ʿUrwah, on the authority of his father,
from ʿĀʾishah who said:
I asked, “O Messenger of Allah, suppose you came to a valley in which there was a tree from which people had eaten and another tree from which no one had eaten. At which of the two would you let your camel graze?”
He replied,
“At the one from which nothing has yet been grazed.”
By this she meant (1) that the Prophet ﷺ married no virgin other than her.
Al-Bukhārī alone records this report, and then says (2): ʿUbayd ibn Ismāʿīl narrated to us; Abū Usāmah narrated to us, from Hishām ibn ʿUrwah, from his father, from ʿĀʾishah, who said:
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ told me:
“I was shown you in a dream on two occasions. A man was carrying you in a piece of silk and saying, ‘This is your wife.’ I uncovered it and found that it was you, so I said, ‘If this matter is from Allah, He will bring it to pass.’”
Muslim (4) also transmits it through the chain of Hishām ibn ʿUrwah.
Al-Bukhārī further cites it in the chapter “Looking at a Woman before Marriage” (5): Musaddad narrated to us; Ḥammād ibn Zayd narrated to us, from Hishām ibn ʿUrwah, from his father, from ʿĀʾishah, who said:
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“I was shown you in a dream (6): the angel (7) brought you wrapped in a piece of silk and said to me, ‘This is your wife.’ I lifted the cloth from your face and, behold, it was you. So I said, ‘If this matter is from Allah, He will bring it to pass.’” (8, 9)
In another version (10):
“I was shown you in a dream for three consecutive nights.”
Al-Tirmidhī reports (11) that Jibrīl brought him her likeness in a piece of green silk, saying, “This is your wife in this world and the Hereafter.”
Al-Bukhārī, in the chapter “Marrying Young Girls to Elder Men” (12), also relates: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yūsuf narrated to us; al-Layth narrated to us from Yazīd