witchcraft, jinn, the evil eye,- A person who tells people who are present about private and secret matters.

One of the liars claims to know the Unseen. He recites Qur'aan over
people who suffer from epilepsy and tells them to use papers on which
he has written as incense, and he gives them amulets to wear. If a
person who comes to him for treatment is a wine-drinker, he tells him
that he drank wine the day before and that the rest of the wine is to
be found in such and such a place, and says that he will not treat
himfor epilepsy until he gives up drinking wine. Then the person
admits it. Please give us a fatwaa (ruling) on this matter. Is it
permissible to sit and eat with this person and to greet him with
salaam and pray behind him – as he sometimes leads the people in
prayer? We have tried to advise him but he did not accept our advice,
and says thathe is doing the right thing. Please give us a fatwaa, may
Allaah reward you.
Praise be to Allaah.
Undoubtedly this person is a fortune-teller who uses the shayaateen
and gets close to them by doing things that they like so that they
will tell him some concealed things. He may be offering sacrifices to
them, calling them by name, obeying them by disobeying Allaah and
eating haraam or impure things, etc. Of course this is kufr and shirk.
He must be asked to repent, and if he repents, all well and good –
otherwise he must be executed. It is not permissible to pray behind
him or to greet him with salaam until and unless he repents. And
Allaah knows best.
al-Lu'lu' al-Makeen min Fataawaa Ibn Jibreen, p. 20

Islamic Stories,- The Carpenter

A highly skilled carpenter who had grown old was ready to retire. He
told his employer-contractor of his plans to leave the house building
business and live a more leisurely life with his family. He would miss
the paycheck, but he neededto retire.
The employer was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could
build just one more house as a personal favor. The carpenter agreed to
this proposal but made sure that this will be his last project. Being
in a mood to retire, the carpenter wasnot paying much attention to
building this house. His heart wasnot in his work. He resorted to poor
workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to
end his career.
When the job was done, the carpenter called his employer and showed
him the house. The employer handed over some papers and the front door
key to the carpenter and said "This is your house, my gift to you."
The carpenter was in a shock! What a shame! If he had only known that
he was building his own house, he would have made it better than any
other house that he everbuilt!
Our situation can be compared to this carpenter. Allah Ta'la hassent
us to this world to build our homes in paradise by obeying His
commands. Now, we have to decide how well we wish to build the homes
where we will live forever.

Islamic Stories,- Thirst for Learning

Hadhrat Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) says:
"After the passing away of the Prophet (peace beupon him), I said to
an Ansari friend of mine: 'The Prophet is not now with us. But a large
number of Sahabah are still among us. Let us go to them and get
knowledge of the Islamic practices.' He said: ' Who is going to
approach you for learning a regulation in the presence of these
eminent Sahabah?' I wasnot discouraged. I kept up my quest for
knowledge and approached every person who was supposed to have heard
something from the Prophet. I managed to gather substantial
information from the Ansar. If on my visit to someone of the Sahabah,
I found him asleep, I spread my shawl at the gate and satwaiting.
Sometimes my face and body would getcovered with dust, but I kept
sitting till they woke and I was able to contact them. Some of them
said: 'Abdullah you are the cousin of the Prophet; you could have sent
for us. Why did you take the trouble of coming to our places?' I said
to them: 'I must come to you, for I am a student and you are my
teachers.' Some people for whom I had waited said: 'Since when have
you been waiting for us?' I informed them that I had been sitting
there for a pretty long time. They said: 'What a pity! You could have
awakened us from our sleep.' I said: 'I did not like to disturb you
for my own sake.' I thus carried on my pursuits, till there came a
time when people began to flock to me for learning. My Ansari friend
realizedthis at that time and remarked: 'This boy has surely proved
himself more sensible than us.'"
Source: From the book"Stories of the Sahabah" by Shaikh Muhammad
Zakariyya Kaandhlawi.
Besides our quest for knowledge to earn a livelihood in this world, we
must as well gain sufficient knowledge of Islam. No matter what age
group we belong to at this moment, we should atleast have that much
Islamic knowledgewith which we can turn our 24 hours life into
worship. Those with knowledge and practice will be exalted in this
world and in the hereafter.

39 hadith found in ' Prayer in Congregation ' of Malik's Muwatta.

