al-Zubayr, from Jābir, who said: “Whenever the Messenger of Allah ﷺ went out to relieve himself, he would go a long way off.”(1)

Al-Bayhaqī then said(2): “Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥāfiẓ narrated to us; Abū Bakr ibn Isḥāq informed us; al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn Ziyād related to us; Abū Ḥumah related to us; Abū Qurrah narrated from Zamʿah, from Ziyād—meaning Ibn Saʿd—from Abū az-Zubayr, who said that he heard Yūnus ibn Khabbāb al-Kūfī relate that he heard Abū ʿUbaydah relate, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, from the Prophet ﷺ: he was travelling to Mecca, withdrew to answer the call of nature, and would go so far that no one could see him. Finding nothing with which to conceal himself, he noticed two trees.” He then told the story of the two trees and the camel in wording similar to Jābir’s report.

Al-Bayhaqī remarked, “The ḥadīth of Jābir is the sounder one. This chain is unique to Zamʿah ibn Ṣāliḥ, from Ziyād—I think he is Ibn Saʿd—from Abū az-Zubayr.”

I say: This report, too, may well be authentic and does not contradict the narrations of Jābir and Yaʿlā ibn Murrah; rather, it corroborates them. It is possible that this ḥadīth was preserved with Abū az-Zubayr Muḥammad ibn Muslim ibn Tadrus al-Makkī from Jābir, and with Yūnus ibn Khabbāb from Abū ʿUbaydah ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd from his father—and Allah knows best.(3)

Al-Bayhaqī has also transmitted, through the isnād of Muʿāwiyah ibn Yaḥyā aṣ-Ṣadafī (who is weak), from al-Zuhrī, from Khārijah ibn Zayd, from Usāmah ibn Zayd, a lengthy narration resembling the accounts of Yaʿlā ibn Murrah and Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh. In it is the story of the boy who suffered seizures. His mother brought a roasted sheep and he said,

“Hand me the foreleg,”
so she handed it to him. Then he said,

“Hand me the foreleg,”
and she handed it to him. Then he said,

“Hand me the foreleg.”
I said, “How many forelegs does a sheep have?” He replied,

“By Him in Whose hand is my soul, had you kept quiet you would have gone on handing me whatever I asked.”

He then mentioned the story of the two palm-trees: how they drew together and the stones moved with them until the stones formed a heap behind the trees.(4) His version, however, does not contain the incident of the camel; for that reason I have not cited it here with its wording and chain. Allah’s help is sought.(5)

Ibn ʿAsākir likewise reports, in his biography of Ghaylān ibn Salamah al-Thaqafī, with his chain to Yaʿlā ibn Manṣūr al-Rāzī, from Shabīb ibn Shaybah, from Bishr ibn ʿĀṣim, from Ghaylān ibn Salamah, who said: “We set out with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and beheld extraordinary things.” He related the story of the two trees and how the Prophet concealed himself between them when answering the call of nature, the story of the boy who used to have seizures, and his words,

“In the name of Allah, I am the Messenger of Allah; come out, enemy of Allah,”
whereupon the boy was cured. He then told of the two runaway camels that prostrated to him, in wording similar to what has been transmitted concerning the single camel.(6) Perhaps this was a separate incident; Allah knows best.