in Allah's knowledge." The noble Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) asked: O Messenger of Allah! Should we not rely on this? He said: "Continue to do deeds, for each person will find it easy to do the deeds for which he was created." Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) recited this verse of the Qur'an: «﴿فَأَمَّا مَنْ أَعْطَى وَاتَّقَى ، وَصَدَّقَ بِالْحُسْنَى ، فَسَنُيَسِّرُهُ لِلْيُسْرَى﴾ [الليل : 5-7]» "So as for he who gives and fears Allah and believes in the best [reward], We will ease him toward ease."

Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said that I used to have a lot of madhi (pre-seminal fluid). Since the daughter of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was in my marriage, I felt shy to ask the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) about this issue myself. So I asked Sayyiduna Miqdad (may Allah be pleased with him) to ask the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) about this issue. Accordingly, he asked about this issue, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Such a person should perform wudu (ablution)."

Hasan (may Allah have mercy on him) says that once Sayyiduna Umar Farooq (may Allah be pleased with him) intended to stone a mad woman, so Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said to him: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) say: "Three types of people are exempt from accountability: (1) The sleeping person, until he wakes up, (2) The child, until he reaches puberty, (3) The insane person, until his sanity returns." Thus, Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) suspended her punishment.

Huzain says that some people from Kufa came to the service of Sayyiduna Uthman Ghani (may Allah be pleased with him), and they informed Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) about some news regarding Walid's drinking of alcohol. Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) also spoke to them about this matter, so Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) said to him, "Your cousin is entrusted to you, you carry out the punishment upon him." He said to Sayyiduna Imam Hasan (may Allah be pleased with him), "Hasan! Stand up and lash him." He replied, "You cannot do this work, assign it to someone else." He said, "Actually, you have become weak and incapable, so Abdullah bin Ja'far! You stand up and carry out the punishment upon him." Thus, Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Ja'far (may Allah be pleased with him) kept lashing him and Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) kept counting. When forty lashes were completed, Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "Stop, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) lashed the drinker of alcohol with forty lashes, Sayyiduna Abu Bakr Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) also lashed with forty lashes, but Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) lashed with eighty, and both are Sunnah."

Imam Sha'bi (may Allah have mercy on him) says that Sharahah al-Hamdaniyyah came to Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) and said, "I have committed adultery, so give me the punishment." Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "It is possible that you saw yourself doing this in a dream, or perhaps you were forced into this act?" But she kept replying "No" to every question. So Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) flogged her on Thursday, and on Friday he carried out the punishment of stoning on her, and said, "I have flogged her in the light of the Book of Allah, and stoned her in the light of the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) that I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbidding keeping the meat of sacrifice with oneself for more than three days.

Nuaim bin Dajjajah says that once Sayyiduna Abu Mas’ud Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) came to Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him). Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “Was it you who said that a hundred years will not pass over the people before there remains no eye on the earth that blinks, meaning all the people will die?” You made a mistake in this. What the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) actually said was: “Of those who are alive today, after a hundred years, there will not remain any eye among them that blinks,” meaning the Day of Judgment is not intended. By Allah! After a hundred years, this Ummah will receive ease.

Abu’l-Wadi says that when Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) was engaged in battle with the people of Nahrawan, I was present there. Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “Look for a man among the slain whose hand is defective and incomplete.” The people searched for him among the corpses but did not find him, and the people began to say, “We cannot find him.” Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “Go and search again. By Allah! I am not lying to you, nor has I been lied to.” The last time when the people searched for him, they found him lying under the corpses of the slain, buried in the earth. They took him out and brought him before Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him). Abu’l-Wadi says: “It seems to me as if I am still seeing him before my eyes; he was an Abyssinian, on whose hand there was a mark like a woman’s breast, and on that breast were hairs like those on the tail of a wild mouse.”

Abu al-Wadi says: We set out with Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) with the intention of going to Kufa. When we were at a distance of two or three nights from a place called Harura, many people separated from us and left. We mentioned this to Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him), so he said: Do not worry, soon these people will return. After that, the narrator mentioned the complete hadith and at the end said: Then Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) thanked Allah and said: My beloved Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) told me that the leader of these people will be a man whose hand will be incomplete, and on his hand there will be a lump like a woman's breast, on which there will be hairs like the tail of a wild mouse. Search for his body among the slain. The people began to search for him but could not find him. We came and submitted that we are not able to find his body. This happened three times. Then Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) himself stood up to search for him and began to say: Turn him over, turn him over. Meanwhile, a man from Kufa came and said: Here he is. Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) saw him and proclaimed Allahu Akbar and said: Does any of you know who his father is? The people began to say: His name is Malik, his name is Malik. Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) asked: Whose son is he? (But no answer could be given.)

