“O Messenger of Allah, it seems to have recognized that you are a prophet.”

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ replied, “There is not a soul between these two lava tracts who does not know that I am Allah’s Prophet—save the unbelievers among jinn and mankind.”(1)

This transmission through Ibn ʿAbbās is exceedingly unusual; the version reported by Imām Aḥmad from Jābir is more plausible—unless al-Ajlaḥ narrated it from al-Dhiyāl both on the authority of Jābir and of Ibn ʿAbbās. Allah knows best.

Another chain from Ibn ʿAbbās:

The ḥāfiẓ Abū al-Qāsim al-Ṭabarānī said: al-ʿAbbās ibn al-Faḍl al-Asfaṭī told us; Abū ʿAwn al-Ziyādī told us; Abū ʿAzza al-Dabbāgh told us, from Abū Yazīd al-Madanī, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās:

A man from the Anṣār owned two stallion camels that had gone into rut, so he drove them into an orchard and shut the gate on them. He then came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who was sitting with a number of the Anṣār, seeking his supplication.

He said, “O Prophet of Allah, I have come with a request: my two stallions are in rut. I have penned them in an orchard and closed the gate on them, and I would like you to pray that Allah subdues them for me.”

The Prophet said to his Companions, “Rise and come with us.”

He went on until he reached the gate and said, “Open it.” The man feared for the Prophet’s safety, but he repeated, “Open it.” When the gate was opened, one of the stallions was standing nearby; the moment it saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ it prostrated before him.

The Prophet said, “Bring me something with which to tie its head, and I will hand it over to you.” The man brought a halter, fastened it, and the Prophet delivered the animal to him. Then he walked to the far end of the orchard toward the other stallion; when it saw him, it likewise prostrated.

He said to the man, “Bring me something to secure its head.” The man tied it, and the Prophet placed the animal under his control, saying, “Go; they will no longer disobey you.”

When the Companions saw this they exclaimed, “O Messenger of Allah, these two stallions have prostrated to you—should we not prostrate to you as well?”

He replied, “I do not command anyone to prostrate to anyone else. Had I commanded anyone to prostrate to another, I would have commanded a woman to prostrate to her husband.”(3)

This chain of transmission is odd, and the wording is likewise unusual.

The jurist Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥāmid also included it in his work Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwah, narrating from Aḥmad ibn Ḥamdān al-Sijzī, from ʿUmar ibn Muḥammad ibn Bujayr al-Bujayrī,(4) from Bishr ibn Ādam,(5) from Muḥammad ibn ʿAwn (Abū ʿAwn al-Ziyādī) with the same chain.