This, too, satisfies the conditions observed by the compilers of the Sunan, yet they did not include it (1).

Al-Bayhaqī (2) recorded it through the narration of al-Nufaylī, who said: “I read it to Maʿqil ibn ʿAbd-Allāh ibn Shahr ibn Ḥawshab, from Abū Saʿīd,” and he cited the report. He also transmitted it via al-Ḥākim and Abū Saʿīd ibn Abī ʿAmr, from al-Aṣamm, from Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār, from Yūnus ibn Bukayr, from ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Bahrām, from Shahr ibn Ḥawshab, from Abū Saʿīd, and cited it.

The ḥāfiẓ Abū Nuʿaym likewise related it through ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yazīd ibn Tamīm, from al-Zuhrī, from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, from Abū Saʿīd (3).

Report of Abū Hurayrah on the same matter:

Imām Aḥmad (4) said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq narrated to us; Maʿmar informed us; from Ashʿath ibn ʿAbd-Allāh (5); from Shahr ibn Ḥawshab; from Abū Hurayrah, who said:

“A wolf came to a shepherd, seized a ewe from his flock, and the shepherd pursued it until he wrested the ewe back. The wolf then climbed a mound, sat on its haunches with its tail tucked beneath it, and said, ‘You have taken away a provision that Allah allotted to me.’

“The man exclaimed, ‘By Allah, never have I seen the like of this—a wolf that speaks!’

“The wolf replied, ‘Even more astonishing than this is a man among the date-palms between the two lava plains who is informing you of what has passed and of what will come after you.’

“The man—he was a Jew—went to the Prophet ﷺ, embraced Islam, and told him what had occurred. The Prophet ﷺ confirmed his account and then said:

‘This is one of the portents that will precede the Hour. A time is near when a man will go out and not return before his sandals and his whip have informed him of what his family did after he left.’”

Aḥmad alone transmitted this version; it meets the criteria of the Sunan compilers, yet they did not record it. It is possible that Shahr ibn Ḥawshab heard it from both Abū Saʿīd and Abū Hurayrah as well. Allah knows best (6).

Report of Anas concerning this:

Abū Nuʿaym said in Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwah: “ʿAbd-Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar narrated to us; …”