Yazīd ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Usāmah ibn al-Hād related to me, from ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUrwah, from ʿUrwah, from ʿĀʾishah, that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said ... then he mentioned it. This reached ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn, so he went to ʿUrwah and said, “What is this report that I hear from you, in which you speak slightingly of Fāṭimah?!”

ʿUrwah replied, “I would not wish to possess such-and-such at the cost of diminishing Fāṭimah by withholding a right that is hers. But apart from that, you have my assurance that I shall never relate it again.”

He said: “No one narrated it from ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUrwah except Yazīd ibn al-Hād.”

I say: Both of them are trustworthy and among the narrators of the two Ṣaḥīḥs, as are those below them in the chain, with the exception of al-Murādī, al-Ṭabarānī’s shaykh, concerning whom there is criticism—as you may see in al-Lisān. However, he has been corroborated, so the chain is authentic. Al-Bazzār also transmitted it (3/242/2666), as did al-Ṭabarānī in al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr (22/431/1051) and al-Ḥākim (4/43–44), through several routes from Saʿīd ibn Abī Maryam, with a fuller wording:

When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) arrived in Medina, his daughter Zaynab left Mecca with Kinānah—or Ibn Kinānah. They went out in pursuit of her, and Habbār ibn al-Aswad caught up with her. He continued thrusting his spear at her camel until it threw her down. She miscarried, bled, and endured the ordeal. The clans of Banū Hāshim and Banū Umayyah then disputed over her. Banū Umayyah said, “We have a greater right to her.” She was married to their kinsman, Abū al-ʿĀṣ, and was staying with Hind bint ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah. Hind would say to her, “This is because of your father.”

The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said to Zayd ibn Ḥārithah, “Will you not go and bring Zaynab?”

He replied, “Certainly, O Messenger of Allah.”

He said, “Take my ring and give it to her.”

Zayd set out and continued to act with tact until he met a shepherd. He asked, “Whose flocks do you tend?”

The man replied, “Those of Abū al-ʿĀṣ.”

He asked, “To whom do these sheep belong?”

He replied, “To Zaynab, the daughter of Muḥammad.”

Zayd walked with him for a while, then said, “Would you be willing for me to give you something to deliver to her, without mentioning it to anyone?”

He replied, “Yes.”

So he gave him the ring, and the shepherd went on,