Al-Aʿmash narrated from Ibrāhīm, from al-Aswad, from ʿĀʾishah who said:

“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ once sent a gift of sheep.”

Al-Bukhārī recorded it (1) through Abū Nuʿaym, and it belongs to his collections that contain only three transmitters between him and the Prophet—his “thulāthiyyāt.”

I read this report to Abū al-Ḥusayn ʿAlī b. Muḥammad al-Faqīh, to Muḥammad b. Qāymāz, and to a number of others. They said:

“ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿUmar narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Awwal b. ʿĪsā narrated to us; Abū Ismāʿīl al-Anṣārī narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Jabbār narrated to us; Ibn Maḥbūb informed us; Abū ʿĪsā al-Tirmidhī told us; Muḥammad b. Bashshār (2) told us; Abū ʿĀmir—meaning al-Khazzāz—from Ibn Abī Mulaykah, from ʿĀʾishah, who said:

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ recited the verse, ‘He is the One who has sent down to you the Book…’ [Āl ʿImrān 3:7]. Then he said: ‘When you see those who follow the passages that are ambiguous, they are the ones Allah has named—so beware of them.’ (3)

Through this same chain al-Tirmidhī also said: ‘Muḥammad b. Bashshār narrated to us; Yazīd b. Ibrāhīm narrated to us; from Ibn Abī Mulaykah, from al-Qāsim, from ʿĀʾishah that the Prophet ﷺ recited the verse: “So as for those in whose hearts is deviance…” [Āl ʿImrān 3:7]. He said: “They are the ones Allah has named, so beware of them.” (4) — this wording or something very close to it.’