Among the reports on this matter is what al-Zuhrī transmitted—through Sinān ibn Abī Sinān al-Duʾalī—from Abū Wāqid al-Laythī, who said:
“We set out with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, on the campaign to Ḥunayn while we were still new converts, only recently removed from disbelief. The idolaters had a lote-tree at which they would gather in devotion and on whose branches they would hang their weapons; it was called Dhāt Anwāṭ. As we passed by another lote-tree we said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, appoint for us a Dhāt Anwāṭ just as they have a Dhāt Anwāṭ.’
The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, exclaimed, ‘Allāhu akbar! These are the ways of those who came before you. By the One in Whose hand is my soul, you have said exactly what the Children of Israel said to Moses…’
(1) Muhammad ibn Muslim ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Shihab al-Zuhri of Banu Zuhrah ibn Kilab, Abu Bakr, is regarded as the first to put hadith into writing. A Medinan tabiʿi, he was a trustworthy ḥafiz and a prolific, precise narrator with sound legal understanding; he belongs to the fourth generation and died in 125 AH. See: Taqrib al-Tahdhib 2/207, no. 702; al-Jarh wa al-Taʿdil 8/71–74, no. 318.
(2) Sinan ibn Abi Sinan al-Duʾali (or al-Dayli), a Medinan tabiʿi of the third generation, is graded thiqah (reliable) in Taqrib al-Tahdhib; he died in 105 AH. See: Taqrib al-Tahdhib 1/334, no. 537.
(3) The Companion al-Harith ibn ʿAwf ibn Asid ibn Jabir al-Laythi, Abu Waqid, is said to have fought at Badr and later at the Conquest and Hunayn, carrying his clan’s banner; he was also present at Tabuk and Yarmuk. He died in 68 AH, though another report says 85 AH. See: al-Isabah 4/215–16, no. 1211; Usd al-Ghabah 5/319–20.
(4) The printed edition reads: hadithu.
(5) The printed edition reads: yaniṭun; the verb yanuṭun means “they hang” or “they suspend.”
(6) Sunan is the plural of sunnah (“path” or “way”) and here refers to the course followed by earlier nations—Jews and Christians—when they adopted such innovations; the end of the hadith clarifies the meaning. See: Mukhtar al-Sihah, root S-N-N, p. 317.
(7) In manuscript T the reading is: bani.
(8) For the phrase “li Musa,” manuscripts Ab and T read: saqat (“I watered”).