The ḥadīth of Umm Maʿbad (1) on this matter
The complete text of this report was cited earlier in the account of the Hijrah from Mecca to Madinah, when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ came to her tent accompanied by Abū Bakr, his servant ʿĀmir ibn Fuhayrah, and their guide ʿAbd Allāh ibn Urayqiṭ al-Dīlī.
They asked her whether she had any milk or meat they might purchase, but found that she possessed nothing. She said, “Had we anything, you would not have lacked hospitality,” for the people were suffering a severe drought.
The Prophet ﷺ then noticed a ewe at the rear of her tent and asked, “What is this sheep, O Umm Maʿbad?” She answered, “Hardship has left her behind.” He said, “Will you permit me to milk her?” She replied, “If she can be milked, then do so.” He brought the ewe, stroked her, and pronounced the name of Allah. The narration states that he milked from her an amount that sufficed them all; then he milked her again and left her own vessel filled to the brim, enough for the whole party.
When her husband returned, he was amazed to see milk and said, “Umm Maʿbad, from where did this come, when there is no milking animal in the house and the flock is away?” She replied, “No, by Allah, a blessed man passed by us, and such-and-such took place.” He said, “Describe him to me, for by Allah I think he is the Qurayshite they are seeking.”
She said, “I saw a man of radiant countenance and fine bearing, handsome in visage. He was neither burdened by a protruding belly nor belittled by a small head—perfectly proportioned and comely. His eyes were wide and dark, his eyelashes long; his voice possessed a clear resonance. He was large-eyed, naturally kohled, with gracefully arched eyebrows,
(1) The hadith of Umm Maʿbad was narrated by al-Hakim in his al-Mustadrak (vol. 3, p. 10) at length; he judged its isnād to be sound, though neither al-Bukhārī nor Muslim recorded it. Its authenticity and the integrity of its narrators are supported by several considerations:
- The Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) encounter at the two tents is reported as mutawātir in multiple authentic accounts with numerous chains.
- Those who transmitted it in the manner of the people of the two tents were Bedouins (al-ʿārif), not given to fabricating or altering reports; they conveyed it word for word from Abu Maʿbad and Umm Maʿbad.
- Its chains include hand-to-hand transmission (muʾakhadh bial-yad), from son to father and father to grandfather, with no isrāl (omission) or weakness among the narrators.
- Al-Ḥurr ibn al-Ṣabbāḥ al-Nakhaʿī transmitted it from Abu Maʿbad as reliably as his own son did. Moreover, the isnād we have transmitted via the two Kaʿbīn is a sound line of Bedouin Arabs; see our discussion in the section on the hadith of al-Ḥurr ibn al-Ṣabbāḥ.
Al-Hakim thus affirmed its soundness, and al-Dhahabī, commenting, stated: “None of these chains meets the criteria of al-Ṣaḥīḥ.” Al-Haythamī recorded the hadith in Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid (6/57; 8/279), noting that al-Ṭabarānī also narrated it and that it includes ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Yaḥyā al-Madīnī—whom al-Bukhārī and others accused of lying, while al-Hakim deemed him thiqah (trustworthy), which is surprising—and that some narrators remain unidentified. It was also transmitted by Abū Nuʿaym in Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwa (pp. 283–287), Ibn Saʿd in al-Ṭabaqāt al-Kubrā (1/230), and al-Bayhaqī in his own Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwa (1/276–280). The incident appears in several sīrah works: Ibn Hishām (2/100), al-Rawḍ al-Anf (2/7–8), Ibn ʿAsākir’s Tahdhīb Tārīkh Dimashq (1/326), Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr’s al-Istīʿāb (2/796–797), al-Dhahabī’s Tārīkh al-Islām (2/227), ʿUyūn al-Athār (1/304), and Ibn Ḥajar’s al-Isābah (4/498). Hassan ibn Thābit also recorded the episode in verse in his Dīwān (2/89).