Imām Aḥmad also relates: “Zayd ibn al-Ḥabbāb narrated to us; Mūsā ibn ʿUlayy narrated to me, saying, ‘I heard my father say, “I heard Abū Hurayrah say that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

‘The finest women ever to ride camels are the women of Quraysh; they are the most tender to a child in its infancy and the most considerate of a husband when his means are scant.’”’”

Abū Hurayrah then remarked, “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) knew that the daughter of ʿImrān never rode a camel.”
This report is unique to this chain and meets the criteria of authenticity, and it has other routes from Abū Hurayrah as well.

Abū Yaʿlā al-Mawṣilī records: “Zuhayr narrated to us; Yūnus ibn Muḥammad narrated to us; Dāwūd ibn Abī al-Furāt related from ʿIlbāʾ ibn Aḥmar, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said:

‘The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) drew four lines on the ground and said, “Do you know what these are?” They replied, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He said, “The best women among the people of Paradise are Khadījah daughter of Khuwaylid, Fāṭimah daughter of Muḥammad, Mary daughter of ʿImrān, and Āsiyah daughter of Muzāḥim, the wife of Pharaoh.”’”

Al-Nasāʾī also transmits this ḥadīth through several chains from Dāwūd ibn Abī al-Furāt.

Ibn ʿAsākir reports—through Abū Bakr ʿAbdullāh ibn Abī Dāwūd Sulaymān ibn al-Ashʿath; Yaḥyā ibn Ḥātim al-ʿAskarī; Bishr ibn Mihrān ibn Ḥamdān; Muḥammad ibn Dīnār; on the authority of Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind, from al-Shaʿbī, from Jābir ibn ʿAbdullāh—that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

“Sufficient for you among them are four—the ladies of the women of the worlds: Fāṭimah daughter of Muḥammad, Khadījah daughter of Khuwaylid, Āsiyah daughter of Muzāḥim, and Mary daughter of ʿImrān.”

Abū al-Qāsim al-Baghawī narrates: “Wahb ibn Munabbih told us; Khālid ibn ʿAbdullāh al-Wāsiṭī told us; from Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr, from Abū Salamah, from ʿĀʾishah, who said to Fāṭimah:

‘Did you notice how, when you leaned over the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), you first wept and then laughed?’
She replied, ‘He informed me that he would die from this illness, so I wept. Then I leaned over him again, and he told me that I would be the first of his family to join him and that I am the mistress of the women of Paradise apart from Mary daughter of ʿImrān—so I laughed.’”

The foundation of this ḥadīth is found in the two Ṣaḥīḥ collections, and this chain satisfies Muslim’s conditions. It indicates that those two—Mary and Fāṭimah—are superior to the four women mentioned earlier. The same purport is found in the report transmitted by Imām Aḥmad: “ʿUthmān ibn Muḥammad narrated to us; Jarīr narrated to us; from Yazīd—he is the son of …”