He is charged with fabrication; therefore we have not quoted the wording of that ḥadīth, for it brings no benefit.
He then said: Abū ʿAmr ibn Ḥamdān related to us; Ḥasan ibn Sufyān related to us; ʿAmr ibn ʿUthmān related to us; Baqiyyah ibn al-Walīd related to us, from Baḥīr ibn Saʿd, from Khālid ibn Maʿdān, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAmr al-Sulamī, from ʿUtbah ibn ʿAbd, who reported that a man asked the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):
“How did your affair begin, O Messenger of Allah?”
He replied:
“My wet-nurse was from Banū Saʿd ibn Bakr. One day her son and I went out with some of our lambs, taking no provisions with us. I said to him, ‘Brother, go and bring us some food from our mother.’ So he left while I stayed with the flock. Two white birds, looking like eagles, came toward me. One said to the other, ‘Is it he?’ The other replied, ‘Yes.’ They hurried to me, seized me, laid me on my back, split open my belly, removed my heart and split it, extracting two black clots. Then one said to the other, ‘Bring me snow-water,’ and they washed my interior with it. He then said, ‘Bring me ice-cold water,’ and they washed my heart with it. Next he said, ‘Bring me tranquillity,’ and he sprinkled it into my heart. Then one said to the other, ‘Sew it up,’ so he sewed it and sealed my heart with the Seal of Prophethood.
After that he said, ‘Place him in one pan of the scales and place a thousand of his community in the other.’ I watched as the thousand rose above me and feared that some of them might fall upon me. He said, ‘Had his whole community been weighed against him, he would have outweighed them all.’
The two then departed, leaving me greatly alarmed. I went to my foster-mother and told her what had happened. She feared that something might have afflicted me and said, ‘I seek Allah’s protection for you.’ She saddled a camel, set me on the riding pad, mounted behind me, and we traveled until we reached my mother. She said, ‘I have discharged my trust and obligation,’ and she told her what I had experienced. My mother was not startled and said, ‘I saw a light emerge from me that illuminated the palaces of Syria.’”
Imām Aḥmad also transmitted this report through the chain of Baqiyyah ibn al-Walīd.