from Sufyan; he said, “A ḥadith that is ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ.”(1)
- Our shaykh Abū ’l-Fath Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Bāqī ibn Aḥmad ibn Sulaymān narrated to us; Ḥammad(2) ibn Aḥmad al-Ḥaddād narrated to us; Abū Nuʿaym Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh, the ḥāfiẓ, informed us; ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaʿfar ibn Aḥmad ibn Fāris informed us; Yūnus ibn Ḥabīb narrated to us; Abū Dāwūd al-Ṭayālisī narrated to us; Harb ibn Shaddād and Abān ibn Yazīd—from Yaḥyā ibn Abī Kathīr—from Hilāl ibn Abī Maymūnah—from ʿAṭāʾ ibn Yasār—from Muʿāwiyah ibn al-Ḥakam al-Sulamī—who said:
“I used to graze a flock of sheep between Uḥud and al-Jawwāniyyah(3), and with them was a slave-girl of mine. One day I came upon her and saw that a wolf had carried off a lamb. I am, after all, a son of Adam—I feel sorrow just as people do(4)—so I raised my hand and struck her a single blow. Then I went to the Prophet ﷺ and mentioned the matter to him,(5) and it weighed heavily upon me. I said, ‘Messenger of Allah, should I not set her free?’ He replied, ‘Bring her here.’ So I brought her.
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then asked her,(6) ‘Where is Allah?’ She answered, ‘In the heaven.’ He asked, ‘And who am I?’ She replied, ‘You are the Messenger of Allah.’ The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, ‘Set her free, for she is a believer.’
This is a ṣaḥīḥ ḥadith.(7) It was recorded by Muslim in his Ṣaḥīḥ, by Mālik in his Muwaṭṭaʾ, and by other leading imams—may Allah have mercy on them.(8)