with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, on behalf of ten people (1). This report meets Muslim’s criteria of authenticity, but he did not include it. Rather, he recorded (2) his statement:
“We set out with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, having entered the consecrated state for Hajj, accompanied by women and children. When we reached Mecca, we circumambulated the House and went between al-Safā and al-Marwa. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, instructed us to share camels and cattle, each group of seven sharing one sacrificial animal.”
In the Musnad (3), a hadith from Ibn ‘Abbās states:
“We were travelling with the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, when the time of sacrifice arrived. We shared a cow among seven and a camel among ten.”
Al-Nasā’ī and al-Tirmidhī also narrated it, and al-Tirmidhī graded it sound and singular.
In the two Sahīh collections (4), it is narrated from him:
“In the year of al-Hudaybiya, we slaughtered sacrificial animals with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace: a camel on behalf of seven and a cow on behalf of seven.”
Hudhayfa said: “During his Hajj, the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, arranged for the Muslims to share a cow among seven.” Imām Ahmad recorded this (5).
These hadiths can be reconciled in one of three ways: