“Bring me something with which I can tie up its head, so that you may gain control of it.”

The man brought a halter, and he tied up its head with it, enabling him to control it.

Then the two of them walked to the far end of the enclosure, where the other male camel was. When it saw him, it fell prostrate before him. He said to the man:

“Bring me something with which I can tie up its head.”

So he tied up its head and gained control of it. He then said:

“Go, for they will not disobey you.”

When the Companions of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, saw this, they said, “O Messenger of Allah, these are two male camels that have no understanding, yet they prostrated before you. Should we not prostrate before you?” He said: ... and then mentioned it.

I say: This is a good chain of transmission. All its narrators are well-known and trustworthy. Here are the details:

1. Ikrimah—the freedman of Ibn Abbas—was trustworthy and highly precise, and was among the narrators cited by the two Shaykhs, al-Bukhari and Muslim. He is too well known to require mention.

2. Abu Yazid al-Madini was trustworthy, and al-Bukhari narrated from him, as stated in al-Kashif. As for al-Hafiz’s grading of him as “acceptable,” it is to be rejected! How could that be, when Ibn Ma‘in and Ahmad both declared him trustworthy, and al-Bukhari narrated from him?!

3. Abu Azzah al-Dabbagh, whose name was al-Hakam ibn Tuhman, was trustworthy. A number of scholars, including Ibn Hibban, declared him trustworthy. See Taysir al-Intifa‘.