2482 — “By Him in Whose Hand is my soul, this world is more insignificant to Allah than this is to its owners”—that is, a dead sheep.

Ahmad narrated it (1/329): Muhammad ibn Mus'ab narrated to us: al-Awza'i narrated to us, from al-Zuhri, from Ubayd Allah, from Ibn Abbas, who said: The Messenger of Allah passed by a dead sheep that its owners had cast aside, and he said the above.

I say: This is a sound chain for corroborative evidence. Its narrators are trustworthy and are narrators of the two Sahihs, apart from Muhammad ibn Mus'ab—al-Qarqasani—concerning whom al-Hafiz said: “Truthful, but makes many mistakes.” I say: This hadith has many corroborating reports which show that he preserved it. I shall mention some of them, if Allah Most High wills. Perhaps this is why al-Mundhiri said in al-Targhib (4/101): “Ahmad narrated it with a chain that is unobjectionable.”

Al-Haythami said (10/287): “Ahmad, Abu Ya'la, and al-Bazzar narrated it. Its chain includes Muhammad ibn Mus'ab, who has been declared trustworthy despite his weakness, while the rest of their narrators are narrators of the Sahih.”

The hadith has also been narrated from Jabir ibn Abd Allah, al-Mustawrid ibn Shaddad, Abd Allah ibn Rabi'ah al-Sulami, Abu Hurayrah, and Sahl ibn Sa'd.

1. As for the hadith of Jabir, Ja'far ibn Muhammad narrated it from his father, from him: “The Messenger of Allah passed through the marketplace, coming from one of the outlying districts of Medina, with people on either side of him. He passed by a dead, small-eared kid goat, took hold of it by the ear, and said: ‘Which of you would like to have this for a dirham?’ They said: ‘We would not want it for anything; what use could we make of it?’ He said: ‘Would you like it to be yours?’ They said: ‘By Allah, even if it were alive, it would be defective because of its small ears; so how could we want it when it is dead?’ He then said:”