there were two trees standing about four cubits apart. He said, “Go to that tree and say to it: ‘The Messenger of Allah commands you: Join your companion so that I may sit behind both of you.’” I conveyed the message, whereupon it moved over until it touched the other tree. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then sat behind them, and when he had finished they returned to their original places.

We mounted and rode on with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in our midst, and it felt as though birds were hovering over us for shade. A woman appeared carrying a child and said, “Messenger of Allah, this son of mine is seized by a devil three times every day.” He took the boy, set him between himself and the front of the saddle, and said, “Depart, enemy of Allah! I am the Messenger of Allah. Depart, enemy of Allah! I am the Messenger of Allah.” He repeated this three times, then handed the child back to her.

When we had completed our journey and passed that same place again, the woman came out to us with her son and two rams that she was driving. She said, “Messenger of Allah, accept this gift from me. By the One who sent you with the truth, the seizure has never returned.” He replied, “Take one of them and return the other to her.”

We continued on with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ riding between us, as though birds were shading us from above. Suddenly a camel let out a cry; when it came between the two lines of riders it fell down in prostration. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ sat and asked the people, “Who owns this camel?” Some young men of the Anṣār said, “It is ours, Messenger of Allah.” He asked, “What is the matter with it?” They said, “We have put it to service for twenty years. It has become fat and we wanted to slaughter it and divide the meat among our servants, but it escaped.” He said, “Sell it to me.” They replied, “It is yours, Messenger of Allah.” He said, “Since it is mine, treat it well until its appointed time comes.”

At that, the Muslims said, “Messenger of Allah, we are more entitled to prostrate to you than the animals are.” He answered, “It is not proper for anything to prostrate to anything else. Had that been permitted, women would have prostrated to their husbands.”

This narration is reported by Yūnus ibn Bukayr from Ismāʿīl, whose wording is: “It is not proper for a human being to prostrate to another human being,” and that version is sounder.

Yūnus ibn Bukayr and Wakīʿ have also transmitted the report with the same meaning through al-Aʿmash, from al-Minhāl ibn ʿAmr, from Yaʿlā ibn Murrah, from his father, who said: “I travelled with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and saw amazing things. We halted at a spot and he said, ‘Go to those two…’”