“Pride and arrogance are found among camel owners, while tranquillity and dignity are found among sheep owners.” The Messenger of Allah said:

“Moses was sent while tending sheep for his family, and I was sent while tending sheep for my family at Jiyad.”

Ahmad (3/42 and 96) and al-Bazzar (3/114/4370) recorded it through the route of Hajjaj ibn Artah, from Atiyyah ibn Sad, from Abu Saʿid.

I say: This is a weak chain of transmission, due to the weakness of Hajjaj and Atiyyah. Al-Haythami (4/65 and 8/256) declared it defective only on account of Hajjaj, saying:

“He practised tadlis.”

The hadith has an authentic corroborating report from Abu Hurayrah, attributed to the Prophet, with the wording:

“No prophet was sent by Allah except that he tended sheep ...”

It was recorded by al-Bukhari and others, and its sources are traced in Ghayat al-Maram (121/161). *

3168—“Indeed, ‘Glory be to Allah,’ ‘praise be to Allah,’ ‘there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah,’ and ‘Allah is the Greatest’ shake off sins just as a tree sheds its leaves.”

Al-Bukhari recorded it in al-Adab al-Mufrad (634), Ahmad (3/152), and al-Harith ibn Abi Usamah in the supplementary material to his Musnad (fol. 124/2), through the route of Abd al-Warith, who said: Abu Rabiʿah Sinan narrated to us; Anas ibn Malik narrated to us:

The Prophet took a branch and shook it, but it did not shed its leaves. He then shook it, but it did not shed its leaves. Then he shook it, and it shed them, whereupon he said ... and he then mentioned it.