Sa'd said: I have seen myself as. the third member of Islam, no one having accepted it except on the day I did, and during the space of seven days I constituted a third of Islam. Bukhari transmitted it.

`A'isha told that God's messenger used to say to his wives, "I am concerned about what will happen to you after I am gone, when only the self-sacrificing and truly generous will continue to care for you." `A'isha said his meaning was those who give sadaqa. Then `A'isha said to Abu Salama b. `Abd ar-Rahman, "May God give your father drink from Salsabil in paradise!" Ibn `Auf had given as sadaqa for the mothers of the faithful a garden which had been sold for forty thousand. Tirmidhi transmitted it.

Umm Salama told that she heard God's messenger say to his wives, "Ale who treats you generously after I am gone is the sincere and kindly one. O God, give `Abd ar-Rahman b. `Auf drink from Salsabil in paradise." Ahmad transmitted it.

Hudhaifa told that the people of Najran came to God's messenger and said, "Messenger of God, send us a trustworthy man." When he replied, "I shall certainly send you a trustworthy man who is genuinely trustworthy," the people were looking to see if they would be appointed. He then sent Abu `Ubaida b. al-Jarrah. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

`Ali told that when God's messenger was asked whom they should appoint commander after he had gone, he replied, "If you appoint Abu Bakr as commander you will find him trustworthy, with little desire for worldly goods but eager for the next world; if you appoint `Umar as commander you will find him trustworthy and strong, fearing for God's sake no one's blame; and if you appoint `Ali as commander, but I cannot see you doing so, you will find him a guide who is rightly guided who will lead you in the straight way." Ahmad transmitted it.

He reported God's messenger as saying, "God show mercy to Aba Bakr! He gave me his daughter as wife, he conveyed me to the abode of the emigration, he accompanied me in the cave, and he manumitted Bilal out of his property. God show mercy to `Umar! He speaks the truth even if it is bitter, and the truth has left him without a friend. God show mercy to `Uthman! The angels display bashfulness before him. God show mercy to 'Ali! 0 God, cause the truth to accompany him wherever he goes!'' Tirmidhi transmitted it, saying this is a gharib tradition.

Sa'd b. Abu Waqqas told that when this verse came down, "Let us call our sons and your sons [*] ..." God's messenger called `Ali, Fatima, Hasan and Husain and said, "0 God, these are the members of my family." Muslim transmitted it.

`A'isha told that the Prophet went out one morning wearing a striped cloak of black goat's hair. Al-Hasan b. `Ali came and he took him under it, then al-Husain came and went under it along with him, then Fatima came and he took her under it, then `Ali came and he took him under it. He then said, "God only desires to remove abomination from you, members of the family, and purify you."Muslim transmitted it.

Al-Bara' told that when Ibrahim* died God's messenger said, "He has a nursing-mother in paradise." Bukhari transmitted it.

`A'isha said: We, the Prophet's wives, were once with him when Fatima came along, her style of walking being indistinguishable from that of God's messenger. When he saw her, he said, "Welcome, my daughter," and made her sit down. He then said something privately to her and she wept bitterly, so when he saw her grief, he said something else privately to her and she began to laugh. When God's messenger got up and left, I asked her what he had said to her privately, but she replied, "I am not one to publish God's messenger's secrets." After his death I said, "I adjure you by my right over you to tell me," And she replied, "Now I am agreeable. When he spoke privately to me about the first matter, he informed me that Gabriel was in the habit of going over the Quran with him once annually but that he had done it twice that year, so he felt his appointed time was near. He then told me to fear God and show endurance, for he was a good forerunner for me. I wept, and when he saw my distress, he spoke to me privately a second time saying, `Are you not pleased, Fatima, that you will be the chief lady among the female inhabitants of paradise (or, of the women of the believers)'?" A version has, "He spoke to me privately informing me that he would die of his pain, so I wept. He then spoke to me privately informing me that I would be the first member of his family to follow him, so I laughed." (Bukhari and Muslim.)