This ḥadith was likewise recorded by Muslim (1) through the chain of Mahdī ibn Maymūn with the same wording.

The version reported by ʿĀʾishah—Mother of the Believers:
Imām Aḥmad (2) said: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad and ʿAffān narrated to us; both said: Ḥammād—meaning Ibn Salamah—(ʿAffān added, “He conveyed the purport”) (3) narrated to us, from ʿAlī ibn Zayd, from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, from ʿĀʾishah who said:

“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was in the company of a group of the Emigrants and the Helpers when a camel approached and prostrated before him. His Companions exclaimed, ‘Messenger of Allah, the animals and the trees prostrate to you—surely we are more deserving of doing so!’ He replied:

‘Worship your Lord and honour your brother. Had I been going to order anyone to prostrate to another, I would have ordered a woman to prostrate to her husband. Indeed, if he were to command her to carry a load from a yellow mountain to a black one, and from a black mountain to a white one, she should do it.’ ”

This chain meets the criteria of the Sunan collections. Ibn Mājah (4) related it only through Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah (5), from ʿAffān, from Ḥammād, with the abridged wording:

“Had I ordered anyone to prostrate to another, I would have ordered a woman to prostrate to her husband …” and so on.

The narration of Yaʿlā ibn Murrah al-Thaqafī—or it may be a separate incident:
Imām Aḥmad (6) said: Abū Salamah al-Khuzaʿī narrated to us; Ḥammād ibn Salamah narrated to us, from ʿĀṣim ibn Bahdalah, from Ḥabīb ibn Abī Jubayrah, from Yaʿlā ibn Siyābah (7) who said:

“I was travelling with the Prophet ﷺ. When he wished to relieve himself, he ordered two small trees (8); they drew together and formed a screen for him. When he had finished he ordered them again and they returned to their places. Then a camel came, placed its snout on the ground, and groaned until the surrounding earth was wet. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

‘Do you know what this camel is saying? It claims that its owner intends to slaughter it.’

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent for the owner and said, ‘Will you give it to me as a gift?’ The man replied, ‘Messenger of Allah, there is no property of mine that I love more than it.’ He said, ‘Then treat it kindly.’ The man responded, ‘By Allah, O Messenger of Allah, I shall never honour any possession of mine more than I honour it.’

He then passed by a grave whose occupant was being tormented