Imam Sha’bi (may Allah have mercy on him) says that (Sharahah Hamdaniyah came to Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) and said, “I have committed adultery, so give me the punishment.”) Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “It is possible that you were forced into this act? Perhaps he was your husband?” But she kept replying “No” to every question. So, after she gave birth, Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) flogged her, and then carried out the punishment of stoning. Someone asked him, “You flogged her and also stoned her?” He replied, “I flogged her in the light of the Book of Allah, and I stoned her in the light of the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).”

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: I am the first man to have performed prayer with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) that the first person to pray with the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was myself.

Abu Ubaid says that on both occasions of Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, I had the opportunity to participate with Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him). He led the prayer before the sermon without any adhan or iqamah, then while delivering the sermon, he said: O people! The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) forbade eating the meat of the sacrifice after three days, so do not eat it after three days.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Do not perform any prayer after the Asr prayer, except if the sun appears clear and bright, then it is permissible."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to observe continuous fasting from one pre-dawn meal (suhoor) to the next, (he would not break his fast at sunset).

Muhammad bin Ali says that once some people came to Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) with complaints about some governors appointed by Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him). My father said to me, "Take this letter to Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) and tell him that people have come with complaints about your governors. The commands of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding the collection of zakat are written in this letter. Please issue orders to your governors to collect zakat from the people accordingly." So I went to Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) and repeated the whole matter before him. The narrator says that if anyone wanted to mention Sayyiduna Uthman Ghani (may Allah be pleased with him) in an inappropriate manner, he would refer to that day.

Abu Al-Wadi says that we set out with Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) with the intention of going to Kufa, then he mentioned hadith number (1189), and at the end of it he also said that Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Remember! My beloved Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) has informed me that "Among the jinn there are three brothers; this one is the eldest among them, the second has a great multitude with him, and the third is weak."

Abdu Khair, may Allah have mercy on him, says that once we performed the Fajr prayer with Sayyiduna Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, and then sat with him. He asked for water for ablution, washed his hands three times, rinsed his mouth twice with one handful, washed his face three times, washed both arms including the elbows three times, and washed both feet including the ankles three times, and said that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, used to perform ablution in this manner. Understand this well.

Abdu Khair, may Allah have mercy on him, says that once we came to Syedna Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, he had already performed the Fajr prayer, he asked for water for ablution, washed his hands three times, then rinsed his mouth three times with a single handful, washed his face three times, washed both arms including the elbows three times each, and said: Whoever wants to know the way of ablution of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, then this is it.

Abu Ma'mar says that once we were present with Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him), a funeral passed by there, and people stood up upon seeing it. Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) asked, "Who told you about this ruling?" The people mentioned the name of Sayyiduna Abu Musa Ash'ari (may Allah be pleased with him). Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did this only once, and that too because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to adopt the practices of the People of the Book, but when it was prohibited, he (peace and blessings be upon him) stopped.

Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: From the spoils of the Battle of Badr, I obtained an old she-camel, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) also gave me a similar she-camel. One day, I made both of them sit at the door of an Ansari’s house, intending to load them with a type of grass called ‘izkhar’ and take it to the market to sell. With me was a goldsmith from Banu Qaynuqa, whom I wanted to employ for the wedding feast of Sayyida Fatimah (may Allah be pleased with her). Meanwhile, inside the house of that Ansari, Sayyiduna Hamza (may Allah be pleased with him) was drinking wine (because at that time the command prohibiting wine had not yet been revealed). Upon seeing the she-camels, he took his sword and attacked them, cut off their humps, ripped open their sides, took out their livers, and brought them inside. When I saw this scene, I became very distressed. I went to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and at that time Sayyiduna Zayd bin Harithah (may Allah be pleased with him) was also present. I told the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) the whole story. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) set out with me, and Sayyiduna Zayd bin Harithah (may Allah be pleased with him) also accompanied us. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) reached Sayyiduna Hamza (may Allah be pleased with him) and expressed great displeasure to him. Sayyiduna Hamza (may Allah be pleased with him) looked up and said, “You are all nothing but my father’s slaves.” Seeing this, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) turned back and left. And this incident occurred before the command prohibiting wine was revealed.