we have not noticed a single problem with him up to this moment, so please accept these sheep.” (1)

He said, “Dismount, take one of them, and send the rest back.”

I went out with him one day to the open burial-ground. When we had reached the plain he said, “Woe to you! Look—do you see anything that could screen me?” I replied, “I see nothing that would screen you except a tree, and I do not think it will be sufficient.” He asked, “What is beside it?” I said, “A tree like it, or close to it.” He said, “Go to the two of them and say, ‘The Messenger of Allah ﷺ commands you, by Allah’s permission, to come together.’” They came together, and he withdrew behind them to relieve himself, then returned.

He said, “Go back to them and say, ‘The Messenger of Allah ﷺ commands each of you to return to its place.’” So they returned.

I was sitting with him on another day when a fine camel came and laid its neck (2) in front of him, tears flowing from its eyes. He said, “Woe to you! Find out whose camel this is, for it certainly has an affair.” I went out seeking its owner and found it belonged to a man of the Anṣār, so I summoned him. He asked, “What is the matter with your camel?” He answered, “Matter? By Allah, I do not know. We have worked him hard, drawing water with him, until he became too weak to do so, and last night we agreed to slaughter him and divide his meat.” He said, “Do not do that—either give him to me or sell him to me.” The man replied, “He is yours, O Messenger of Allah.” He thereupon branded the camel with the mark of charity and then dispatched it. (3)

Another chain from him:

Imām Aḥmad (4) said: Wakīʿ narrated to us; al-Aʿmash narrated to us, from al-Minhāl ibn ʿAmr, from Yaʿlā ibn Murrah, that the Prophet ﷺ was approached by a woman who brought her son who was afflicted by a touch. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Come out, enemy of Allah; I am the Messenger of Allah.” The boy was cured. She then presented him with two rams, some dried curd, and some clarified butter. The Messenger of Allah said, “Take the curd, the butter, and one of the rams, and return the other to her.” He then mentioned the story of the two trees as related above. (5)

Aḥmad (6) also said: Aswad narrated to us; Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh narrated to us, from Ḥabīb ibn Abī ʿAmrah, from al-Minhāl ibn ʿAmr, from Yaʿlā, who said, “I do not think anyone ever witnessed from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ what I have witnessed.” He then related the affair of the boy, the two palm-trees, and the camel, except that in this version he said, “Why does your camel complain about you? He alleges that you make him draw water, and now that he has grown old you want to slaughter him.” The man replied, “You have spoken the truth—by the One who sent you with the truth as a Prophet, I had indeed intended that; but by the One who sent you with the truth, I will never do it.” (7)