A Bedouin caught up with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ while the Prophet was on the road and asked, “O Messenger of Allah, the time for prayer overtakes us while we are inside the camel pens; may we pray there?” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ replied, “No.” He then asked, “Should we perform ablution after eating their meat?” He answered, “Yes.” The man said, “May we pray in the sheepfolds?” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ replied, “Yes.” He asked, “And must we perform ablution after eating their meat?” He said, “No.”

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad recorded it in the Zawāʾid of the Musnad, saying: “ʿAmr ibn Muḥammad ibn Bakr al-Nāqid narrated to us; ʿUbayd ibn Ḥumayd narrated to us, from ʿUbayd al-Ḍabbī, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh—the judge of Rayy—with this chain.”

In the original manuscript it reads: “from ʿUbaydah al-Ḍabbī.” It seems likely that the words “from ʿUbaydah” are a copyist’s addition. Elsewhere in the Musnad the wording is correct, though other distortions appear: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad said, “My father narrated to us; ʿAmr ibn Muḥammad al-Nāqid narrated; ʿUbaydah ibn Ḥumayd al-Ḍabbī narrated, from ʿUbayd Allāh”—so it appears—“ibn ʿAbd Allāh,” with the same chain.

The phrase “my father narrated to us” is likewise an unnecessary insertion, for al-Nāqid is transmitted directly by ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, as in the first version, and I know of no report in which Aḥmad narrates from him. Allah knows best.

In short, the chain of this hadith is sound. Its transmitters are the same as those used by al-Bukhārī, apart from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh—the man of Rayy, a client of Banū Hāshim—who is trustworthy. It appears that he possesses two separate chains from his shaykh Ibn Abī Laylā.

He also relates a third chain from him, for Imām Aḥmad said: “ʿAbd al-Razzāq narrated to us; he said…”