Chapter: The superiority of the Maniha

Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "What a good Maniha (the she-camel which has recently given birth and which gives profuse milk) is, and (what a good Maniha) (the sheep which gives profuse milk, a bowl in the morning and another in the evening) is!" Narrated Malik: Maniha is a good deed of charity.

Anas bin Malik said, "When the emigrants came Medina, they had nothing whereas the Ansar had land and property. The Ansar gave them their land on condition that the emigrants would give them half the yearly yield and work on the land and provide the necessaries for cultivation." His (i.e. Anas's mother who was also the mother of `Abdullah bin Abu Talha, gave some date-palms to Allah' Apostle who gave them to his freed slave-girl (Um Aiman) who was also the mother of Usama bin Zaid. When the Prophet (ﷺ) finished from the fighting against the people of Khaibar and returned to Medina, the emigrants returned to the Ansar the fruit gifts which the Ansar had given them. The Prophet (ﷺ) also returned to Anas's mother the date-palms. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) gave Um Aiman other trees from his garden in lieu of the old gift.

That Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "There are forty virtuous deeds and the best of them is the Maniha of a shegoat, and anyone who does one of these virtuous deeds hoping for Allah's reward with firm confidence that he will get it, then Allah will make him enter Paradise because of Hassan (a subnarrator) said, "We tried to count those good deeds below the Maniha; we mentioned replying to the sneezer, removing harmful things from the road, etc., but we failed to count even fifteen."

Some men had superfluous land and they said that they would give it to others to cultivate on the condition that they would get one-third or one-fourth or one half of its yield. The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Whoever has land should cultivate it himself or give it to his brother or keep it uncultivated."

A bedouin came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and asked him about emigration. The Prophet (ﷺ) said to him, "May Allah be merciful to you. The matter of emigration is difficult. Have you got some camels?" He replied in the affirmative. The Prophet (ﷺ) asked him, "Do you pay their Zakat?" He replied in the affirmative. He asked, "Do you lend them so that their milk may be utilized by others?" The bedouin said, "Yes." The Prophet (ﷺ) asked, "Do you milk them on the day off watering them?" He replied, "Yes." The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Do good deeds beyond the merchants (or the sea) and Allah will never disregard any of your deeds." (See Hadith No. 260, Vol. 5)

That he was told by the most learned one amongst them (i.e. Ibn `Abbas) that the Prophet (ﷺ) went towards some land which was flourishing with vegetation and asked to whom it belonged. He was told that such and such a person took it on rent. The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "It would have been better (for the owner) if he had given it to him gratis rather than charging him a fixed rent.