It is narrated from Sayyiduna Nawwas bin Sim'an (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Allah Almighty has set forth a parable: there is a straight path, on both sides of which are two walls; in them are open doors, and over those doors hang curtains. At the start of this path a caller is calling: 'O people! All of you walk on this straight path and do not turn aside this way and that.' And a caller calls from above the path, so whenever one of you wants to open any of those (forbidden) doors, he says: 'Woe to you! Do not open it, for if you open it, you will enter it.' Here 'the path' means Islam, 'the curtains' are the limits set by Allah, 'the open doors' are the things Allah has made forbidden, 'the caller at the head of the path' is the Book of Allah (the Qur'an), and 'the caller from above' is the admonisher from Allah present in the heart of every Muslim (the conscience)." This hadith is sahih (authentic) on the condition of Muslim; I do not know of any hidden defect ('illah) in it, but the two Shaykhs (Bukhari and Muslim) did not record it.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abd al-Rahman bin Azhar (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The example of the believing servant when fever and chills afflict him is just like a piece of iron that is put into the fire: its impurities go away and its pure substance remains." The chain of this hadith is sahih (authentic), but the two Shaykhs (Bukhari and Muslim) did not record it; in my view they left it because Abd al-Hamid is alone in narrating it from his father.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Jabir bin Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with them both) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) went in to one of his household who was suffering from fever. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: "Is this Umm Mildam (fever)?" A woman said: Yes, may Allah curse it. So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Do not curse it, for it washes away (or: removes) the sins of the children of Adam just as the furnace removes the impurities of iron." This hadith is sahih (authentic) on the condition of Muslim; there is no hidden defect in it, but the two Shaykhs (Bukhari and Muslim) did not record it.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Friends are of three kinds. One friend says: 'Whatever you have given (in the way of Allah) is yours, and whatever you have held back is not yours'; that is your 'wealth'. The second friend says: 'I am with you until you reach the door of the King, then I will go back and leave you alone'; these are your 'family and relatives', who accompany your funeral to the grave and then come back, leaving you. And the third friend says: 'Wherever you enter and wherever you leave, I will be with you'; that is a person's 'deeds'. (At that time the person says to his deeds:) 'By Allah! Of the three, you were the most insignificant and lowly in my eyes.'" This hadith is sahih (authentic) on the condition of the two Shaykhs (Bukhari and Muslim); they used Hajjaj bin Hajjaj as evidence, and there is no hidden defect in it, but they did not record it in this wording (sequence). However, it has a shahid (supporting narration) which they did record.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Three things follow the believer (in his funeral): his family, his wealth and his deeds. Then two return and one remains (in the grave): his family and wealth return, while his deeds remain."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "There is no servant but that he has three close friends." Then he mentioned the complete long narration like the previous hadith.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Nu'man bin Bashir (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The example of the believer and his death is like a man who has three close friends. His wealth says to him: 'I am your wealth; take from me what you wish and leave what you wish.' The second (friend) says: 'I am with you; I will carry you (on a mount) and set you down (at the destination), but when you die I will leave you.' (He (peace and blessings be upon him) said:) 'This is his tribe and family.' And the third friend says: 'I am with you; I will enter (the grave) with you and come out with you, whether you die or live.' (He (peace and blessings be upon him) said:) 'This is a person's deeds.'"

Kharijah bin Zayd bin Thabit narrates from his father (Sayyiduna Zayd bin Thabit, may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered me, so I learned the writing of the Jews for him. He had said: "By Allah! I do not trust the Jews with my correspondence." So I learned it, and not even half a month had passed before I became proficient in it. He said: Then whenever he (peace and blessings be upon him) had letters written to the Jews I would write them, and whenever a letter came from them I would read it out to him (peace and blessings be upon him). This hadith is sahih (authentic), and I do not know of any other hadith besides this one regarding the permission to learn the writing of the People of the Book.

It is narrated from Abdullah bin Buraydah that he said: I was told that Abu Sabrah bin Salamah al-Hudhali heard Ibn Ziyad asking about the Pool, the Pool of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and Ibn Ziyad said: I do not consider it to be true. This was even though he had already asked Abu Barzah al-Aslami, al-Bara' bin Azib and A'idh bin Amr (may Allah be pleased with them), yet he said: I do not believe these people. So Abu Sabrah said: Shall I not narrate to you a hadith that brings healing (from doubt)? Your father sent me with wealth to Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him), and there I met Abdullah bin Amr (may Allah be pleased with them both). He narrated this hadith to me from his own mouth, and I wrote it down with my own pen exactly as he had heard it from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him); I did not add or omit a single letter. He told me that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Indeed, Allah Almighty does not love the one who is obscene or the one who speaks lewdly. By the One in whose Hand is the soul of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)! The Hour will not be established until obscene speech, shamelessness, severing the ties of kinship and ill-treatment of neighbours become widespread, and the trustworthy person comes to be regarded as treacherous and the treacherous as trustworthy. The example of the believer is like the bee: it eats what is pure, produces what is pure (honey) and settles on what is pure; it neither spoils (the flower) nor breaks it. And the example of the believing servant is like a fine piece of gold which, when heated (in the furnace), comes out pure, and when it is weighed, its weight is not lessened." And he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Your meeting place is my Pool. Its breadth is equal to its length, and it is wider than the distance between Aylah and Makkah, which is a month's journey. On it are jugs shining like the stars. Its water is whiter than silver. Whoever comes to it and drinks from it once will never be thirsty after that." Ibn Ziyad said: No one has narrated to me a hadith like this. I bear witness that the Pool is true and certain. Then he took the scroll that Abu Sabrah had brought. This hadith is sahih (authentic). The two Shaykhs (Bukhari and Muslim) agreed on using all of its narrators as evidence except Abu Sabrah al-Hudhali; he is a senior Tabi'i whose mention is found in the Musnad collections and the books of history, and he has not been criticised.

It is narrated from Abu Sabrah al-Hudhali that he mentioned this same long hadith.