Messenger of Allah, verily ours is a tribe of Rabi'a and there stand between you and us the unbelievers of Mudar and we find no freedom to come to you except in the sacred month. Direct us to an act which we should ourselves perform and invite those who live beside us. Upon this the Prophet remarked: I command you to do four things and prohibit you against four acts. (The four deeds which you are commanded to do are): Faith in Allah, and then he explained it for them and said: Testifying the fact. that there is no god but Allah, that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, performance of prayer, payment of Zakat, that you pay Khums (one-fifth) of the booty fallen to your lot, and I prohibit you to use round gourd, wine jars, wooden pots or skins for wine. Khalaf b. Hisham has made this addition in his narration: Testifying the fact that there is no god but Allah, and then he with his finger pointed out the oneness of the Lord.

That people from the- tribe of 'Abdul-Qais came to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and said: Messenger of Allah, we belong to the tribe of Rabi'a and there live between you and us the unbelievers of the Mudar tribe and we find it impossible to come to you except in the sacred months; direct us to a deed which we must communicate to those who have been left behind us and by doing which we may enter heaven. Upon this the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: I enjoin upon you four (things) and forbid you to do four (things): worship Allah and associate none with Him, establish prayer, pay Zakat, and observe the fast of Ramadan, and pay the fifth part out of the booty. And I prohibit you from four (things): dry gourds, green-coloured jars, hollowed stumps of palm-trees, and receptacles. They (the members of the delegation) said: Do you know what al-naqir is? He replied: Yes, it is a stump which you hollow out and in which you throw small dates. Sa'id said: He (the Holy Prophet) used the word tamar (dates). (The Prophet then added): Then you sprinkle water over it and when its ebullition subsides, you drink it (and you are so intoxicated) that one amongst you, or one amongst them (the other members of your tribe, who were not present there) strikes his cousin with the sword. He (the narrator) said: There was a man amongst us who had sustained injury on this very account due to (intoxication), and he told that he tried to conceal it out of shame from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). I, however, inquired from the Messenger of Allah (it we discard those utensils which you have forbidden us to use), then what type of vessels should be used for drink? He (the Holy Prophet) replied: In the waterskin the mouths of which are tied (with a string). They (again) said: Prophet of Allah, our land abounds in rats and water-skins cannot remain preserved. The holy Prophet of Allah (ﷺ) said: (Drink in water-skins) even if these arenibbled by rats. And then (addressing) al-Ashajj of 'Abdul-Qais he said: Verily, you possess two such qualities which Allah loves: insight and deliberateness.

The Messenger of Allah sent me (as a governor of Yemen) and (at the time of departure) instructed me thus: You will soon find yourself in a community one among the people of the Book, so first call them to testify that there is no god but Allah, that I (Muhammad) am the messenger of Allah, and if they accept this, then tell them Allah has enjoined upon them five prayers during the day and the night and if they accept it, then tell them that Allah has made Zakat obligatory for them that it should be collected from the rich and distributed among the poor, and if they agree to it don't pick up (as a share of Zakat) the best of their wealths. Beware of the supplication of the oppressed for there is no barrier between him and Allah.