Abū Yaʿlā has likewise transmitted it (1) through the isnād of ʿAwn ibn ʿAbd Allāh, from Ibn Masʿūd.

A number of further reports state that the Prophet ﷺ rode a donkey. In the two Ṣaḥīḥs (2) it is related that he ﷺ once passed—while mounted upon a donkey—by a gathering that included ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ubayy ibn Salūl together with a mixture of Muslims, idol-worshipping polytheists, and Jews. He dismounted and called them to Allah, exalted is He. This occurred before the Battle of Badr, and he had set out intending to visit the invalid Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah.

Ibn Ubayy said to him, “O man, what you say is excellent, but if it is true then do not bring it upon us in our assemblies.” (This was before Islam had gained ascendancy.) It is also said that he covered his nose when the dust of the animal reached them and remarked, “Do not annoy us with the stench of your donkey.”

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rawāḥah retorted, “By Allah, the smell of the Messenger of Allah’s donkey is sweeter than yours!” He then added, “Rather, O Messenger of Allah, bring it to us in our gatherings, for we love to hear it.” The two parties then rose up and were about to fight, but the Messenger of Allah ﷺ calmed them. He proceeded to Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah and complained to him about Ibn Ubayy.

Saʿd said, “Treat him gently, O Messenger of Allah. By Him Who has honored you with the truth, Allah had indeed sent you with the truth while we were stringing beads to crown him as our ruler; but when Allah brought forth the truth (which He sent you with) (3) he choked on it.” (4)

We have already noted that he rode a donkey on certain days during Khaybar, and that he had Muʿādh ride pillion with him on a donkey. Citing those reports with their exact wording and chains would unduly prolong the discussion; Allah knows best.

As for the story reported by Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ ibn Mūsā al-Sabtī in his al-Shifāʾ (5)—preceded by Imām al-Ḥaramayn in his major work on the fundamentals of religion, and by others—that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ owned a donkey called Ziyād ibn Shihāb; that the Prophet ﷺ would dispatch it to summon one of his Companions, whereupon it would come to the man’s door and rattle it so he would know the Messenger of Allah ﷺ wanted him; that the donkey told the Prophet ﷺ it was descended from seventy donkeys, each of which had been ridden by a prophet; and that when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ passed away it threw itself into a well and died—this narration has no chain of transmission whatsoever. More than one ḥadith master has rejected it, among them ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Ḥātim and his father, may Allah have mercy on them both. I also heard our teacher, the ḥadith master Abū al-Ḥajjāj al-Mizzī—may Allah sanctify his soul—reject it many times in the strongest terms.

The ḥadith master Abū Nuʿaym said in his work Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwah (6): “Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-ʿAnbarī narrated to us; Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf narrated to us; Ibrāhīm ibn Suwayd al-Judhūʿī narrated to us; he said: ‘ʿAbd Allāh ibn …’”