Ibn ʿAsākir also records it in his History (9/28/1), and al-Ḍiyāʾ includes it in al-Aḥādīth al-Mukhtāra (pp. 124–125) through the chain of Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Abī Yaʿqūb, from al-Ḥasan b. Saʿd—the client of al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī—from ʿAbd Allāh b. Jaʿfar, who said:

“One day the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had me ride behind him. He confided to me a statement that I have never related to anyone. The place he preferred to conceal himself when answering the call of nature was a rise in the ground or the dense thicket of palm-trees. He entered an orchard belonging to a man of the Anṣār, where there was a camel. (When the camel saw the Prophet ﷺ it let out a plaintive sound and tears welled in its eyes. The Prophet ﷺ came up to it and stroked the line of its back up to its hump and down its flanks, whereupon it became calm.) He then said, “Who is the owner of this camel? To whom does this camel belong?” A young man from the Anṣār came and said, “It is mine, O Messenger of Allah.” The Prophet then mentioned the rest of the report.”

Al-Ḥākim commented, “Its isnād is sound,” and al-Dhahabī concurred. In fact, they both understated its strength, for it is authentic according to the criteria of Muslim. Muslim included it in his Ṣaḥīḥ (1/184–185) with this very chain, omitting only the episode of the camel. Al-Nawawī notes in Riyāḍ al-Ṣāliḥīn (p. 378) that al-Burqānī transmitted it with Muslim’s complete isnād, and it is apparently for this reason that Ibn ʿAsākir added after it, “Muslim narrated it,” meaning the core of the report, not the full version. The material enclosed in parentheses is supplied by Ibn ʿAsākir and al-Ḍiyāʾ.

21 – “Ride these beasts in good health and leave them in good health; do not turn them into seats.”

Related by al-Ḥākim (1/444; 2/100), al-Bayhaqī (5/225), Aḥmad (3/440; 4/234), and Ibn ʿAsākir (3/91/1).