8.1.1
Yahya related to me fromMalik from Nafi from Abdullah ibn Umar that
the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace,
said,"Prayer in congregation is better than the prayer of a man by
himself by twenty-seven degrees."
8.1.2
Yahya related to me fromMalik from Ibn Shihab from Said ibn
al-Musayyab from Abu Hurayra that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah
bless him and grant him peace, said, "Prayer in congregation is better
than the prayer of one ofyou on his own by twenty-five parts."
8.1.3
Yahya related to me fromMalik from Abu'zZinad from al-Araj from Abu
Hurayra that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him
peace, said, "By Him in whose hand myself is! I had in mind to order
firewood to be collected, then to order the prayer to be called, and
to appoint a man to lead the people in prayer, andthen to come up
behind certain men and burn their houses down aboutthem! By Him in
whose hand myself is! If one of them knew that he would find a meaty
boneor two good legs of meat, he would be present at isha.''
8.1.4
Yahya related to me fromMalik from Abu'n-Nadr, the mawla of Umar ibn
Ubaydullah from Yusr ibnSaid that Zayd ibn Thabit said, "The most
excellent prayer is your prayer in your house, except for the
prescribed prayers."
8.2.5
Yahya related to me fromMalik from Abd ar-Rahman ibn Harmala al-Aslami
from Said ibn al-Musayyab that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless
him and grant him peace, said, "What separates us from the hypocrites
is being present at isha and subh. They cannot do it," or words to
that effect.
8.2.6
Yahya related to me fromMalik from Sumayy, the mawla of Abu Bakr ibn
Abd ar-Rahman from AbuSalih from Abu Hurayra that the Messenger of
Allah, may Allah bless himand grant him peace, said, "If a man who is
walking along a road finds a branch of thorns on the road and
removesit, Allah thanks him for doing it and forgives him." He also
said,"Martyrs are five: the onekilled by a plague, the one killed by a
disease ofthe belly, the one who drowns, the one killed bya collapsing
building, and the martyr in the path of Allah.' He also said, "If
people knew what there was in the call to prayer and the first row,
and they could find no other way exceptto draw lots for it, they would
draw lots for it. And if they knew what there was in doing dhuhrat its
time, they would race each other to it. Andif they knew what there was
in the prayers of ishaand maghrib, they wouldcome to them even if they
had to crawl .
8.2.7
Yahya related to me fromMalik from Ibn Shihab from Abu Bakr ibn
Sulayman ibn Abi Hathmathat Umar ibn al-Khattab missed Sulayman ibn
Abi Hathma in the subh prayer. In the morning he went to the market,
and Sulayman's house was between the market and the Prophet's mosque.
He passed ash-Shifa, Sulayman's mother, and said to her,"I did not see
Sulayman at subh." She replied, "Hespent the night in prayer and his
eyes overcame him. Umar said, "I would rather be present at subhthan
stand the whole night in prayer.
8.2.8
Yahya related to me fromMalik from Yahya ibn Said from Muhammad ibn
Ibrahim that Abd ar-Rahman ibn Abi Amra al-Ansari said that Uthman ibn
Affan came to the isha prayer and seeing only a few people in the
mosque, he lay down at the back of the mosque to wait for the number
of people to increase. Ibn Abi Amra went and sat down beside him and
Uthman asked him who he was, so he told him. Uthman said, "What have
you memorised of the Qur'an?", and he told him. Uthman said, "If
someone is present at isha, it is as if he had stood in prayer for
half a night, and if some one is present at subh, it is as if he had
stood in prayer for a whole night.
8.3.9
Yahya related to me fromMalik from Zayd ibn Aslam from a man of the
Bani'd-Dil called Busr ibn Mihjan from his father Mihjan that he was
in a gathering with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and
grant him peace, and the call toprayer was made. The Messenger of
Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, rose and prayed and
then returned. Mihjan remained sitting and did not pray with him. The
Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said,
"What prevented you from praying with the people?Aren't you a muslim?"
He said, "Of course, Messenger of Allah, but I have already prayed
withmy family." The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant
him peace, said, "When you come, pray with the people, even if you
have prayed already."
8.3.10
Yahya related to me fromMalik from Nafi that a man asked Abdullah ibn
Umar, "Sometimes I pray in my house, and then catch the prayer with
theimam. Should I pray with him?" Abdullah ibn Umar said to him,
"Yes," and the man said, "Which of them do I make my prayer?" Abdullah
ibn Umar said, "Is that up to you? It is up to Allah. He will decide
on whicheverof them He wishes."